23 September 2002

3G networks doomed, say tech gurus (whilst Korean market data hint otherwise) Telecoms operators will almost certainly never recover the money they have paid out for their third generation (3G) mobile operator's licences and most of them will eventually abandon their plans to build or operate 3G networks. At IDC's IT conference in Monaco, Negroponte (once-dotcom guru), Cochrane (ex-BT), Tapscott (digital economy guru) and Thurow (MIT economist) say: 3G will superceded/undermined by 802.11x wireless LANs and existing 2.5G GPRS traditional billing models (minutes, ARPU etc) are dead. Give 3G away free (not clear why exactly) govts should hand back 3G license revenue 3G networks won't even get built Meanwhile, across Euroland in Espoo, Nokia's Anssi Vanojki disses 3G even though Nok is about to launch its first 3G handset (why?: to drum up more immediate consumer demand for MMS phones?) "People are really starting to realize that MMS is 3G. From consumers' perspective this is 3G. We can have whatever G's but if a consumer doesn't see a difference he doesn't care which number is before the G" However, it's not all bad news for 3G this week: 3G mobile phones dominate Korean cellular handset market: 63% of handsets shifted last month. What's clear is that European 3G success, if it comes, will take longer than everyone hoped. 10:12:04 PM     comments

GoogleNews for speech recognition (etc) New: GoogleNews for speech recognition, voice portal, lego robot art. Great research tool. 9:43:35 PM     comments