Lehmann, a senior business school lecturer who was last week named a fellow of the British Computer Society, says while cellular network providers have spent up large on spectrum for the next-generation mobile technology, consumers are saying “what we have is good enough”.
Many business applications don’t require the bandwidth 3G offers, he says, with SMS and small databases that can provide stock availability information, for example, being able to be accessed by existing technology. “You don’t need to be able to send pictures over your phone.”
Several European countries launched i-mode in April “and no one’s heard anything since”.
That doesn’t mean 3G networks and applications won’t be successful in New Zealand, however, he adds.