Contrast – Vertu and O3b
I recently saw an interesting contrast in the Business Media and Communications section of the International Herald Tribune. Two unrelated articles which highlight two ends of the technology spectrum.
On the one hand a story about Vertu describes a new mobile phone service in Japan, Ultrarich only, please, where some customers are willing to pay $100,000 for a hand made phone handset – it does have diamonds encrusted on the case. On the other hand a story about 03b who are installing satellite networks in remote areas of Kenya, An oasis of connectivity in rural Kenya.
I’m not down on turning a mobile into a piece of jewelry, that’s kind of interesting. However, I find it compelling to hear the story of 0b3 which stands for the ‘other three billion’ people who are not on the internet. Different design challenges for different markets. It would be interesting to put the product requirements specs for these two products next to each other.
