LAS VEGAS-While the growing convergence between the computer and wireless industries has made headlines in wireless industry press and generated great excitement at wireless trade shows, the issue remains somewhat of a footnote within the computer industry.
At last week’s fall Comdex show here, some 200,000 members of the computing industry gathered to check out the latest technologies and discuss upcoming trends. And while wireless made its mark in certain corners, it proved a fringe subject overall.
Wireless footnotes
On the eve of the show, Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates took the stage for the opening keynote address, discussing the Internet’s future and the products his company expects to introduce for it. Coining the term “personal Web” for this vision, Gates explained how the eXtensible Markup Language-based environment will gather and present data in the form best suited to the user regardless of device, be it PC, laptop, palmtop, vehicle, “oh yeah, and wireless.” Of the vast array of computing devices displayed during his speech, only a couple were wireless phones or pagers, and Gates made no mention of them.
The buzz on the exhibit floor was much the same. Palm Computing Inc.’s booth generated quite a bit of traffic in the North Hall, where most wireless concerns were housed for the event. The Palm VII demonstration seemed to garner the most attention.
But the most significant wireless news made at the show, OmniSky Corp.’s wireless extension solution for the Palm V, took place at the Hard Rock Hotel, miles away from the conference itself.
At a session on access-based computing that explored the role of thin-clients, wireless devices were barely mentioned. Instead, the computing industry is focusing its attention more on the here and now, and less on capabilities that may be available down the road. Attendees and even other exhibitors interviewed were aware of the wireless possibilities on the horizon, but said they were pressed with more immediate concerns, like e-commerce.
The role of Internet commerce generated perhaps the most attention at Comdex, but discussions over it centered on traditional Internet devices and applications before extending those capabilities wirelessly.
Coverage and complexity
Concerns voiced by computer industry members include lack of ubiquitous wireless coverage and complexity. The coverage criticism is one long leveled at the wireless industry. Network-based smart applications may provide great value, but are useless when the network is not available. Therefore, many are looking for devices that can save these applications on the device for a short period of time so they may be used when the subscriber is out of service reach.
The complexity issue is more complex. Concern exists over how all these different types of wireless devices will know where they are and what they are able to do in a network-aware environment. Sun Microsystem Inc.’s founder Bill Joy addressed the topic briefly when confronted with the complexity issue during his keynote session, saying each device knows what it can do and will register its capabilities with other devices.
Industry responds
That these concerns exist, and that the wireless data industry must continue to explain itself, was a key point addressed at perhaps the most notable wireless event of the show-Andrew Seybold’s Wireless Dinner, now in its ninth year as a Comdex tradition.
The wireless dinner began when a group of industry insiders would go out to dinner, discuss wireless data topics, and leave PC Week reporter Neil Boudette with the tab. Now sponsors like BellSouth Wireless Data L.P., American Mobile Satellite Corp., Microsoft and others fork over $3,000 each to have their names tied to the event.
Attending the dinner where such industry notables as the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s Tom Wheeler, Symbian’s Nicholas Meyers, Janet Boudris and Jim Hobbs of BellSouth Wireless Data, Kendra VanderMeulen of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Scott Grimes of Paging Network Inc.’s VAST group, Boris Fridman and Don Grust of Nettech Systems Inc., Dan Croft of AMSC, Steve Markman of General Magic Inc., Greg Hermansen of Glenayre Technologies Inc., David Levin of Psion plc, as well as executives from JP Systems Inc., Starfish, Research In Motion Ltd., Motorola Inc., Microsoft, Ericsson and many other companies.
During dinner, Wheeler continued his evangelism of wireless data, but this time tempered with a warning not to let the recently gained momentum distract from the hard work yet ahead.
“Don’t make the future of wireless data any harder than it is already going to be,” Wheeler said. “The wireless data industry must deliver on the promise of wireless data, but it’s not going to be an easy long pass … It’s going to be a handful of yards at a time.”
He then evoked the advice his parents gave him when he wanted to take a long road trip immediately after receiving his driver’s license.
“Slow down, you’ll get there,” he said. “Don’t get carried away, you’ll grow up soon enough.”
