Thursday, January 03, 2008 Ng: RP still texting capital By Wilson Ng Wired Desktop
DURING the holidays, I tried to find out if we are still the texting capital of the world (we’ve been using that distinction for more than six or seven years ago already) and if we are still focused on becoming IT (information technology) hub of Asia.
In the field of texting, one of our most obvious competitors is China. The number of mobile phone subscribers in China is growing very rapidly (according to estimates, there are now over 550 million cell phone users in China). In contrast, we recently established a record of having hit over 50 million users. Moreover, China is one of the markets that have also been texting a lot.
Obviously, we are no longer the texting capital in the world based on total number of messages sent. Estimates have it that there were over 500 billion text messages sent in China last year. Based on various estimates locally (there are about 300 million text messages sent a day), we should have over 100 billion text messages processed last year.
If we look at the total, then we’re not it anymore. But if you look at per capita (we have a population of 80 million while China is 1.4 billion), that means every person here sent 1,250 text messages (that’s about almost four text messages a day if we include even those without cell phones). In China, that would amount to only 350 text messages per person. So based on per capita, we text more than those in China.
Moreover, if we have 50 million cell phone subscribers and they have 550 million, this means every mobile phone user here sends about 2,000 text messages a year (or about five to six text messages) a day. In contrast, every mobile subscriber in China would probably be sending about 900 text messages (or about two to three text messages) per day). So, per mobile subscriber, we text more!
The holidays also gave me a chance to scour for some more gadgets that I could get my hands on. Checking out various computer shops in different countries, I found that one of the hot items in the market is the Wi-Fi access point based on the 802.11n standard. For those who are not familiar with this, the first wireless standard was the 802.11b, which had a range of about 30 meters indoors and about 100 meters outdoors. It had a speed of about 11 megabits per second. Then there came the second generation (there were two standards, the other one being 802.11a but since it is not backward compatible, it will not be discussed here), which was based on 802.11g. This was the same range as the earlier type but it offered potentially faster speed of 54 megabits per second.
Now, there is a new standard, or rather still a draft one, the 802.11n. Although it is expected to be made a standard in 2009 yet, many manufacturers have already released products based on the draft standard, and it is already occupying a lot of shelf space in many computer shops worldwide. It is easy to see why – it is not only backward compatible, but is used in conjunction with a wireless N standard network card. It can offer a data rate five times that of the standard G, which is over 248 megabits per second. It can also offer a range of two or three times, which is about 70 meters indoors or about 250 meters outdoors.
One of the gifts my kids and I got was a second generation Zune player. This is Microsoft’s entry into the mp3 player space. The first generation got a lukewarm response but the second generation Zune has gotten rave reviews and we finally thought we would try it. It works great! The model we got has an 80-gigabyte hard disk, and could easily play music, show photos as well as play videos.
It is quite easy to use, has very good battery life and, while not spectacular-looking or as hot as the IPOD, is a good value for money. It is still not sold locally, but I’m sure more and more dealers will be carrying it soon. What is nice is that it is easy to share music with its WiFi connection. It also has an FM radio tuner.
I guess with 80 gigabyte storage, more and more people will be watching videos coming from their pocket!
