What is Push to Talk?

What is "Push-To-Talk"

The so-called "Push-To-Talk" (English abbreviation PTT, namely Push-To-Talk) is actually a mobile phone with integrated walkie-talkie function. Users can talk directly to groups or individuals anywhere by pressing the intercom button on their mobile phones.

Push-to-Talk is a push-to-talk (PTT) mobile phone that combines the functions of a mobile phone and a walkie-talkie. It uses the mobile phone's network. PTT mobile phones are different from ordinary walkie-talkies. First, the walkie-talkies do not need to go through the network. Second, compared with ordinary walkie-talkies that can only transmit calls within a short distance and rely on power, this service has strong advantages, including roaming.

Features

1. You can quickly make "one-to-one" or "one-to-many" calls, just like using an intercom.

2. Compared with having to wait after dialing on a mobile phone, "Push to Talk" can be connected in about 3 seconds after pressing the call button, and the delay when speaking is also within 1 second, which is close to professional walkie-talkies. .

3. Unlike walkie-talkies that can only communicate at short distances, the push-to-talk service can reach places covered by the mobile phone network, with almost no distance restrictions.

4. Compared with the high investment in private networks that walkie-talkies rely on, mobile phone intercoms can make full use of the current CDMA network, significantly reducing the operator's operating costs and the user's usage costs.

Market Capacity

According to a survey by the Ministry of Information Industry, the potential market demand for domestic digital clusters is 8 million to 9 million. From 2000 to 2005, the output value reached 50 billion yuan.

Current bottlenecks

1. How to control the delay within the range that users can "tolerate";

2. Realize the two major operators, each Standard issues are still a bottleneck in the interconnection and interoperability between terminals and different systems.

Success Stories

Nextcl, the fifth largest operator in the United States, has 40 million PTT users.

"Push-To-Talk" is very popular, setting off a new technology trend

"Push-To-Talk" (PTT, Chinese translation: "Push-To-Talk") is new or not The mobile business, which is neither old nor old, has now become synonymous with new mobile phone technologies. Its popularity is second only to 3G. It was even considered one of the "two hot spots for the new generation of mobile phones in the future" by the Zelos-Group survey report in the United States. It can reduce the user's call costs to a certain extent.

At the just-concluded 2004 CeBIT exhibition in Hannover, Germany, various manufacturers spared no effort to showcase their "push to talk" mobile phones. This is also the best example: Samsung SPH-A760 mobile phone has just surfaced. Sony Ericsson's T637 and Z500, which are expected to be launched in the second quarter of this year and support "one-touch calling", are also emerging. Siemens' products are also said to be launched at the same time. Motorola has also released three PTT mobile phones overseas, targeting GSM and CDMA networks respectively. .

Nokia, which launched the world's first "push to talk" GSM mobile phone, said that in 2004, Nokia will launch a full range of GSM mobile phones with "wireless push to talk" function, including those using the Symbian operating system. Smartphone. Starting from 2005, all Nokia's new GPRS/WCDMA mobile phones will be fully equipped with the "Wireless Push to Talk" function.

Another new technology trend has begun.

What is a "push-to-talk" mobile phone?

The push-to-talk (PTT) function is a new mobile technology that can quickly conduct "one-to-one" or "one-to-one" calls. Multi-talk, just like using an intercom. This feature is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses with frequent contact needs, as well as individual users who need to chat with friends and family. However, you must use a mobile phone with this function built in. Ordinary mobile phones cannot use the PTT function. However, some mobile phones that support Qualcomm BREW can support PTT technology through software upgrades in the future.

After activating PTT on your mobile phone, you can use your mobile phone to make "one-to-one" or "one-to-many" calls with the selected group by simply pressing the corresponding button on the mobile phone. The PTT service of American CDMA operator Nextel requires the owner to hold down the button before he can speak. After letting go, the other party hears a "beep" sound before he can speak.

Unlike walkie-talkies that can only communicate at short distances, the push-to-talk service can reach places covered by mobile phone networks, with almost no distance restrictions. The PTT service can be billed according to the duration, period and traffic, or it can be paid on a monthly basis, depending on the operator. Judging from the commercial precedents of Qualcomm and CDMA operator Nextel in the United States, the monthly subscription system costs between US$15 and US$30.

In addition to the advantages of free roaming, long-distance calling, convenient use, and low cost, increasing operator revenue and reducing communication costs are also the main selling points of "Push to Talk". However, "push to talk" still has certain shortcomings. From a technical perspective, POC does not have a high technical threshold. In fact, from the perspective of technical indicators such as response time, this technology that implements the cluster intercom function on mobile phones cannot compete with cluster communication technology. Judging from the current situation, the general POC delay takes two to three seconds. Judging from the experience of some operators in the United States, the success of this service mainly depends on the delay issue. Therefore, controlling the delay within the range that users can "tolerate" is the technical core of this service promotion.

In addition, if PTT wants to target high-end business people, there is still a certain gap in terms of confidentiality and call quality. If it wants to target low-end blue-collar workers, not only is it a question of whether it can make big profits, but also whether It is also doubtful whether they can successfully cultivate their usage habits, because even "push to talk" can only speak with one click, but it requires certain operations in passively receiving messages and sending voice messages, let alone cultivating a kind of New habits are inherently difficult.

Industry experts predict, "If pricing and positioning are accurate, PTT should first succeed in the young people market."

The two camps lead to differences in standards

Information A survey by the Ministry of Industry estimates that the potential market demand for domestic digital clusters is 8 million to 9 million units, and the output value reached 50 billion yuan from 2000 to 2005. According to the internationally accepted ratio of professional users to mobile users of 1:10, by 2005, based on the 300 million public network users, the number of professional mobile network users will reach 30 million.

Despite this, some people are not optimistic, because in order to achieve interconnection and interoperability between the two major operators, various terminals and different systems, standards issues are still a bottleneck.

Last year, Motorola, Ericsson, Siemens and Sony Ericsson jointly released their POC systems and plan to launch "push-to-talk" mobile phones that can communicate with each other in the second quarter of 2004. On the same day, Nokia also released POC technology, but the technology was not compatible with the technologies of the above four manufacturers.

Although several companies are members of the "OpenMobile Alliance" (OMA for short), in view of the attractive prospects of this technology, they are still following their own different paths, and They can't wait to formulate their own standards. Currently, OMA members are mainly divided into two camps. One is the alliance between Nokia and Samsung, while the other camp is dominated by Motorola, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Although both camps use POC technology from Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Espoo, the problem is that the current "push to talk" mobile phones of the two camps cannot communicate with each other. In addition, many companies are also starting their own research. For example, Qualcomm has developed Qchat, a PTT technology based on CDMA2000 network.

Technical incompatibility is the last thing the industry wants to see. If the standards are different, then the market is destined to enter a state of fragmentation, and differences in standards will affect the orderly development of the market to a great extent.

"Only when everyone reaches a common understanding and achieves mutual compatibility of technologies, so that mobile phones of different operators can communicate with each other. This is crucial for push-to-talk to enter the market. ” Industry experts believe.

Operators are still brewing

On the one hand, in the face of the POC business market with huge potential, manufacturers such as Motorola, Siemens, and Nokia are secretly making efforts. On the other hand, in sharp contrast to the scramble of manufacturers, operators' attitude towards POC is still ambiguous.

The possibility of "Push to Talk" being used across operators is very small. At present, various operators, equipment vendors, and mobile phone manufacturers have not yet issued unified standards. The PTT services of China Mobile and China Unicom are based on the GPRS network and the CDMA1X network respectively. So far, operators have not attempted interconnection. When standards have not yet been unified, operators are obviously not fully prepared.

But experts believe mobile phone operators are well aware that the feature could encourage users to speak more, thereby boosting their revenues. At the same time, this business is likely to be positioned by China Unicom as a new market killer application. The implementation of this business may mean that China Unicom can stabilize existing mobile phone users and win more new users.

Some technical experts also pointed out that PTT is based on future 3G and existing 2.5G network technology. If operators have a good IP foundation on the core network, it will be easier to implement a nationwide enterprise private network. Easy, and making PTT calls will be more convenient and practical.

According to reports, Qualcomm and China Unicom have already begun cooperation. China Mobile has also conducted business tests involving multiple manufacturers in Guangdong, Hunan, and Sichuan. According to Guangdong China Unicom, PTT's actual commercial services will be launched as early as the end of May or early June this year.

Is "push to talk" too much?

According to Guangdong China Unicom, the "Push to Talk (PTT)" commercial service will be launched as early as the end of May or early June. This mobile phone boom that has spread almost all over the world will finally show off its skills in China. It is reported that there are currently more than 10 manufacturers providing "push to talk" solutions in China. Eastern Communications and Southern Hi-tech have also launched "push to talk" mobile phones. In terms of time, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have more "push to talk" services. Development is basically in sync with foreign countries.

Just as major mobile phone manufacturers and mobile operators were opening up the "Push to Talk" front, sirens sounded from the "Push to Talk" World Summit in London on March 30. T-Mobile CEO Otto publicly stated that it would be dangerous to make "push to talk" so popular, just like the mobile Internet gained momentum a few years ago.

At that time, merchants wanted to launch WAP applications on the mobile Internet. However, due to its fragmented operating environment, lack of compatibility and supporting hardware, its practicality was greatly reduced. As a result, WAP applications have not made much progress so far. Nowadays, "push to talk" is as popular as WAP and is also full of dangers. Will businesses make the same mistakes again?

However, many merchants have been unable to return home now that they have gone all the way. However, merchants may have to reflect on this: Has "One Click to Talk" achieved the business model they need? Do users really need it?

Nextel’s model has been questioned

In the development of “push to talk”, Nextel is undoubtedly regarded as the founder of the success of this technology, and therefore has become a popular choice for many people who want to enter “push to talk”. A model for operators in the push-to-talk market to follow. It is said that Nextel, which started operating the "push to talk" network in 1993, now has 13 million users. It is far from the largest telecom operator in the United States, but it is the operator with the highest ARPU (revenue per user) and the lowest user churn rate in the world. , it collects $69 in profit per user per month. The industry generally believes that all of this is neither supported by beautiful mobile phones nor the bustling third-generation mobile communication network, but only because of the simplest "push to talk".

However, T-Mobile CEO Otto doesn’t think so.

He argued that Nextel's high user yield and low user churn rate had little to do with "push to talk" and everything to do with its business model. Otto emphasized that Nextel's main business is focused on the small and medium-sized enterprise market and commercial users, and it can do well with or without "push to talk". (Note: T-Mobile is the only European company that can compete with Nextel in the United States. It has more advantages and motivation than other companies to promote the "push to talk" service.)

In fact, except for Apart from Nextel, it is still difficult to find a second successful company. When operators in the United States or Europe copied Nextel's model, they did not achieve immediate results. Sprint and Verizon in the United States began offering push-to-talk services in 2003. According to a recent issue of Fobers, the two big-name mobile operators "have been concerned about push-to-talk since last fall's uproar." There is almost no sound from the business”. Afterwards, France's Orange has formulated a detailed plan for this year's "push to talk" business, but its foothold has been criticized a lot.

Richard Brennan, executive vice president of Orange, confidently pointed out at the "Push to Talk" conference that 80% of users over 40 years old will not use short message services. Orange's "Push to Talk" The voice messaging service TalkNow will solve this problem for them. However, analysts believe that if they do not use the quite mature SMS service, it is difficult to guarantee that they will use the fashionable and novel "push to talk". Some European analysts even believe that "push to talk" will only become a toy that a few users are interested in, and will never become a popular service like text messaging.

In addition, an obvious question is that while Orange has developed the habit of using voice text messages among users over 40 years old, it is impossible to prevent existing text message users from switching to "push to talk". Will it lose this part? Users and SMS services? If there is a loss, whether the loss caused can be equalized by the newly developed business, this is a very real problem. It is not impossible for the operator's ARPU value to fall instead of rising.

In short, the Nextel model is intriguing. According to research on Nextel, the biggest selling points of "push to talk" are "it does not require time to dial up or connect to the network, it is convenient to use and the call time is shortened" and "the cost is low". But it cannot be denied that just like IP phones are to traditional long-distance calls, “push to talk” has the potential to replace traditional voice communications and SMS services, and may even become their “killer”. Whether it can truly increase ARPU still requires operations The merchant has a very good profit model and promotion method.

Faced with this hot potato, what exactly do operators use to attract users? Whether "push to talk" is worth the operator's heavy investment has become a question. It is reported that Orange and some operators in the United States are currently only in the trial operation stage, and truly good models are worth demonstrating and looking forward to.

There are variables in the "push to talk" market

Although the "push to talk" technology has been generally praised, there are still many variables in whether it can gain a foothold in the communications market.

Market demand is the focus of the debate. Although the concept of "push to talk" is very practical, how many people are willing to use their mobile phones as "walkie-talkies"? If the service targets of the "push to talk" service are positioned at government agencies, fire protection, flood control, emergency rescue departments, and within enterprises, then the service may receive a good response due to the wide coverage of the technology. However, the application demand market for government departments and enterprises is limited after all, and how many people in the mass market will "play" this kind of service? It should be noted that the current "push to talk" business in North America is still concentrated on users in industries such as retail, transportation, and logistics. The real individual user market still requires operators to further explore its potential.

Another big issue before official commercial use is user positioning.

If "Push to Talk" wants to target high-end business people, there is still a certain gap in issues such as confidentiality and call quality; if it wants to target low-end blue-collar workers, not only is it a question of whether it can make big profits, but also whether it can be successfully cultivated. Their usage habits are also a question. Because even push-to-talk only allows you to speak with one click, but it requires certain operations to passively receive messages and send voice messages, not to mention that it is inherently difficult to develop a new habit. It is worth reminding that when Chinese people are completely familiar with and accept text messages, it is worth considering whether there is still market space for "push to talk".

Furthermore, reasonable tariff levels will also be crucial to the popularization of "push to talk" services. There is currently no clear statement from domestic parties about this, but according to Nextel's commercial precedent in the United States, the monthly subscription fee is between 15 and 30 US dollars. Of course, the living standard in the United States is higher than that in China. If operators copy this standard to China, it is estimated that a large number of users will be isolated from the "push to talk" door. Therefore, how to set the price is still worth weighing by merchants.

It is undeniable that "push to talk" is an exciting new technology, but new technologies inevitably have shortcomings. According to some people with experience in using it, the problem of delay during "push to talk" calls still exists. Moreover, because "push to talk" uses data packet transmission, its delay is greater than that of ordinary walkie-talkies. Generally, the delay is within a few seconds, which makes the voice transmission process uncomfortable. Of course, some manufacturers claim to be able to control the delay within one second, but in the process of large-scale network transmission, its real effect still needs to be tested in practice.

In addition, the characteristics of the "push to talk" service determine that it must have some special functions. For example, such a mobile phone should have a speaker that can amplify the voice even on the street, a special button that can be pressed to talk, and a long standby time to meet the needs of a "walkie-talkie". For example, in order to achieve interoperability in different networks, "one "Key-to-talk" technology must have its unified technical standards. But its unified standard may not be launched until the first quarter of next year. Without unified standards, users would be confused about who can receive "push to talk" messages and who cannot. For another example, the voice speed of "push to talk" must reach a certain standard to be smooth, but this indicator has not yet been determined. When you actually use it, it may drop from the theoretical 117 Kbit/s to 20 Kbit/s.

Of course, even in the face of many variables, the market is always driven by demand. The enthusiasm has not waned. Nowadays, how to find the entry point of the market will be the key to the success of "one-click call" merchants. Dr. Lu Guoying, general manager of CCID Consulting's communications and network consulting division, believes that for new services such as "push to talk", as long as the marketing can highlight the characteristics of fashion and convenience, "push to talk" mobile phones will be easier to use. It can replace civilian walkie-talkies in the ordinary individual user market. Some people in the industry believe that deeper marketing cooperation should be carried out in the enterprise user market. For example, operators must introduce reasonable package tariff models and use VPN virtual private networks to provide packaged businesses and services to corporate customers. Operators and terminal manufacturers can jointly promote the development of the "push to talk" service market through "bundled marketing" and other methods. (Wang Jinyuan)

Comments

The market is ultimately driven by demand, but what is puzzling is that even in the face of so many variables, the enthusiasm of businesses has not faded. Judging from the current situation, if the unique and differentiated services that this business can provide are limited, and users have to change mobile phones for this business, one can imagine the consequences. Therefore, whether the technology is new or not is not the key. The most important thing is to find the entry point into this market.