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The call to be different: Cell phone aficionados scour the ends of the Earth for the newest, fanciest and most exclusive(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Aug. 27--There are people who shop off the rack and others who want their gear tailored to their tastes. That is true for mobile phones, and for the fashion- and feature-conscious, there is a world of wireless gadgets that many in the United States never see. Buyers looking for a cool phone other than the Motorola RAZR have a lot of options -- they just have to think globally. "My mom has a RAZR," said Antone White, 26, of Milwaukee. "That phone is played out. Me, I carry phones you can't find in Milwaukee. For me, it's just as much about style as substance." White, an independent computer consultant, says he uses a high-end multimedia phone from Nokia that isn't available through U.S. wireless carriers, as well as "a super-thin Samsung phone I bought on eBay." "You just need to know what you want," he said. "It isn't brain surgery, but so many people are just willing to take what they're offered. I'm a bit more discriminating." Why bother? To be different. Or to find a phone with a very specific set of features. Some people want their cell phones to stand out, and that's not going to happen buying what wireless carriers spoon-feed the public. There are specialty stores and Web sites catering to such stylish desires. "Our customers are people who love technology, early adopters and gadget technophiles," said Douglas Krone, CEO of Dynamism.com, a Web site based in Chicago that sells consumer electronics from around the world. "Those people are often senior executives or entrepreneurs," he said. "Or they are the young, hip, style-conscious, fashion-conscious crowd. Then we also have the global business traveler." Most Americans with mobile phones get them the traditional way -- they walk into a store and buy one from the dozen or so offered by a wireless carrier such as Cingular or Verizon. On the other hand, independent operators sell cells -- not service -- including handsets from Asia and Europe. "Phones are definitely the most intense electronics product cycle I've ever seen," Krone said. "They make PCs look sort of sedate and relaxed. Every single day there are new phones on the market in hundreds of countries." The number of choices is so vast that picking the juiciest of the crop means looking for phones that are "are discernibly different," Krone said. "The idea is that we try to make it like a boutique rather than a catalog." For example, there's the Samsung X820, which Krone said is currently the thinnest phone in the world. Despite its pint size, it has a 2-megapixel camera, a digital music player and Bluetooth for connecting a wireless headset. Such eliteness comes at a hefty price of $330. Or there's the credit card-sized VK2020 from VK Mobile. It weighs less than 2 ounces, has Bluetooth and a built-in digital music player. It also costs about $350. And those are just two of thousands of cell phones that never make it to the U.S. mass market for various reasons, even though they will work on certain cellular networks here, usually those using a technology called GSM, including Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile. GSM, which stands for Global System for Mobile Communications, is a popular digital cellular technology used in most countries. Getting phone to talk to network One of its advantages is that it lets users switch wireless service to a new phone by easily swapping in a chip the size of a thumbnail called a SIM card. GSM phones sold in the U.S. are technologically locked so they can be used only on a specific cellular network, but the same phones sold in foreign countries have no such limitations. So an unlocked GSM phone originally sold in France will work on Cingular's network or T-Mobile's. Installing a SIM card into a mobile phone typically requires sliding it in a slot underneath the battery. The process takes a couple of minutes at most. So certain savvy users can switch phones to suit their mood. Ziker Pehlari, owner of Overseas Electronics in Chicago, said he and family members who work at the store often pop SIM cards into new phones to show potential buyers how easy it is -- and how the foreign phones will work with U.S. wireless service. "It's really so easy, man, it's not a problem," Pehlari said as he switched the language display on a brand-new Motorola PEBL from Italian to English by navigating some menus. "See, this phone is only sold by T-Mobile in the United States, but this one is going to work with Cingular," he said. "You'll see." Pehlari, a self-confessed cell phone addict with more than 20 for personal use, said high-end smart phones with advanced features such as full keyboards are among the most popular with the customers. "It's a lot of younger guys," he said. "It's like computers, man, they are always looking to upgrade." Limit comparison shopping Bill Hughes, an analyst with In-Stat, a market research firm, said 8% to 10% of people in a recent survey felt comfortable enough to buy a phone from a source other than a wireless carrier. "The main thing you do by going with a non-traditional source is you give up your subsidy of $150 to $200" on a phone from the wireless carrier, he said. "It's nothing to sneeze at. But if you like the features and form factor of a phone, $200 isn't a lot to walk away from -- for some people." Hughes said wireless carriers offer a limited selection of phones for several reasons, including "merchandising." "There is an art-science of merchandising," he said. "They don't want you to comparison shop. They realize people do it, but they want to reduce the chances that you will." So carriers offer phones in three consumer-friendly categories -- entry-level, mid-range and high-end -- "to get you to walk into a store and walk out with a phone." Hughes also said that "since phones are changing so fast, it's easier for a carrier to work with a handful of companies, watch what is going on in the industry and keep up with the competition without flooding the sales and support organization with too many choices." In an industry report titled "The Big Trends for Cell Phones 2006-2011," which was authored by Hughes and published in May, he found that less than 10% of those studied bought their mobile phone from a "non-traditional source." Among that group, there was no difference in age, income or job, Hughes said. But they tended to own more portable electronics: 70% had laptops. They also were three times as likely to own a digital music player; four times as likely to have a portable cassette player; and twice as likely to own a portable video player. Potential pitfalls For their part, wireless companies such as Cingular and T-Mobile seem lukewarm to the idea of customers buying cell phones from other sources, noting that the phones they sell are rigorously tested and programmed for their systems. Peter Dobrow, senior manager of corporate communications for T-Mobile, says in a statement that the company examines "all available handset options from a wide variety of manufacturers and selects the products that provide the best mix of functionality, reliability and style choices for our customers." Ritch Blasi, media relations director for Cingular, said that although unlocked phones from overseas will work on his company's network, there are some potential pitfalls. For example, the phone must be compatible with the different frequencies, which vary depending on the carrier's coverage area. Foreign phones haven't been programmed to access the data services for U.S. carriers -- for downloading ring tones and other bells and whistles -- so they usually need to be reconfigured by digging around in the phone's menu options. "Codes and settings need to be changed," Blasi said. "It can be done, but you need to be feel comfortable doing that." And because third-party foreign phones might not be approved by U.S. wireless companies, other quirks can arise. "If you ask me, would I recommend people buy phones from overseas, whether I am with Cingular or T-Mobile or some other GSM carrier, I'd say 'no' because I couldn't guarantee your experience. "We stand behind every device we sell," he said. "We can't guarantee anything if someone is buying a phone from Germany and using it on our network." Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |