Re: FW: vCARD v.2.1 definition extension request from MOPA

[Anthony Yen <Anthony.Yen@xxxxxxx>]

At 8:45 PM -0600 4/1/97, Chris Josephes said:
> On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, Frank Dawson wrote:
> > Why is a PCS property appropriate for a telephone number in the vCard? Will
> > the user require a different device to call a PCS telephone number (ie,
> > need a telex device to call a telex number)? I didn't think so. This is one
> > reason that I might want to add a specific property parameter for PCS.
> > Isn't it just a cellular technology? Do we need to differentiate all the
> > other types of cellular technologies? We went through this once before with
> > a request from Nokia for annotating all the world wide cellular standards.
> > This makes no sense. I don't include this info on my business card in front
> > of my cellular number.
>
> If any PCS person heard the terms "PCS" and "cellular" in the same
> sentence they'd never let you hear the end of the number of differences
> between the two technologies.
>
> There shouldn't be any difference whatsoever when you call someone on a
> PCS phone or a cellular phone, but maybe it is different for computers.
>
> Maybe special PCS dialing software will become available in the near
> future (this is a big maybe) to take advantages of the PCS technology.  If
> that's the case then maybe the PCS parameter should be added now to
> prepare for the day PCS becomes more popular, and more distinguishable
> than regular cellular telephone technology.
>
> So maybe we should hear some more arguements about why PCS should have a
> different label?

Would it be conceivable that in the future a PCMCIA form factor wireless
communications device supporting both PCS and analog cellular be able to
route power to only circuitry covering the format it will use?  Under this
scenario, it would be preferable to know that a particular number could be
dialed with PCS, thereby consuming less power and (presumably) offering
greater features, such as exchanging vCards and vCalendars on a subchannel.

It is true that today you do not need a different device to call a PCS
subscriber, and this will remain the case in the forseeable future.
However, encoding this information and making it available will propel
vCard into an enabler technology:  future application developers can make
use of this built-in information and build services which can take
advantage of it when present, because PCS will not continue to be merely a
minimal value-added substitute for analog cellular services.  This would
deliver immediate, scalable value to end users who upgrade their hardware
investments, and position vCard as a leveraging format and technology.

This information will have to be encoded in some location.  While
vCard-specific applications might not make use of it, other applications
which will call upon the services of a vCard facility in order to discover
the information to connect to other systems will want to use this
information.  If vCard does not hold the information, then we are left with
application-specific supplemental directories.

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Anthony Yen <tyen@xxxxxxxxxx>                           Austin, Texas, USA