Risto Koski, a colleague from Nokia, and I were having a deep discussion when he naturally suggested that why bother making phones with both WiFi and cellular connectivity (now being called dual-mode).
Y’see, you could just have a WiFi phone and when you wanted to make a call, just go around looking for a WiFi access point.
Of course, if you are a regular 21st century person, this suggestion should shock you. You must be thinking: Who is going to be looking around for a place to call from?
Well, before mobile phones, such behaviour was the norm – to make a call, we would look for phone booths.
This suggestion has all the hallmarks of a disruptive situation.
One of the early mobile phone systems was a bit like that — you had to be within 100m of a Rabbit sign to use one of those phones. It didn’t catch on.
Here’s one of the old signs still up in Manchester, and some links with more info.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugovk/125954367/in/pool-wherethestreetshavetwonames/
Why, because people are completely lazy. You want to make a call, you make it. The phone should sort out if there is wifi available, if not, just use cellular. If flat rate pricing trends continue, you just will use some of your 500 ‘free’ minutes for the cellular call.