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Nanoblogging with Jaiku

My friends aren’t quite getting this whole nano or picoblogging thing. I think nanoblogging is a better term. People know what that means. Picoblogging, on the other hand… well… it’s a bit techie.

I had to text Ed and and tell him to update his Jaiku. Which sort of defeats the objective, doesn’t it?

Everyone else on my list is either offline (shouldn’t be allowed) or … well… yes, they’re offline. My dad is getting it. Now and again, that is. At least he’s got the application on, though.

Hetty, well, she was using it really well with me — and then — disaster! I happened to mention that she should look out for her data bill, being a Vodafone user. At £2.35 a meg, that’s a shocker of a potential bill. So she’s stopped using it temporarily.

I’m a bit alone on Jaiku. No one’s using it yet! Come on folk!

Right, I talked to Hetty about her suspending use of Jaiku. I asked if it was just the data costs that stopped her using it. Her answer?

Yep all cos of the costs. I liked it but would only use it if it was free. Certainly not worth paying for.

Arse. She’s right, of course. At £2.35 a meg, who would? But it cuts deep into my mobile soul to read ‘Certainly not worth paying for’. From a fiscal point of view, she’s correct. But alas she’s applied the costs of the (Vodafone) data to Jaiku and stopped using it. How disappointing.

This is a super, super example of how the data pricing, particularly in the UK, is really nailing the mobile market. When people get bill-shock (or in this case, pre-bill shock), they generally react negatively. In this case, all the good that was being done for Jaiku, for the mobile market in general, was wiped out immediately. The application was simply switched off.

(That is, until she gets a better deal….)

5 COMMENTS

  1. Would love to use Jaiku – I just need to wait for their Java version as it only supports symbian phones 🙁

    Just like iSkoot…

    And any decent SIP software…

    *sigh*

  2. It really does kill the industry, the cost or the perceived cost of data frightens people into not using services…

    Also, that story about the bloke getting a £1500 bill for watching tv on this handset didn’t actually help either. That sort of coverage can kill companies flat because people are frightened off with potential bills and I suppose you can’t blame them.

    I think 3 and T-Mobile are the only networks that actually get it at the moment and can see the future… O2 and Vodafone have there heads in the sand and seem to not care that they are harming an industry by not moving with the times.

  3. James @ Mobizines says:

    TELL US ABOUT IT!
    Grr…

    In fact!
    We changed our install process a while back so that if any T-Mobile downloads the client – they get a message advising them to get WnW as part of their bundle.

  4. I want Jaiku to turn into a full-blown Presence Controller — redirecting calls/messages from my virtual numbers/identities to whichever connection suits me best at that moment. And have it report my location to my friends but something more generic for anyone else. Perhaps that’s what Jaiku groups will be for?

    Jaiku could be the beginning of some fantastic mashups — can’t quite believe that Nokia (who surely must realise the potential) haven’t already consumed them.

    The situation with data tarrifs restraining development feels just like the pre-ADSL days (remember the ludicrous Home Highway?) when I was paying £20/mth for two-hour-limited chunks of dial-up access. What would the web look like today without broadband?

    But it would significantly help if developers could give an idea of how much data their app would typically use. Then us normobs could lobby the operators for more sensible data plans.

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