Jan Chipchase - Future Perfect: Ulan Bataar Archives

March 04, 2006

Mobile Phone Kiosks

This is technically a mobile phone. But if I'm completely accurately its actually a mobile phone kiosk - part of a service offered by local entrepreneurs in Ulan Bataar.

The first time I ventured onto the street of UB I encountered an individual on the street holding what appeared to be a white landline, shifting from foot to foot in the intense cold (similar to the three ladies in the photo below). My first hunch was that they were selling used phones. As the day wore on, and more sellers were encountered it became apparent that they weren't selling phones, but rather telephony.

A number of the so-called white phone sellers offer infrastructure akin to a traditional phone kiosk to support making a call - and this ranged from a wooden stand to hold the phone to a cushioned seat. Cigarettes and chewing tobacco were also for sale. To be frank it was a little unnerving, to see a white phone customer walking along the street with the white phone seller walking along side them holding the body of the phone, the cable dangling between them. Mobile, yet tethered to one another.

MobiTel, the primary mobile carrier in Mongolia rents wireless battery powered white phones for around 100,000 Tughriks (70 Euro) for 3 years. The seller of the service must make a 10,000 Tughrik deposit to be able to make and take domestic calls from the phone, and a 100,000 Tughrik deposit is required for international calls. The price of the service for consumers fluctuates according to where the phone is located - generally the more competition the cheaper the cost.

For me this is an interesting example of a largely public service (telephony) offered by private individuals. Unlike fixed line phones, of which there appeared to be few in UB, the seller of the service is able to relocate to where there is most demand for the service. As with many street vendors - the location of a pitch once obtained is closely guarded - so there is not true mobility in the sense that anyone can conduct business anywhere without concequences, but when there is an event for example a bout at the Wrestling Palace, then the more white phone sellers can gather to offer sufficient service to an increased number of punters. Just like any other vendor be it a hot-dog stand or to stay within the Mongolian context a Mongolia Booz seller.

The major benefits of mobile phones come from being tools that offer personal, convenient, synchronous and asynchronous communication (possibly also the time and location shifting of experiences but lets save that for another day). Fixed line phone kiosks offer a degree of privacy and typically more shelter and the white phone kiosk users forsake privacy for convenience.

As more services go mobile a new challenge arises - how to notify customers that a service is offered in a particular location?

Posted by Jan at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2006

Barriers to Market Entry

You buy and sell second hand phones. What steps do you need to take before deciding whether to purchase a second hand device? How easy is it to check that the device works? And given that, what is the minimum infrastructure you need be able to operate? What are the barriers to entering the market?

A sign, a display case, somewhere to sit and something to sell. Photo from the extensive mobile phone market around Chengdu's Tai Shen Lan Lu.

Posted by Jan at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

Checked, Validated

You want to get your mobile phone repaired via the grey market (photo Ulaan Bataar, above), rather than via more formal repair shops certified by manufacturers. How sure are you that the repair has been properly carried out? What recourse do you have based on formal or social agreements if it turns out not to have been repaired properly?

Posted by Jan at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)

December 23, 2005

Negociations

First off, negociate the price of a translator.
Next the translator negociates the price of a repair.
Lastly, negociate your way out of a crowded market with a proven reputation for pick pockets.

Photos from some time this month, Ulan Bataar.

Posted by Jan at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2005

Phone Number As Identity II

Mobicom [the primary Mongolian carrier] offers a student sign-up package. Part of the deal is a mobile phone number with the pre-fix 9961

"It's a good deal, but if I went for a job and gave a [student] phone number they would want to pay me less"

Posted by Jan at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

Battery

Hologram seal on non-Nokia battery for Nokia phone.

Quality assurance or perception of quality assurance?

Posted by Jan at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

Steamed

It looks like frost escaping from a freezer when it is in fact the reverse.

Steam from basement workshop freezes on coming in contact with the cold (-20 to -30) air.

Posted by Jan at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

Expectations Out of Sync

Wandering around UB and chance up disciples playing football in a temple complex. They invite me into the warmth for a reason - to mine the memory of my phone of all its value. Half a dozen files transferred from my device - particularly interested in obtaining photos of women from Japan.

Posted by Jan at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)

Phone Number As Identity I

What does your phone number say about you?

Numbers for sale in Ulan Bataar (photo above) and Beijing (below).

Mobicom - the primary Mongolian carrier has semi-automated the process (photo below) with in-store phone number selection. Baby steps on the way to something more sophisticated?

Totally redesign the way we make, keep and manage contacts. What could your phone number say about you?

Posted by Jan at 09:43 AM | Comments (1)

White Phone Kiosk

Posted by Jan at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

Motivations for...

Posted by Jan at 07:42 AM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2005

Comparison Shopping

A walk from the Container Market to Tomorchiin Gudamj takes you through an aisle of parked cars. In each one thick wads of different currencies - roubles, yen, dollars and renminbi folded and squeezed between the dashboard and the windshield. This market is very much for locals.

The car is converted into an effective money exchange - warm for the exhanger, sufficiently secure, and easily identifiable for repeat customers. One thing that is missing is notification of exchange rates - making it difficult as a consumer to know which seller to approach first. It's unlikely that they are simply not organised enough, or that the rates fluctuate too frequently. The act of exchanging money is legal but advertising it is not? A ploy to force customers to approach a car window and engage in negociation? Making comparison shopping harder?

Roll forward 5 years - everyone has mobile tools enabling easy, non-proprietary, sufficiently secure, proximate communication and increasingly the phone is used as a store of money and call credits. How will this scene be different?

Posted by Jan at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)

Pirate TV (Sloppy Seconds)

Cable channels here are an interesting mix: the Simpsons dubbed into Mongolian, Korean & Indian dramas, Mongolian-rap videos, Chinese news, Russian cop shows and a Voice of Amerika. One channel is broadcasting back to back ripped DVDs. Really? Three subtle clues: the English movie is showing subtitles in English but to a different movie; one of the movies was a screener - just ok video quality but echoey audio; and the clincher - they also broadcast the DVD menu before the movie starts.