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Phones need simplicity before cool stuff, CEOs say

The average user only has so much patience for complex rate plans and all the tiny function menus packed into the latest handsets.

Reuters
2 min read
NEW ORLEANS--Mobile telephone services need to be far less confusing to consumers, the heads of top U.S. wireless operators said on Wednesday, even as they talked up complex features such as Web surfing or video on phones.

"We need to be challenged to simplify this business," Stan Sigman, chief executive of Cingular Wireless, the country's biggest mobile service said during a panel discussion on the final day of the annual CTIA wireless trade show here.

"Every new idea we fall in love with," agreed Robert Dotson, head of T-Mobile USA, the fourth biggest U.S. provider, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG. "We don't need more. Do fewer and do it better."

Some argue that rapid improvements in wireless technology have made obsolete the idea of the phone as a simple voice communications device.

Ed Zander, chief executive of mobile handset maker Motorola, joked earlier this week about the device "formerly known as the cell phone."

But other leaders warned the industry not to attempt to squeeze everything possible--from cameras to TVs to music players and business e-mail--into every phone.

"The limit is the customers' tolerance for multifunction keys," said Dick Lynch, chief technology officer of Verizon Wireless, a venture owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group.

Lynch was referring to limits on how much typing one can do on numerical keypad and small screens found on most phones.

Sigman said mobile rate plans tend to be confusing for customers who need to chose from many price variations and remember what time calls become more or less expensive each day. As new features are added, the confusion gets worse.

But Cingular, a venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth, and its rivals are moving toward even more complicated services as they build fast networks to deliver everything from music to TV.

Products showcased this week at CTIA clearly show an industry in flux, with one foot in traditional communications and the other racing to embrace a media-rich future full of video, music and interactive entertainment.

"So much about the future of our industry is content," said Len Lauer, the chief operating officer of Sprint, who said phones will be "that third screen" with just as much importance as computer monitors and home TVs--if not more.

All the top carriers have added multiple menus to handsets with features such as musical ring tones and Web-based news portals, often at premium prices. Each promises for these services to become a much bigger part of their offerings.

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