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IP: RE: FUTURE OF WIRELESS INTERNET: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 13:04:13 -0400
From: "Alan A. Reiter" <reiter () wirelessinternet com> To: <farber () cis upenn edu> Dave, I've been analyzing leading-edge wireless voice and data products for 23 years. There is no single killer application or technology that will make wireless data services a success. Location is merely one aspect that could help make a difference -- if many other aspects come together. Business people and consumers do want wide area wireless Internet in their pocket. I get calls and e-mail from around the world. The problem is people can't get what they want ("I want to get my e-mail and surf the Web a little") -- and location is NOT at the top or middle of their list. Currently, the cellular network operators mislead the public by promoting "wireless Internet" -- which is typically CDPD at a true data rate of 14K bps (more or less, often less), using phones with rotten ergonomics and maintaining so-called "walled garden" for content. We are already seeing cellular carriers trying to maintain a walled garden (read: walled prison) for new Java applications and continuing to make it difficult for developers to work with them. Customer education -- on an ongoing basis -- about how to use existing services more efficiently? Forget it. Network operators don't want to spend the money. The wireless industry isn't even effectively marketing the services that ARE valuable right now, let alone "wireless services we haven't yet seen." As for "sometime in the next few years we will find ourselves surrounded by a pervasive, always-on network" -- that is rubbish. Within the next few years networks will offer packet data coverage and in-building penetration that is -- if we are lucky -- **comparable** to existing 2G systems. Many network operators are already misleading the public about the speeds of GSM GPRS networks, which are typically 10K bps upstream from the phone and 30K bps downstream to the network. Network operators, infrastructure manufacturers and handset vendors are struggling to get 3G to operate so that all the components operate efficiently. Handset software and cell handoff software are taking lots of time to optimize. Location services indeed make sense, and the attacks of September 11 have sparked the U.S. government to take a closer look at the waiver requests of the cellular operators. We only need to offer a seamless nationwide location solution or integrate multiple technologies, deal with privacy and security issues, product the handsets, work with myriad public safety organizations, educate the public, etc. Simple, isn't it? Never believe anyone who says "once we get THIS...wireless will be wonderful." Wireless data requires numerous components to come together, and the process is agonizingly slow. Alan --------------------------------------- Alan A. Reiter, president Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing E-Mail: reiter () wirelessinternet com Phone: 1-301-951-0385 http://www.wirelessinternet.com -----Original Message----- From: owner-ip-sub-1 () admin listbox com [mailto:owner-ip-sub-1 () admin listbox com]On Behalf Of David Farber Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 9:16 AM To: ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com Subject: IP: FUTURE OF WIRELESS INTERNET: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION >From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> > >FUTURE OF WIRELESS INTERNET: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION > >Author and venture capitalist David S. Bennahum says in Wired magazine that >wireless services have been a disappointment so far because "it turns out >that having the Web in your pocket is not all that useful." Then what would >make wireless services really useful? Benahuman's answer is location, >location, location. He writes: "The ability to pinpoint location will likely >generate the sort of demand for wireless services we haven't yet seen, >providing many with an 'aha' moment for mobile commerce and media. It could >happen the first time your wireless phone gives you directions to where you >want to go, simply and successfully. Or it could occur one quiet afternoon, >when your phone alerts you that a friend is nearby, allowing you to >rendezvous spontaneously for coffee... Sometime in the next few years we >will find ourselves surrounded by a pervasive, always-on network. It will be >more advanced in some areas, less so in others. The world is moving toward >hyper-connectivity. Mobility and physical space will be the new drivers of >innovation. And location awareness is the ingredient that will bind the >physical world to the virtual." (Wired Nov 2001) > ><http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.11/> to be posted on-line 11 Nov >2001, available on newsstands now. > For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: RE: FUTURE OF WIRELESS INTERNET: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION David Farber (Oct 24)