GPRS mobile phones : a one year delay ?

When are the GPRS mobiles going to be on the market ? They are supposed to make us forget the WAP slowness and cost in the Internet access and to make us wait for the arrival of the UMTS technology and the mobile phones of the third generation. But they are very late. During the GSM World Congress in Cannes, in February 2000, SFR, for example, announced the first launching to users for June 2000 and the marketing during the last three month of 2000. They are not on time. Today, operators even schedule a one year delay.

According to survey published in the beginning of the week in the Financial Times, which quotes a manager of TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), 'you will probably have to wait until summer 2002 before all of our phones are GPRS ones'.Moreover the performance tests are not very conclusive concerning the real advantages of the GPRS (see article : 'Mobile phone and Internet : the GPRS won't solve everything'). Still, several European operators announce 'the beginning of the marketing' of GPRS mobile phones within the first six months of 2001, just before summer. While Orange, the France Telecom branch, is more optimistic and talks about a 'mass marketing' within the second quarter. Let's wait and see…