The New Face of Wireless

As I prepare to head to the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) trade show this week in Las Vegas, it's apparent that bets are riding high on wireless innovation to pull the "new economy" out of the doldrums. This is no sucker bet. Once the neglected stepchild of the digital age, the new face of wireless is not about cell phones and pagers, it's more about how the Internet can work for you, without wires. This concept has captured the attention of every major manufacturer from Microsoft and Compaq to Panasonic and Palm. CTIA no longer touts phone technologies like digital PCS, instead new ideas like the Evernet, wireless video and M-commerce are the buzzwords.
What is the Evernet?
The Evernet means your portable device is always connected to the Internet. In Japan a company called Do Co Mo sells 50,000 phones a day that allow users to communicate over the Internet with video and text. Do Co Mo recently purchased a major stake in AT&T Wireless and will have phones in the US by Fall.

Day Care on Your Palm
New wireless video technologies include Packet Data. This company has developed a way to compress golf ball sized video files for super fast transmission to any wireless modem equipped device be it a Palm, Visor, Windows CE device, laptop or Cell phone. Some of the features include watching real time movie trailers, seeing video of your child at day care, home security monitoring or catching sporting events. Packet Data will be an option on your wireless carrier's plan.

Buy a Coke with Your Cell Phone
As for M-Commerce (another one for the web vernacular), using portable devices you'll soon be able to instantly receive electronic coupons for immediate discounts at retailers, buy a coke by beaming a signal to the machine, purchase movie tickets, get money out of an ATM, pay a parking meters, basically conduct any transactions with a portable device acting as your wireless wallet.

New Devices
More proof that the wireless revolution is nearing comes from some of the recent product launches. Yesterday Palm announced it will offer an expansion bay slot in its new models for wireless modem connectivity a la Handspring Visor. Hmm. Of course WindowsCE devices have been preaching the wireless gospel for sometime, but the damn things were just too hard to use. But look out, Compaq just introduced a powerhouse 64 MB IPAQ WindowsCE device.

Two of the biggest consumer product success stories of 2000 were Motorola's Talkabout and RIM's Blackberry -- both wireless email devices. New competitors in the wireless email category will be Microsoft's Stinger, a combo cell phone web browser/organizer, and the Kyrocea/Verizon wireless phone with inbred Palm. Plus expect new hybrids from Ericsson (R380) and Nokia.

PC Makers Wed Wireless
Every computer maker is positioning itself as a wireless solution provider. With desktop sales heading south, Compaq, Sony, Gateway, IBM and even Dell have all just introduced tiny 3 pound, 1-inch thick sub notebooks with super fast processors. Feeding off the wireless trend, each of these new subs is touting a wireless Internet solution PC card bundle as a major feature, not a footnote as in previous years.

Talking Cars
Car makers are getting in the act as well. I have a meeting with the head of General Motors e-GM division. GM is spending millions to upgrade its On Star technology to incorporate voice activated email, GPS navigation even MP3 downloads in your car. -Look for Beststuff's Corey Greenberg to preview an eGM Suburban on the April 6th NBC TODAY SHOW.

Oprah on Your Cell Phone
The new category of products expected at CTIA include wireless Cell phone base stations for the home that replace land line connections and communicate with multiple phones -- look out Ma Bell, and Samsung's Video Cell Phone ---Yes, with new wireless technologies you will soon be able to watch Oprah on your cell phone.

So will wireless be the Cinderella savior of the Internet economy or is it just another over-hyped cottage industry? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, but in these days of Internet doom and gloom here's hoping for a fairy tail ending.

John Kelley is en route to CTIA In Las Vegas. For more news on wireless technologies and trends be sure to check out our exclusive Trade Show in a Box feature on BestStuff.com.