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Philips brings texting to fixed-line phone

Tags:
Mobile Phone Features,
Fixed Line Phone,
Text Messaging,
Philips

Winston Chai CNet Asia

Published: 16 Jun 2003 09:32 BST

Dutch electronics giant Philips has launched its flagship fixed-line phone with text messaging support, and is set to make household phones even more like mobile phones in the coming months.

The Onis 300, unveiled in Singapore last Thursday, is the company's first DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) phone to support short messaging service (SMS).

DECT is a cordless phone standard which uses dynamic channel selection and dynamic channel allocation to enable multiple users to coexist on the same frequency. This translates to a clearer voice quality and less risk of radio interference compared to older, analog devices.

The Onis 300 incorporates several handphone traits, including the ability to customise ringtones and graphics according to different caller groups.

Mirroring another popular mobile function, it also sports a predictive text feature from wireless software maker Eatoni, enabling users to send and receive text messages in countries which support fixed-line SMS.

This service is currently available in a various parts of Europe. In Asia, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) debuted its fixed-line SMS offering for residential users in August last year.

Since its launch, SingTel said the service has quickly found favour with consumers, just as how SMS took users by storm when it was first introduced.

According to the US-based GSM Association, about 366 billion SMS messages were sent globally in 2002. This translates to over $36bn in worldwide revenue without hefty marketing and infrastructure investments.

Fixed-line operators are now hoping to tap into this burgeoning market and expand revenues beyond voice services through fixed-line SMS messaging.

'We have about 5,000 users who send SMS messages between fixed lines and mobile phones on a daily basis," said Suresh Rajendra, SingTel's senior manager for marketing.

Rajendra said in light of the positive response, the company may consider extending more SMS-based mobile applications onto home phones. "These could include news updates or the lottery results announcements," he said.

"Once an application has proven its merits on the mobile phone, we may consider bringing it into the home phone," stressed Rajendra.

Philips it is already gearing to incorporate more advanced cellular applications such as EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) into its upcoming cordless phones.

"We are working to authorities in Europe to finalise the standard for EMS and MMS on the fixed line," said Philippe Deflandre, Philips' DECT product manager. "These products should be ready by next year."

Industry analysts, however, caution that the success of a mobile application could be a double-edged sword when translated to the fixed line world.

"Due to high mobile penetration levels, fixed-network SMS services have a head start and will sit well above zero," said Nikki Matkovits, an analyst with market research firm Ovum. "On the flip side, high mobile penetration is in danger of cannibalising usage of fixed SMS services, as most users will already have access to SMS via their mobile phones."

'In order to achieve mass growth, awareness of fixed network SMS has to be high. The likelihood of the service ever becoming a mass-market product remains doubtful," she added.

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