IP: Metricom's failure, new technology, etc....

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Metricom's failure, new technology, etc....
> Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 09:03:56 -0500
> From: "Mike O'Dell" <mo () ccr org>
>
>
> Scale is important, or at least the customers told Metricom that.
> Time and again, customers told Metricom that pervasiveness of
> service was a critical buying decision, hence the interest in
> doing a large roll-out.  the larger footprint also means you
> have more potential customers to sell to.
>
> My take on the Metricom problem is that it was a classic geek failure.
> the technology was great, and the ops planning and execution was
> pretty good, too, given all the challenges.
>
> the problem is that Metricom would have trouble giving away gold
> bricks on a streetcorner.  they never figured out how to sell
> the service, and then, when they announced Ricochet-II, they
> tried a channel model which would normally have improved matters
> a great deal. the rub, however, was that the channel parteners
> they teamed with didn't know anymore about selling the service
> than Metricom did.  folks talked a good story and were probably
> quite earnest in their interest, but the collective clue density
> on the business development side of Metricom and its channel
> partners was "insufficient to support Human life".
>
> Metricom was never about "Internet Time" - they struggled for
> quite a while. Metricom's problems were the same that every
> company faces that has a real product: how do we get to the
> people who want and need the product?
>
> The Metricom network architecture was extremely compelling
> and, i think, one of the few that ultimately makes sense.
> the radios were quite good given the technology they had to
> work with and the system constraints.
>
> Oh well.
>
>         -mo

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