Beyond Mobile Email: Next-Generation Wireless Data Services

A new generation of increasingly sophisticated mobile data applications is emerging - using today's digital cellular and mobile data networks. Unlike first-generation wireless data services these applications reach well beyond mobile email, giving employees wireless access to their corporate systems. Coupled with more powerful PDAs - such as the Compaq iPAQ or new Palm Pilots - new mobile data services like GoAmerica's Mobile Office finally make it possible to access and use traditional desktop applications, including Microsoft Office, wirelessly on a PDA. Mobile Office lets users wirelessly receive, open and transmit a wide variety of applications - everything from intranet and Internet access to CRM, SFA, ERP and other enterprise systems.

So while wireless carriers and customers await the streaming video and other high-bandwidth services of 3G, the next-generation of wireless data services is ready now. Since the world's PDA manufacturers will be peddling their newest models to the public, they'll also be showcasing their products' 'latest and greatest' capabilities. That means another big boost for mobile data. www.goamerica.com

Wireless Etiquette Tips

• The Palm Pilot is a wonderful device, but the stylus should not be used to clean ears or fingernails.



• Don't feel you absolutely have to take your device everywhere. Word to the wise, no one wants to get an email from someone on the toilet.



• Remember PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistant, not Personal DISRUPTIVE Assistant. When in a "quiet" place try to remember to turn your device to vibrate.



• Discretion is a must when responding to pages in a meeting. You don't want to appear rude or just plain uninterested.



• Under no circumstances are you to even glance at your wireless device, let alone pick it up, when in the middle of a heated discussion with your spouse.



• Gossiping is a bad habit, but it is really uncool to use your PDA to exchange gossip back and forth with another PDA user while in a business meeting. If you find you must send gossipy emails, make sure you forward the message to the right person.

GoAmerica is based in Hackensack, and their biggest competitor is Omni Sky. At the end of the first quarter, GoAmerica had about 72,000 customers. By the end of the year, GoAmerica hopes to have more than 300,000 customers, reaching 100,000 to 115,000 by the end of the ongoing second quarter.

SOURCE GoAmerica