It's a much humbler bunch congregating for the CTIA conference than in years past. Many wireless executives say a brutal price war over cellular calling plans shows no sign of ending. It has already dramatically eroded carrier revenue, and the financial strain is starting to show. The US's top five wireless carriers are also straining financially, the result of a slowdown in cell phone sales and the $15bn they spent collectively to build new cell phone networks in order to keep up with skyrocketing demand in the late 1990s. "This is unlike the heyday of a couple of years ago, when we'd be walking around talking about intelligent PDAs (personal digital assistants) that brush your teeth," said Sun's Gough. "The mobile guys have to find a way to get back." Companies announcing new services, phones and other products this week are expected to put emphasis on wireless networking using Wi-Fi, which is being eagerly welcomed by a cash-starved industry. After all, Wi-Fi's golden touch has been one of the only bright spots in a rather dismal few years for the IT market. But a new overall emphasis on business services is being met with some reservations, chief among them the precipitous drop in corporate spending on new gear for computer and phone networks. "Enterprise spending has depressed. And it hasn't left that depression yet," Gough said. Handset makers must also come up with easier-to-use products, said Tom Wheeler, president of the CTIA, which is the telephone industry's leading lobby group. Hard-to-use devices are holding back many business people from using the more expensive and complex wireless data services that carriers intend to augment this week. "Enterprise devices are not as user friendly," Wheeler said. "Now the challenge is for enterprise devices to catch up." Wi-Fi and cellular gumbo
The growing influence of Wi-Fi, the inexpensive high-speed wireless networking technology that's now in millions of homes and offices, will be evident this week. Handset makers already produce cell phones and laptop cards capable of using both Wi-Fi and cellular networks. But just where else Wi-Fi fits will be among the issues debated at the conference. Most in the industry say the two wireless technologies are complementary. Carrier T-Mobile, for instance, plans to outfit major urban centres with high-speed cellular equipment and with Wi-Fi networks. There will also be several major efforts at the CTIA show this week to merge the two networks. For instance, Lucent is expected to announce a major new initiative to provide telephone network equipment with secure Wi-Fi connections. Other Wi-Fi announcements will come from companies such as Cometa Networks, a partnership of Intel, IBM and AT&T that's trying to build a nationwide Wi-Fi network. Rod Adkins, an IBM general manager, said more than 1,000 truck stops will be outfitted with connections to Wi-Fi networks in the next few months. Parade of products
It won't be all business at the CTIA show. The flash of newer, glitzier cell phones and services will be on parade, as well. A source at PalmSource said the company will unveil software that allows people with devices using Palm's operating system to synchronise information wirelessly. Palm's software arm is also set to announce that it's teaming with Qualcomm to make the Palm operating system available to users of Qualcomm's BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) download software. Also, most carriers will be unveiling new games for phones, such as Moviso's digital version of Etch-A-Sketch.
Discover the latest developments in Wi-Fi, 3G, GPRS and other cutting-edge wireless technologies at ZDNet UK's Wireless News Section.
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Talkback
How about having some news for seniors or any
computer neophites? Some messages in 50's english
and not computerese. I'll bet you would have an
audience if the old farts like me knew where to
access the info. It's not that we are dumb, most of
us are college educated, but we dont dig the lingo
and dont know what the thing-a-ma-bob is or what
it does. We also don't understand how so many things
claim to be free, as we know there is no free lunch--
so whats the catch?