An unfinished thought: how do we reconcile the perceived need for operators to open up their walled gardens, and one big reason why content owners are interested in mobile - easy billing?

I mean: we can't just let *anyone* stick a charge onto the bills of mobile subscribers. That's been tried with premium SMS, and the industry is now having to correct itself by cracking down on PSMS subscription services. So at some level, there'll be a divide between operator-approved partners who can bill for content, and unapproved ones who don't.

So even if the so-called garden walls are demolished (which I don't believe is necessary for operators and content owners to enjoy commercial success), there's still a divide, and a need for operators to vet and approve content providers.

Ryan Shaw just posted a lovely quote about the effects of videophones in a hypothetical future onto the Keitai-L list; I believe it's taken from this book:

"...within a couple more sales-quarters most consumers were now using masks so undeniably better-looking on videophones than their real faces in person, transmitting to one another such horrendously skewed and enhanced masked images of themselves, that enormous psychosocial stress began to result, large numbers of phone-users suddenly reluctant to leave home and interface personally with people who, they feared, were now habituated to seeing their far-better-looking masked selves on the phone and would on seeing them in person suffer (so went the callers' phobia) the same illusion-shattering aesthetic disappointment that, e.g., certain women who always wear makeup give people the first time they ever see them without makeup."

Thinking of placing an order with Staples? Don't bother. In nearly 4 weeks since we ordered through their web site we've sat on hold on 6 occasions and sent in 4 emails, without ever hearing from a human being about the status of our order (or even that it's been confirmed).

And if you're in the Brighton area, I can so far recommend ODM: one phone call, and the items we're after are due to be delivered by lunchtime today.