Comments on: Helio Launches Today http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2006/05/02/helio-launches-today/ Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino on mobile technology. Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:16:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: sergey lossev http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2006/05/02/helio-launches-today/comment-page-1/#comment-4641 sergey lossev Sat, 06 May 2006 21:09:20 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2006/05/02/helio-launches-today/#comment-4641 I wanted to repost my previous comment about helio. I am the CEO of an underdog mobile social networking company called, VCEL,inc ( check out vcellvibes.com) (sorry about not clearing the air previously, carlo). I just wanted to provide an alternate perspective on mobile social networking then the Helio guys. They are using ' Myspace on helio' as the spearhead of their content differentiator strategy. However i believe their approach to locking their mobile social networking experience to only 2 handsets (@ 250 and 275 dollars a pop) undermines the basic group dynamics of social networks. Ubiquity is key for social networking on mobile devices to take off.I some how doubt that the main consumers of myspace, the teen demographic has the expendable income to easily drop their current service provider and purchase a Helio handeset for $300 with a year long contract at 85 bucks a month. I believe the strategy that VCEL is taking is much more suited to mobilize social networking consumers. Specifically, allowing a free J2ME app download onto existing Cingular, Sprint, and Tmobile handsets. This download strategy significantly lowers the switching cost for end users and has a much larger scalability potential to truly get your whole social network communicating via mobile. Check out our site vcellvibes.com and click download to cell on the log in page to try it out for yourself. I wanted to repost my previous comment about helio. I am the CEO of an underdog mobile social networking company called, VCEL,inc ( check out vcellvibes.com) (sorry about not clearing the air previously, carlo). I just wanted to provide an alternate perspective on mobile social networking then the Helio guys. They are using ‘ Myspace on helio’ as the spearhead of their content differentiator strategy. However i believe their approach to locking their mobile social networking experience to only 2 handsets (@ 250 and 275 dollars a pop) undermines the basic group dynamics of social networks. Ubiquity is key for social networking on mobile devices to take off.I some how doubt that the main consumers of myspace, the teen demographic has the expendable income to easily drop their current service provider and purchase a Helio handeset for $300 with a year long contract at 85 bucks a month. I believe the strategy that VCEL is taking is much more suited to mobilize social networking consumers. Specifically, allowing a free J2ME app download onto existing Cingular, Sprint, and Tmobile handsets. This download strategy significantly lowers the switching cost for end users and has a much larger scalability potential to truly get your whole social network communicating via mobile. Check out our site vcellvibes.com and click download to cell on the log in page to try it out for yourself.

]]> By: Kiran Bellubbi http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2006/05/02/helio-launches-today/comment-page-1/#comment-4543 Kiran Bellubbi Tue, 02 May 2006 18:51:35 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2006/05/02/helio-launches-today/#comment-4543 Carlo - I couldn't agree with you more - it is the services and content which will become an increasingly important and decisive factor in attracting users to the wireless service provider. I do understand the relatively crowded areas that MVNO's operate in - given the goliaths in the space they will constantly be stepping on either the large service providers toes or be forced into a price war by the other MVNO's in the space. Om Malik wrote about this some time ago on his blog - http://gigaom.com/2005/11/21/dampd/ - there is some truth to what he says but I cannot agree with him in entirety since I firmly believe that the only differentiator in this game (over the next 2-3 years) will be the content and the experience that the users have while using the product. I believe that Helio has some interesting concepts and the price point at which they are entering will still keep them in the game given EVDO pricing by the traditional players today. The buzz around the interface, user experience and the content has made me quite eager to give Helio a test-ride when I get the chance. Carlo – I couldn’t agree with you more – it is the services and content which will become an increasingly important and decisive factor in attracting users to the wireless service provider. I do understand the relatively crowded areas that MVNO’s operate in – given the goliaths in the space they will constantly be stepping on either the large service providers toes or be forced into a price war by the other MVNO’s in the space. Om Malik wrote about this some time ago on his blog – http://gigaom.com/2005/11/21/dampd/ – there is some truth to what he says but I cannot agree with him in entirety since I firmly believe that the only differentiator in this game (over the next 2-3 years) will be the content and the experience that the users have while using the product.

I believe that Helio has some interesting concepts and the price point at which they are entering will still keep them in the game given EVDO pricing by the traditional players today. The buzz around the interface, user experience and the content has made me quite eager to give Helio a test-ride when I get the chance.

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