Granted, 3’s X-Series will allow subscribers to make unlimited calls from their mobile using Skype, watch their home television via their mobile using Sling, access their home PC remotely using Orb and have access to internet and messaging services from Yahoo!, Windows Live Messenger and Google. (Place-shifting stuff, indeed!) But how much will it cost?

No definite answer. As Frank Sixt, Group Finance Director of Hutchison Whampoa, put it: “In the early days fees will have to be higher for high bandwidth consuming activities (such as video and audio streaming at high quality).” While 3 gives pricing a mere mention in the webcast, John Delaney, a principal analyst at Ovum in the U.K. correctly points out in his comment that the tariff is critical. While users can search, IM and shop (and bid) on eBay until they drop, pricing is “what will ultimately determine whether X-Series becomes a mass-market service, or remains confined to the category of ‘expensive toys for rich boys’.”

Despite the vague price tag and some built-in service limitations [Sixt also said 3 will introduce “fair use limits (for bandwidth-hungry apps) so we don’t get eaten alive …but no unfair limits on usage"], today’s announcement is nonetheless milestone. It sends an important wake-up call to mobile operators to rethink their data service strategies and tariffs, and blows the lid off the wireless Web.