Wireless Internet in the news;
WiFi networks, consumer education, wireless OS
I've been in the news a fair number of times during the past several weeks, discussing -- what else? -- wireless data.
Wireless Week wrote an article on March 18 about "Free Community Nets Springing Up," which discusses the proliferation of free WiFi networks. I said neither of the commercial 802.11 network players nor the cellular industry is concerned about these networks affecting their revenues. I believe the community networks are great for evangelizing WiFi and for providing limited service to small groups. Traveling business people require a different type of service solution.
Wireless apps and education
Another Wireless Week article covered my three-hour morning tutorial during Wireless Data University (WDU), the day before the CTIA's Wireless 2002 conference and exposition. "Educating Consumers Key To Profitability" on March 25. I spend a lot of time trying to learn from successful and failed wireless data implementations in Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as in North America. I look at mainstream and more esoteric -- but interesting and/or fun and/or profitable -- applications.
During WDU I discussed some of the more interesting wireless applications that will generate significant revenues, such as sending and receiving digital photos, instant messaging for corporations and consumers, and streaming audio and video -- when employing the appropriate technology (including 802.11).
But these applications will fail if the U.S. wireless industry continues its typically miserable job of educating consumers. Customer education is key -- as the article points out -- to helping users understand how to effectively take advantage of wireless data applications. Not misleading the public about theoretical maximum data rates would help, too.
Wireless OS wars
The New York Times on March 25 ran "Sun Aims to Extend Its Lead" about the competition between Sun and Microsoft in the wireless environment. As I said in the article, based on the number of cellular phones with Java compared to phones with Microsoft's OS, Sun is way ahead.
The wireless industry doesn't want to be controlled by Microsoft. That's a major reason why Symbian's EPOC32 has gained adherents. In addition, the earlier versions of Microsoft operating systems for wireless were too big, too buggy and too power-intensive. Microsoft underestimated the difficulty of developing an OS for wireless and the hostility of the wireless industry.
Several players are jockeying for position on the "wireless desktop." Sun with Java and Microsoft with variations of Windows CE for phones and PDAs as well as Palm and Symbian EPOC32 are all in the arena. My guess is that Palm will fall by the wayside as a major OS player for wireless. EPOC32, which has been incorporated into several cellular phones, will probably play a less important role in the future.
The stars of both Java and Windows (whatever it's called for wireless and PDAs) are ascending.
The Borg
As I said in "U.S. Not Getting Wireless Message," an article in a special Telecom section in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 18, you should never write off Microsoft. This is especially true in the wireless space, which Microsoft has -- finally -- realized is important to its business. "They're the Borg, and they keep on coming," I said in the article.
Microsoft has a tremendous advantage in the business environment, obviously, compared to Symbian or Palm (though Palm is now placing greater emphasis on business solutions).
Henry Norr of the Chronicle did a nice job on that article. Norr has tested a variety of wireless devices and understands what's going on.
11:07:22 AM 
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