Word of advice, DO NOT opt for these Matrix (www.matrix.in) international sim cards when travelling. On two occasions, we have been gyped in the billing. They charge you for calls you never made and services you never availed yourself of. And since you have to authorise auto-debit on your CC, by the time you find out its too late. Both me (in 2006) and my wife (2007) have had similar problems. And they are completely unresponsive. There is no one responsible who can take a decision and sort matters out. The ground staff simply doesn’t care.

Hardly had I stopped drooling over the Apple iPhone, when what do I hear but the other sex symbol of the Internet, Google, also has plans for a Google Phone. Wow! Most of the gossip around the Google Phone seems to be like an urban legend, even referred to as the “mythical” Google Phone in some posts.

Here are some interesting links for more on the phone:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/the-google-switch-an-iphone-killer/

http://simeons.wordpress.com/2007/03/04/the-real-google-phone/

For a sanity check on these reports, also visit http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/samsungandgoogle.html

Besides the natural excitement at the prospect of yet another cool gadget, this news also excites me in another way. It further underscores, if at all further underscoring was required, that convergence is already upon us. Think about it – what is a computer hardware company, or for that matter a search engine of dotcom lineage doing building phones? Its like HLL starting to build phones. HLL is a respected company known for quality products, but would you trust them with a phone?

And yet, I’m sure there’s a critical mass of gadget freaks (incl me) who’re quite enthusiastic about this possibility, and would not doubt Google too much in its capabilities to launch a kick-ass phone.

To me this is a big indicator of a shift that has been predicted for a long time. Hardware will cease to become important as it becomes more and more commoditised. The network and, more importantly content will be the real selling point. For example in case of a phone, I’m sure the hardware for making and receiving calls/data is fairly standardised. The reason we are excited about the Google phone (or the iPhone) is we expect the User Interface and the Apps that will be packed in would be great.

Similarly, this development is also about convergence – availability of content, software, apps will be ubiquitous and on demand, anywhere, anytime. Note the speculation that the Google phone will NOT have any storage. All data and content, even apps will be served from the network.

I might be going overboard here, but don’t these toys make life worth living?

Or, as mumbai med-school lingo would say it, “Basics Mein Rada”.

Get the fundamentals straight guys – get the damn voice calls to work. We love contradictions and ironies in India, don’t we? Only here do you find that basic needs are ignored, while everyone vies for a share of the top-end of the market. We have the best institutes in engineering and management, but poor penetration of primary education; the best vehicles money can buy, but no roads to speak of; and now, the 4th largest phone population in the world, among the largest business deals in recent times, but a user has to live with a sub-standard phone network.

Droped calls, jammed networks, billing issues – how is this any different from struggling with the MTNL operator for a Trunk Call? At the Roger Waters concert in Mumbai last night, you might as well have left your phone home!

Mr. Sarin, we don’t mind waiting a bit longer to become the largest mobile network in the world, or for the fastest nG technology. Can we please make a trouble-free phone call?