FC: More on Europe, US technology boom, and wireless standards

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

********

> Reply-To: "Ira Brodsky" <ibrodsky () datacommresearch com>
> From: "Ira Brodsky" <ibrodsky01 () earthlink net>
> To: <declan () well com>
> Subject: Re: Europe can't match US technology boom --Washington Post
> Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 10:51:09 -0600
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5
>
> Although its GSM standard has been extraordinarily successful, Europe has
> fallen hopelessly behind the U.S. in mobile phone technology, as well.
> European governments mandated the use of GSM to the exclusion of competing
> technologies like Qualcomm's CDMA.
>
> When Qualcomm began developing CDMA, Europe's mobile telephone experts
> declared that CDMA was based on bad engineering and would never work. When
> CDMA was commercially launched in Hong Kong in 1995, Europe's mobile
> telephone experts said it was too little, too late. Now that CDMA is a
> commercial success (with approx. 50 million users), European mobile
> telephone experts claim that they, and not Qualcomm, are the leaders in this
> new technology -- even though there is not a single CDMA mobile phone
> network operating in Europe.
>
> The Europeans still don't get it. CDMA was invented by what was (at the
> time) a small startup, and it was brought to market against great odds. The
> Europeans, in contrast, think that innovation can and must be achieved by
> decree. Thus, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has
> selected "Wideband CDMA" as conceived by Ericsson and Nokia as its third
> generation standard...
>
> Unfortunately, most of the press sees GSM's success as proof that
> government-mandated standards are the way to go. A Time Magazine article of
> August 23, 1999 entitled "Why Your Cell Phone Stinks" suggested the U.S.'s
> competing technology standards have resulted in an expensive but pointless
> marketing war, spreading confusion among consumers.
>
> Two of the hottest areas of development now in the U.S. are wireless data
> and, more specifically, wireless e-commerce. Within 2 years, affordable 64
> kb/s and faster wireless data services will be available throughout the U.S.
> The Europeans will still be constrained to sending short messages. The
> policy of government-mandated standards is going to blow up in their faces
> when they try to bring their "better" flavor of CDMA to market, because
> while CDMA is a powerful technology, it is not easy to master.
>
> Ira Brodsky
> Datacomm Research Company
> Chesterfield, Missouri
> Tel: 314-514-9750
> Fax: 314-514-9793
> E-mail: ibrodsky () datacommresearch com
> Web site: www.datacommresearch.com



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