The coolest toys that nobody will buy (Saturated Market)

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The coolest toys that nobody will buy

Strategy There's been a lot of buzz over at Rogers. Seems they're set to launch their new video-call cellphone services. Sounds great, doesn't it? Very Star Trek. They even brought Captain Kirk.

But this idea is far from perfect, and certainly not new. Video phones have already been invented, just not in cell form. And the result was predictable: nobody bought them. They had two major drawbacks:

1. In order to use it, everyone else needs one too
2. One of the greatest benefits of the phone is that nobody can see you. Who wants to make themselves presentable for a phone call?

This is akin to the issue of Bell's movies and tv on phones, or Telus' pornographic venture (but that's a whole other story). Sure, it's a neat idea. And yes, it's incredible that we have this technology. But who wants to watch a movie on a screen the size of a cracker? Let's not even get started on the hazards we've created of people walking down the street, looking at their phone instead of where they're going (even worse for the drivers!). And really...I'm hard pressed to believe that today's phones have the ability to show a whole movie and still have the battery power left to take a call. My cellphone is only a year and a half old, and it's already got a borderline common-law relationship with its charger.

At least Rogers kept their weird "look-what-MY-phone-can-do" gadget related to telecommunication. The video call idea is still, at its heart, a phone call.

Unless you've got Bell and you want to pretend you're talking to Captain Jack. Or Jenna Jameson if you're on Telus.

Until next time,