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January 04, 2008 | Comments: (0)

High perhaps on its recently announced $20 million in Series B funding, wireless networking startup Meraki Networks has announced it will lift up the tar-smeared municipal Wi-Fi baton dropped by EarthLink in September 2007, stating that it will provide advertising-supported free wireless for the city of San Francisco by year's end.

Meraki's technical solution for the oft-longed-for service would be to establish a mesh network of solar-powered repeater antennas dispersed across the rooftops and balconies of the city by the Bay. The repeaters, which Meraki sells for $49, would be doled out free to interested citizens, who would then affix the units to their own private -- as opposed to city-owned -- property. The repeaters would extend the signal capabilities of Meraki's larger outdoor antennas, which sell for $99.

The populist angle not only frees Meraki of service-level agreements with the city but also transforms the city itself into a proving ground for Meraki's hardware. Should the plan succeed in delivering the 1Mbps download speeds Meraki suggests are possible with its proposed mesh network, the company would be well positioned to cash in on this very high profile proof-of-concept phase.

Some neighborhoods are already experiencing the free love, as 500 repeaters currently serve 40,000 users across the Mission, Lower Haight, and Alamo Square districts.

Intriguing, of course, is the fact that Meraki's announcement dovetails with a report released by Indiana Unviersity researchers regarding the influenza-like computer virus outbreak potential that dense urban Wi-Fi router populations present.

Posted by Jason Snyder on January 4, 2008 12:25 PM

November 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Web's inventor tackles mobile

While Al Gore is busy polishing his Nobel Peace Prize -- one some people question the veracity of based on the fact that he didn't do more to address environmental issues when he was actually in office -- the guy who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web was in Boston on Wednesday talking to a room full of people interested in the convergence of the Internet and mobile devices.

Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium (aka W3C), stepped to the podium at the Mobile Internet World conference after business leaders from MTV and Sprint Nextel spoke about their own plans for wireless.

The scientist recounted his decision-making in exercising an open approach when first joining hypertext and the Net, and said that enlisting an open architectural blueprint was critical to the eventual explosion of the Web.

Berners-Lee essentially warned the assembled device, software and content development honchos that they should knock down the walled-off mobile Web environments they've built over the past few years in favor of supporting more industry standards.

The use of open standards is also a central tent of the W3C's Mobile Web Initiative, he said, which is aimed at advancing handheld browsing technologies.

The good news for the expert was that the other conference speakers seemed largely in agreement, with many harping on the same themes and promising to work together via efforts such as Google's recently-announced Open Handset Alliance consortium -- which backs use of the search giant's new Android mobile Linux platform.

Excerpts from Berners-Lee's original speech follow, and summarize some of the points he made:

"We are at an epic point in telecommunications history, when the mobile platforms discussed here, and the Internet platforms which have enabled such a spectacular growth and innovation, are poised, if we manage this well, to merge."

"There are plenty of ways in which we could fail to pull this off, and leave ourselves incapacitated, with innovation stifled. By 'we' here I mean the whole community of manufacturers, service providers, content providers, consumers, and to a limited extent, legislators."

"I wanted to design the World Wide Web, as I decided to call it, to be usable for any data on any system. I had watched the failure of so many sophisticated documentation access systems which constrained their users to use one type of computer, or operating system. If really anything could be on the Web, then the Web technology should demand almost nothing of its users."

"The Web is designed, in turn, to be universal: to include anything and anyone. This universality includes an independence of hardware device and operating system, as I mentioned, and clearly this includes the mobile platform."

"The Web worked because of a number of technical and social reasons. It worked because there was no central bottleneck for traffic, no central link database to be kept consistent, no central place to go and register a new page or a new Web site."

"So what else does it take to make an open Internet platform? It takes, mainly, common standards. The innovation of the WWW was possible because the standards for TCP/IP were already implemented in an interoperable way all over the planet, in advance of the innovation."

"When you want to make a foundation technology, you need to look ahead. You need to put aside the short term return on investment questions and look at the long term.
A great example of this is the patent question. In 1989 my colleagues in the Internet community would not have dreamed of patenting the ideas in the Internet protocols."

"One of the most difficult things for some companies to learn is that this is not a zero-sum game. We are so used to battling over a fixed market, or battling over fixed resources, that we tend to assume everything is such that we can only win what our competitors lose. But when we make a whole new market space, like the Web, or like GSM actually, then we are in fact together battling the human condition such as inefficiency, poverty and ignorance."

"The choice is the new platform being a privately owned walled garden , or a competitive open platform. Both models can work in the medium term. But the open model opens up new things which we can only try to imagine."

"So when we look at the choices for the mobile devices, it is clear that they must continue on the path to an open Web platform. That is what the Mobile Web Initiative is about. Huge new markets, and huge opportunities for humanity, depend on this. We know in general how to do it. But there is a lot to do."

Posted by Matt Hines on November 14, 2007 08:47 PM

May 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)

SF Wi-Fi delays 'frustrate' mayor

San Francisco's deal with Earthlink and Google for citywide Wi-Fi has become “frustrating”, with "no backup plan" if Earthlink pulls out, Mayor Gavin Newsom voiced to MarketWatch.com today.

The mayor was responding to a question about the Board of Supervisors's decision to wait until July to vote on the proposal.

He told MarketWatch he wants Google to “hold on until we at least get a vote up or down, one way or another, at the Board of Supervisors."

Speaking about what Earthlink pulling out might mean for the deal, he said: “There is no backup plan. We've spent two years to put this plan together and we think it's as good as it gets."

“That being said, Google’s still holding on. I don’t think they get much from this except a lot of publicity. But this is hardly a company that’s wanting for publicity ... But I think there’s some frustration and I understand that and I hope they can hold out until we at least get a vote up or down, one way or another, at the Board of Supervisors.”

See the video, courtesy of MarketWatch:

Honestly, with WiMax right around the corner, Wi-Fi for cities like SF is already looking outdated -- perhaps two years too late? I am planning to review the use of WiMax for the City of Folsom, east of Sacramento, very soon. Folsom, where I live, is an Intel town, and this is all about marketing for them too. But the cost of blanketing a city with WiMax vs Wi-Fi, which requires numerous hotspots, seems reason enough alone to wait for WiMax networks and its ubiquity in mobile devices.

Posted by Mike Barton on May 22, 2007 03:41 PM

April 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Tragedy news travels faster via crowdsourcing

The smoke has barely cleared on the horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech University today, but already the Web, social networking and wireless technology have proven themselves, yet again, as game-changers in the world of reporting. Here are a few examples of how tech has played a role in the emerging coverage of the shooting:

Mobile video -- with this event on a campus full of wired 18-24 year olds, it's no surprise that many students captured photos and mobile video of the event as it unfolded. Perhaps the best example of this is CNN's use of a video from VT student Jamal Albarghouti, who might be remembered as the Abraham Zapruder of the VT shooting incident, after he captured a dramatic shootout between police and the gunman (gunmen?) outside Norris Hall, where many of the student fatalaties occurred. His camera of choice? A Nokia E70 Cellphone with built in video camera.

Social networking: Student-centered social networks have already figured in coverage of the shooting, with CNN, among others, citing discussions on Facebook.com that include notes from Virginia Tech students and others with knowledge of the event. In fact, those dicussions are a bit ahead of the national media with many contributors linking to TV and other reports about the individual believed to be responsible for the shootings, who he may have been (reports say an asian male, college age), what his motives where, and so on. Most of these reports are bunk, but some are true and, in true crowdsourcing style, the good stuff floats to the top.

E-mail and text messaging: Not only are e-mail and text messages connecting students on a locked down VT campus, but how to and how not to reach wired students is sure to be one of the big stories to come out of the VT shooting -- especially concerning VT's decision to keep its campus open after two people were found murdered in a dorm early in the day, then to notify students via e-mail after the decision to lock down campus was made later in the morning. No less a person than Mr. Albarghouti said that he hadn't had time to check his e-mail before heading out to morning class, and hadn't received the bulletin to students about the violence on campus. Countless other students interviewed on camera said they were unaware of what was unfolding on campus. As the Washington Post reported last month, today's students can be deceptively hard to reach, despite their fondness for cell phones, IM, texting and other communications gear.

In an ominous comment that now sounds prophetic, Gwendolyn Dungy of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators observed in the Post article that "everyone is hoping there's not some emergency where they can't get in touch with students."

In fact, that same article notes that administrators at Virginia Tech were left scrambling to warn tens of thousands of people to stay inside after an escaped prisoner shot a guard on campus earlier in the year.

"That was a very clear indicator that the ways that we reach students are changing, that we have to stay ahead of the curve," VT spokesman Mark Owczarski was quoted saying then.

As contributors on Facebook were quick to point out, SMS based alert systems would have been a far better way to reach students than e-mail, which most cell phone users don't get.

Posted by Paul Roberts on April 16, 2007 02:35 PM

February 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

BlackBerry 8800 to restore RIM thunder?

RIM introduced on Monday the successor to its popular 8700 line, the trendy, but still business-minded 8800.

Our sister publication, Macworld, writes of the new phone:

The 8800 will debut later this month in North America through AT&T, the same carrier that will carry Apple's iPhone in June, starting at $299 with a two-year service commitment. It's also coming to Canada from Rogers Wireless.
Like the 8700, the 8800 features a full QWERTY keyboard and 320 x 240 pixel color LCD display. Like the Pearl, the 8800 features a trackball navigation system. It also sports a built-in media player and microSD memory slot for storage of music and videos.

The media player supports MP3 and unprotected AAC music files; it can also display MPEG-4 and H.263 video content. The phone supports polyphonic, MP3 and MIDI ringtones.

Okay, so RIM was reading my and obviously countless others' minds about staying competitive with styling and multimedia features now that Microsoft Direct Push leveled the push e-mail playing field for newer Palm and Windows Mobile devices. (See our 3GSM World Congress special report for more on Windows Mobile 6 and its Direct Push tech.)

It's no iPhone on style, but it takes some notes. But my Palm Treo 7100p may be looking old school but it's sporting EV-DO; not found on this GSM/EDGE device, to be sold by AT&T (formerly Cingular). And the iPhone is not out for months and it to does not harness Cingular's HSDPA high-speed cellular network.

What gives, RIM and Apple? Looks ain't all that if you're stuck on a poky EDGE network.

Posted by Mike Barton on February 12, 2007 06:31 PM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Google Maps for mobile does Windows

Wayward U.S. travelers wielding wireless Windows devices now have a new option for finding their bearings (or a place for dinner). Google announced today that Google Maps for mobile now runs on Windows Mobile 2003 and higher.

With Google Maps for mobile, users can view interactive maps and satellite imagery, find local businesses, get driving directions, and view live traffic updates, according to Google.

Further, the Windows Mobile 5.0 version of Google Maps for mobile is GPS-enabled, so users can view their current location on the map, and the service can take that location into consideration when users search for local businesses or request driving directions.

Google's move means the company is gaining some ground against rivals like Yahoo and Microsoft in the increasingly lucrative mobile-search space.

Microsoft has offered both a J2ME and .Net version of its Windows Live Search for Mobile for some time. The WLS for Mobile service provides white and yellow page searches, maps, driving directions, traffic conditions, and other features.

Meanwhile, Yahoo recently announced version 2.0 beta of its own mobile suite, which provides features such as local maps, news tickers, a mobile version of the Flickr photo management service, and e-mail.

To download Google Maps for mobile, go to www.google.com/gmm.

Posted by Ted Samson on February 1, 2007 03:44 PM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Interoperability key in 'iPhone' talks

The Cisco-Apple iSaga took a conciliatory turn today as the companies returned to the negotiation table to hash out an agreement over the coveted iPhone moniker.

In a tersely worded joint statement, the companies stated "Apple and Cisco have agreed to extend the time for Apple to respond to the lawsuit to allow for discussions between the companies with the aim of reaching agreement on trademark rights and interoperability." (The emphasis is mine; more on that in a moment.)

As you may recall, the captain of the iPod Mothership (i.e. Steve Jobs) announced plans [Video] at MacWorld to beam down an iPod cellular phone called the iPhone.

Shortly after, Cisco cried foul and filed a lawsuit against Apple for copyright infringement, arguing that it has held the trademark for the name iPhone since 2000. The company released VOIP phones with that name through its Linksys brand last year.

Cisco argues that Apple was well aware that it owned the iPhone name and noted that prior to Apple announcing its own iPhone, it had approached Cisco on several occasions to discuss usage of the moniker.

In the lawsuit, Cisco asked for Apple to cover its legal fees and to surrender all profits eventually made from iPhone sales. The lawsuit also demanded that Apple eradicate all promotional materials associated with the iPhone.

However, since filing the lawsuit, Cisco CEO John Chambers has said the company is not looking for money; rather, it seeks "interoperability, or the ability of the Apple phone to work smoothly with Cisco product," according to bizjournals.com.

Interoperability, of course, is the operative word here; you may recall, it was part of Cisco and Apple's carefully worded press release. While all the hype about the iPhone has drawn attention to Cisco's Linksys-branded version (a product I'd wager few people had been aware of prior to the skirmish with Apple), the promise of having compatibility with Apple's oh-so-juicy end-user iBlank line is potentially more lucrative to Cisco than simply having Apple's iPhone disappear (or be renamed) all together.

Specifically, as noted by Stephen Lawson of the IDG News Service:

According to published reports, Cisco would have been willing to license the iPhone name in exchange for Apple making the handset interoperate smoothly with Cisco's products. Linksys is the biggest seller of consumer Wi-Fi access points and is expanding its home product line into the voice and entertainment realms. Apple's iPhone is equipped with Wi-Fi and includes audio, photo, and video player software.

Posted by Ted Samson on February 1, 2007 11:48 AM

October 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Motorola on Wi-Fi: Stay the course

It seems Motorola didn't much care for my recent blog quoting a Motorola executive on the future of WiMAX and Wi-Fi.

They gave me a call and said I had it all wrong. Being the fair-minded individual that I am I herewith relate some of their comments.

Mind you, Motorola representatives never said I was wrong. I couldn't be wrong because it came from one of their executives and I didn't make it up.

Nevertheless, if President Bush can re-explain what he meant by "stay the course," I guess it is only right that Motorola can re-explain what Juan Santiago said when he told me there is no business case for Metro Wi-Fi,Wi-Fi belongs only in the home and that Wi-Fi and WiMAX don't mix, i.e., they interfere with one another.

If you want to read more on WiMAX and Motorola see today's column.

Tom Hulsebosch, senior director of product management for the Wireless Broadband Network at Motorola told me that Motorola supports numerous wireless networks including WiMAX, Wi-FI, and a proprietary "pre-WiMaX" solution called Canopy. We believe all of these solutions have an integral place in the market place he said and added,

"Metro Wi-Fi is near and dear to Motorola. We helped create that space."

I'm not sure, is that like Gore saying he invented the Internet?

But I've interviewed Marty Cooper enough times to know that Motorola is actually credited with inventing the cell phone under then employee Cooper.

Motorola is playing a key role in deploying Metro Wi-Fi in at least a dozen cities, delivering the entire access network, not only the access points but the backhaul that feeds the capacity into Motorola's mesh networks, said Hulsebosch.

Cities include Philly, Anaheim, Milpitas, New Orleans, San Francisco.

Hulsebosch refutes Santiago's claim that there is no business case for Metro Wi-Fi and that it must be subsidized in order to succeed.

Rather he says, "in any city with 2,000 homes per square mile the Metro Wi-Fi business case it is very attractive."

Finally, Hulsebosch says Wi-Fi and WiMAX only interfere with one another if they exist in the same chip set as Intel is trying to do.

Rather if they are two separate radios the problem goes away. But he also added two radios works fine in a desktop but in a cell phone "it is a little trickier."

So why the disconnect between Santiago and Hulsebosch? Let's chalk it up to enthusiasm.

Does it mean Motorola will at some point abandon Wi-Fi?

I think they believe WiMAX will replace Wi-Fi at some future point. Santiago just let the cat out of the bag a little too soon.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on October 24, 2006 11:08 AM

October 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Motorola: Metro Wi-Fi'll never happen

In writing my column about WiMAX that will be online next week I spoke with Juan Santiago, senior director of product management at Motorola.

We were talking about Wi-Fi versus WiMAX and I found one of his comments about Wi-Fi both interesting and enlightening.

Enlightening because as so many in high tech they put down what was once touted as the next great technology in order to promote their own.

Santiago dismissed Metro Wi-Fi as an attempt, he as much as said it was a feeble attempt, to take Wi-Fi outdoors. According to Santiago Metro Wi-Fi, "hasn't happened."

Among Santiago's reasons are because it is unlicensed, free, there are too many devices out there creating too much interfence to make it usable.

Secondly, it would be too costly to support and maintain outdoor
Wi-Fi. Reason being, to get coverage similar to cellular requires too many access points because of Wi-Fis short range.

"If the municipalities didn’t subsidize [Metro Wi-Fi] the business case falls apart."

Santiago went on to say that the only reason the business case works is there is a tit-for-tat with municipalities, in which they get free access to the infrastructure like the light posts.

I guess the word subsidized is an anathema to a commercial concern but not everything has to be commercial. Isn't garbage collection, fire protection and police subsidized by city government, too? Isn't that why we pay taxes?

I suggest if WiMAX is so much better why doesn't Motorola donate the infrastructure to a municipality and show us all how to do it right.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on October 19, 2006 03:20 PM

September 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Samsung breaks 4G barrier

You're on a bus traveling at 70mph. You need to maintain a constant wireless connection of 100Mbps, or your boss's presentation will be ruined. What do you do, hot shot? What do you do?

Well, if you were in Jeju Island, Korea yesterday, you could have hopped on board a specially designed bus at Samsung's 4G Forum, in which the company presented the world premier of 4G WiBro (Wireless Broadband) technology. Granted, the bus was traveling at around 60kmph (or about 37mph).

The bus stunt was an effort to prove the stability of 4G technology by demonstrating a multi-cell handover with data speeds of 100Mbps, simultaneously offering delegates a live broadcast of the forum, Internet access, and video on demand, according to Samsung.

Additionally, the company showed off 4G's nomadic speed of 1Gbps data transmissions inside the forum venue with simultaneous 32HD channel broadcast (20Mpbs) downloads, Internet access, and video telephony. Furthermore, a 3.5Gbps data transfer demonstration using 8x8 MIMO (multi-input multi-output) was part of the display.

A speedy cousin to WiMax, WiBro's nomadic speed of 1Gbps is 50 times faster than 3G, according to Samsung. With speeds of 1Gpbs, it would take about 2.4 seconds to transfer 100 MP3 files (300MB), and 5.6 seconds to transfer one 800MB movie.

Samsung isn't the only company eyeing the next generation of wireless networking. Sprint this month declared its intent to unfurl a WiMax-based 4G mobile network by next year. Notably, Samsung as well as Intel and Motoral are partnering with Sprint, equipping notebook PCs and a variety of mobile devices to use the 4G network.

Additionally, NTT DoCoMo reported last February achieving data transmission speeds of 2.5Gbps in 4G field trials.

WiBro is based on the IEEE 802.16.e-2005 standard. The 4G mobile communications format is expected to become commercially available around 2010. Samsung already holds more than 220 patents related to 4G mobile communications.

The spectrums for 4G technology will be decided at WRC (World Radiocommunication Conference) in October of 2007.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 1, 2006 09:10 AM

August 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Cell phone attacks loom

As mobile phones become increasingly vital tools for corporate and social communication, savvy and malicious hackers are finding new ways to exploit both the security holes of devices as well as the, well, gullibility of some end-users.

Case in point: McAfee today announced a new type of phishing attack. Called "SMiShing," a marriage of phishing and SMS, this attack sends a message to the phones of unsuspecting users reading, "We're confirming you've signed up for our dating service. You will be charged $2/day unless you cancel your order," writes McAfee Mobile Threat Researcher David Rayhawk in the McAfee Avert Labs blog.

Included in the text message is a URL that some unsuspecting users will very likely click. From there, Rayhawk writes:

"[Users] are prompted to download a program which is actually a Trojan horse that turns the computer into a zombie, allowing it to be controlled by hackers. The computer then becomes part of a bot network, which can then be used to launch denial of service attacks, install keylogging software and steal personal account information and other malicious activities. Because monitoring botnet activity is complex, it is challenging to know the current scope of the problem."

Meanwhile, CBS recently announced plans to push TV clips to mobile devices via Bluetooth. The idea is, a user would see a billboard at Grand Central Station in New York City urging him or her to enable Bluetooth. Doing so would let the user connect with a Bluetooth system on the billboard and download video files.

Clever? Certainly -- perhaps from a marketing perspective. But urging users to enable Bluetooth in a public place like that could result in leaving them susceptible to a virus like Cabir.

Mobile insecurity shouldn't just concern individuals who fear for their phone bills, of course. Mobile devices can be overlooked and poorly protected gateways to your enterprise network.

McAfee's Rayhawk urges enterprises to revisit (or create, in some cases) mobile security policies: "Enterprises would be wise to keep a close eye on this issue and think about policies for securing their mobile devices ahead of time, rather than playing catch up when it hits them, and begin to educate their employees about the potential risk now."

Posted by Ted Samson on August 28, 2006 01:28 PM

August 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)

CBS to push TV clips with Bluetooth

People brave enough to whip out their mobile devices and enable Bluetooth while strolling around Grand Central Station in New York can be rewarded with TV clips come September.

CBS today announced that it will employ Kameleon Technologies Mobizone Bluetooth download systems to deliver clips of some of its new television shows from billboards to Bluetooth-enabled devices at the famous transporation hub.

According to a release from Kameleon, here's how it will work: "Each billboard invites the mobile user to open his Bluetooth connection and make it discoverable. Then the user is invited to accept a free clip from the particular show. If he accepts, the clip automatically downloads and plays [it] on the screen of the mobile."

George Schweitzer, director of advertising for CBS TV Network, gushes over the new service in the written statement, saying, "We certainly have great content, and telling viewers about it is our job. MobiZone units attached to our OOH billboards is a value-added plus for our OOH media spend [sic], offering people the free opportunity to see our content without incurring a charge from their mobile carrier."

The OOHs, by the way, are either exclamations of awe and excitement, or else they're advertising acronyms for "out-of-home". Ooh!

There's some debate in the IT security world as to just how secure Bluetooth is. Last April, researchers from Secure Networks and F-Secure published a report "which warns of the huge number of devices left in a visible state, and issued statistics on the spread of various Bluetooth services and the ease of spread of an eventual Bluetooth worm."

Posted by Ted Samson on August 25, 2006 05:04 PM

August 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Screeching solution to cell phone theft

Synchronica and Orange, a UK mobile communications company, are working on a new service to keep lost cell phones from becoming data-leak disasters -- and it's a scream.

Given the amount of information being stored on smartphones these days, the main draw of the business-targeted service (which uses Syncrhonica's Mobile Manager) is likely to be the wipe-clean features. Make a phone call, and your phone will be remotely cleansed of all data and locked down. The rabble-rouser who ends up with your phone might be able to resell the phone itself, but they won't be able to touch your credit card info, classified company data, or personal phone numbers.

But wiping the data stores of mobile devices isn't new -- you can serve up a poison pill with a host of services and software, including Nokia's IntelliSync, Exchange SP2 and MSFP for Windows Mobile 5.0, and iAnywhere's Afaria.

The real kicker here is the bonus "scream" feature: once alerted to the theft, the missing phone starts screaming like a banshee. And no electronic whine, either -- the noise is intended to sound like an actual human scream, according to reports of the new service.

I don't know if a human scream is the best choice of alarms, but if your cell is stolen and the thief tries to blend into a surrounding crowd, the satisfaction of watching him try to coolly play off the fact that he's hold a howling phone would be sweet (schadenfreude, anyone?). Of course, adding a tracking chip to find the lost phone would be much more useful if you don't realize it's gone until well after the fact, or if you're just prone to leaving it in taxis, friends' purses, or odd corners of your own home.

Wonder what would happen if all the stolen laptops involved in the recent spate of data-loss incidents suddenly started yelping?

Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on August 23, 2006 01:12 PM

August 17, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Boeing scraps in-flight Internet

Barely one year old, Connexion by Boeing has already met its demise. The International Herald-Tribune reports that the service, which offered satellite-based wireless Internet access to airline passengers in flight, simply wasn't taking off, so to speak. By Boeing's figures, on the average flight no more than 40 passengers would pay the $9.95 an hour (or $26.95 per flight) to get online, and those numbers simply weren't sufficient to sustain a business.

This writer, for one, is shocked. A flight without frills? In this modern age of air travel? Say it isn't so.

Posted by Neil McAllister on August 17, 2006 04:14 PM

May 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Wireless laptop outdoes wired

Alienware released two gamer-aimed laptops with built-in Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) Wi-Fi, reports say.

Alienware said the laptops allow users to play complex and interactive games without being tethered to a network by Ethernet cables. It said it is using Airgo's MIMO technology.

MIMO, developed by Airgo, uses multiple antennas to send and receive wireless signals, which, in turn, increases both wireless speed and range.

The will be an intrinsic the forthcoming 802.11n specification, which is expected to receive final ratification by the IEEE within a year, the TechWeb report said.

Posted by Mike Barton on May 9, 2006 10:38 AM

April 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Dual-phones: no play in U.S.?

Want the cost savings and convenience of a single handset (and number) that roams across cellular, home and Wi-Fi? I know you do.

Today, Nokia said it was developing software with iPass to offer access Wi-FI on its new dual-mode phones.

But a new handset is just a handset without the killer app: the roaming number. Forbes.com has a good report up on why it isn't happening in the U.S. as carriers drag their heels.

Nokia, Motorola and Samsung that offer "dual-mode" technology, which enables calls using cellular networks or Wi-Fi. They will ship by the end of the year.

The report cites ABI, which projects that about 120 million dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets will ship in 2010. Strategy Analytics estimates services that integrate services will generate $33 billion in 2010.

Sure, you could use a different number and get an Ipass account to make cheaper calls, but for mainstream and business adoption the, mobile carriers have to sign on to offer a universal number using a protocol called UMA, created two years ago by T-Mobile, Cingular and Nokia.

British telecom group BT has begun offering UMA services, but T-Mobile and Cingular have no such plan just yet.

No wonder, as internet telephony frightens the parent companies, which look to landlines, with cellular network and broadband driving AT&T revenue.

But the BT example is one of a wholesale shift to IP for voice, rather than the internally-conflicting shifts with U.S. carriers.

Question is, how long can they hold out? Wi-Fi will give way to WiMax, and its blanket coverage (see Unwired in Australia for an example of this rough spec in early action in Sydney now), so such network access shifts the whole issue to the spectrum space, as opposed to the telecom/PSTN/cellular landscape.

Will the U.S. carriers hold out on dual phones until they become WiMax dual phones, which could bypass the landline and cellular networks altogether most of the time?

Posted by Mike Barton on April 27, 2006 11:28 AM

April 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Mobile Internet age nears

More than one in four mobile phone owners worldwide have browsed the Internet on their wireless handset, the research firm Ipsos Insight said Tuesday.

The move marks the shift away from the personal computer as the dominant platform to access the Internet.

Internet access via the mobile phone outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world, driven mainly by the ubiquitous mobile phone, and advancing wireless networks, according to firm's "The Face of the Web", an annual study of Internet trends, reports RTO Online.

"Accessing the Internet on a wireless handheld device is no longer a novelty for consumers in the major global economies. It’s becoming a common, everyday occurrence for many people," Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Ipsos Insight’s Technology & Communications practice said, RTO reports.

"In the long term, many of today’s PC-centric online activities could be complemented through the mobile phone or migrate to the mobile phone altogether, due to greater convenience and faster connection speeds," Cruikshank added.

Witness the recognition of this with two recent mobile pushes: Microsoft's Picture2Search and Google Voice Search.

Faster and faster wireless broadband will spur this along.

I think Microsoft is on to something with its Origami push for UMPCs, however, because the higher speeds will only be realized by fuller keyboards for input.

What do you think: What does the mobile computing future hold?

Posted by Mike Barton on April 18, 2006 02:52 PM

April 10, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Google's SF Wi-Fi plan stirs privacy advocates

TechWeb is reporting that "privacy advocates have raised concerns over Google's proposed free Wi-Fi service in San Francisco, which would target users with advertising based on their location."

"Most troubling is the potential of tracking where people go on the Web based on the user names and passwords they use in signing on to the network. If that information is stored in a database, then government or private lawyers can subpoena it later in criminal or civil matters," TechWeb reports.

The EFF has recommended people be allowed to surf anonymously on Google's wireless network.

Google fought the DOJ to protect its users' privacy, but the issues highlighted people's sensitivity to the matter.

Would you risk your privacy for free Wi-Fi?

Posted by Mike Barton on April 10, 2006 03:20 PM

April 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Apple iPhone launch imminent: analyst

Australia's iTWire reports the US market research company Visiongain "is tipping Apple to launch its much-rumoured iPhone mobile phone to co-incide with the launch of Helios, a US mobile virtual network operator with which it has close ties."

According to Visiongain, Helio CFO Todd Tappin has said that Helio plans to sign about three million customers and generate more than $US2 billion in revenue by 2009.

PC World Editor in Chief Harry McCracken wrote late last month on earlier rumors: "I'll believe it when Steve Jobs pulls it from his jeans pocket at a keynote and pronounces it incredible, but it does seem like a logical move: I'm not sure if there's a single phone in the world that's at good at doing what it does as the iPod is at doing what it does. A terrific music phone could be the kind of game-changing product that's Apple's core competency."

iTWire writes: "The iPhone will most likely be produced in South Korea by an existing handset maker, and made available exclusively through Helio," Duffey predicted, adding "the iPhone will likely be as disruptive to the existing carrier market as the iPod was to the mobile music industry. When the iPhone adds VoIP capability, it will be even more disruptive to carriers."

Posted by Mike Barton on April 3, 2006 05:36 PM

April 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Lucatel: big deal for big biz?

The primary reason for "Lucatel", according to a joint Alcatel-Lucent statement, is to tap the market opportunities for next-generation networks, services and applications, reports say.

But analysts say the impact of the deal could be years away.

"On paper, there is a good strategic fit between these two companies," said Bertrand Bidaud, vice president of carrier operations and strategy at Gartner in an earlier report.

It would give the new mega-player a toe-hold in nearly every telecom market, but it won't be the leader in any just because of its size. Bidaud said the enlarged company now needs to formulate a strategy that uses that scale to its advantage.

Networking pipeline blogger Dave Greenfield opines the deal is no Cisco killer, as neither of the to-merge giants hold a sizeable enterprise presence within the US neither in routing nor in PBXs nor in any of the areas of security, switching, and infrastructure equipment that Cisco sells into the enterprise.

So what is the big deal about the bid deal for the enterprise?

Posted by Mike Barton on April 3, 2006 02:48 PM

March 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Push e-mail's masses push

Consilient is pushing for mass adoption of mobile e-mail for consumers with the introduction on Tuesday of its open standard-based Consilient Push.

The product is an open standards-based mobile e-mail platform for carriers and business, which Consilient said would bring costs down for service from $30 to $40 a month to between $3 and $4. Businesses could run it on a Linux box and it was very scalable, Consilient said.

But contrary to an earlier Tech Watch post suggesting it would take on Research in Motion and its BlackBerry device, Consilient chief executive Trevor Adey told InfoWorld it was not going after RIM's market.

He said the company had worked with RIM for four years on integrating other vendors' systems to work with RIM's proprietary system.

Now it was focusing on just making email available on hundred of popular cells phones (any with ~~MIPI-2~~ MIDP 2.0 support), he said.

RIM was going after the enterprise with smart apps for CRM (customer relationship management), which had 30 million users, while there were 2.5 billion cell phone users worldwide to be tapped.

With e-mail playing a central role at enterprises and the family home, making it mobile seems a natural progression. Adey said if poeple looked at the popularity of SMS, despite typing out on a numeric keypad, affordable mobile email was really going to take off.

"We strongly believe this approach ... will be more successful [than focusing on mobile applications]," Adey said.

The company will deliver a business-focused product, to be called Consilient Push Enterprise, in late Q2 or Q3. It will offer push e-mail to mobile phones and synchronize with Microsoft Exchange calendar information.

Posted by Mike Barton on March 15, 2006 12:22 PM

March 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)

RIM's patent play

Research in Motion has taken out eight full-page ads in US newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, urging patent reform.

The move, apparently a twist on announcing it is open for business following its patent showdown for other than the Blackberry device's addicted masses, which it paid $612.5 million to settle early this month.

Before the settlement deal was made, however, Bloomberg reported Treo leads the BlackBerry in a customer-satisfaction survey, and that Palm sold 602,000 Treos last quarter, compared with 645,000 BlackBerrys. In the prior quarter, there was a 150,000-unit gap.

RIM wrote in the full page ad on Tuesday: "You can rest assured that BlackBerry is here to stay."

"As to the lingering question of why the patent system should allow such a bizarre set of circumstances to threaten millions of American customers in the first place, we share your concern. The good news is that this topic is currently receiving much more attention from policymakers and the Supreme Court and we hope the patent system will evolve to close the loopholes and become more balanced."

Surely more patent lawsuits will spring from this, as the $612.5-million paypout has dangled the carrot, so the ads are not without a good point.

~~But the patent issue and Treo are not RIM's biggest threat...~~

Updated (and Adeel was right on market focus): The company I spoke to, Consilient, told me on Wednesday it was not even going after RIM.

Posted by Mike Barton on March 14, 2006 04:42 PM

March 06, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Wireless piggybacking

Piggybacking, or tapping into someone else's wireless Internet connection without authorization, is increasingly an issue for people who live in densely populated areas, according to an article in Sunday's New York Times.

While piggybacking once was primarily the domain of computer geeks or hackers cruising for unguarded networks, increasingly just ordinary folk are guilty of tapping in. And many who piggyback say the practice does not feel like theft to them, according to the Times' report.

Aiding and abetting the piggybackers, some users interviewed by the Times even admit they have decided to keep their networks open as a protest against what they consider the exorbitant cost of Internet access - a practice that makers of security software strongly caution against, as an open wireless network is also an invitation to savvy users peering into unprotected computer files containing sensitive financial and personal information.

While many home network owners say they are oblivious to piggybackers, others have experienced the frustration of having their high-speed Internet connection slow to a crawl with the additional online traffic from neighbors tapping into their systems.

Have you had a similar experience of being choked out of your Internet access by piggybackers? Or are you, perhaps, one of those who view piggybacking as akin to "reading the newspaper over someone's shoulder." Tell us where you stand on this issue.

Posted by Caroline Craig on March 6, 2006 06:20 AM

March 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)

The real story behind the RIM, NTP patent battle

With the RIM suit finally settled, and addicts assured that their supply of e-mail will not be cut off and they will not have to quit cold turkey, you might be interested in how it all started.

For the full story read Blackberry Blues by Kim Isaac Eisler in Washingtonian Magazine.

The tale is about two groups of earnest people each defending their own turf. An inventor Thomas Campana with an idea on how to send text transmissions over wireless and his patent lawyer, Don Stout, on one side and Mike Lazaridi, a college senior and his partners who started Research in Motion.

Campana and Stout formed NTP whose sole assets were Campana's wireless patents stowed away in a file cabinet. Both men were busy doing other things.

As Eilser reports RIM mostly did software development for other companies but spent 10 years doing its own research on wireless paging technology before introducing a wireless device with a small, thumb-driven keyboard.

When Stout heard of the RIM device he thought it sounded awfully familiar and he went back to that file cabinet.

The rest is history along with a check for $612.5 million to NTP.

Posted by Ephraim. Schwartz on March 3, 2006 03:57 PM

March 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)

High cost of switching users from their BlackBerrys

Millions of BlackBerry users won a temporary reprieve last week when a U.S. District Court Judge decided not to shut down RIM's service. But with hopes for a quick settlement of RIM's patent dispute with NTP looking increasingly unlikely, this morning's story in The Wall Street Journal will do nothing to allay the fears of BlackBerry users stuck in limbo. The Journal reports that companies that want to switch their wireless e-mail to other devices will face costs as high as $844 per user.

The estimate is based on a report from the consulting firm Telwares and includes costs such as the purchase of new devices and software, as well as the associated expense of training staff to use their new systems. Telwares found in a survey of Fortune 500 firms that there is "increasing anxiety about RIM's protracted legal battle and significant interest in switching to new services." The report doesn't say whether that "significant interest" was before or after Fortune 500 firms took a look at the price tag for switching.

For the full story, click here (Subscription required)

Posted by Caroline Craig on March 1, 2006 07:19 AM

February 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Treo's ticket to ride

A judge stopped short on Friday of ordering an immediate shutdown of millions of BlackBerry portable e-mail devices made by Research In Motion (RIM), reports say.

But U.S. District Judge James Spencer said there was no escaping that RIM had been found to be infringing on NTP's patents and he would issue a decision on an injunction "as soon as reasonably possible."

Meanwhile, the BlackBerry brigade is reportedly not fussed with many options such as Palm's Treo.

Bloomberg reports Treo leads the BlackBerry in a customer-satisfaction survey, and its sales are closing the gap.

It said Palm sold 602,000 Treos last quarter, almost as many as Research In Motion's 645,000 BlackBerrys. In the prior quarter, there was a 150,000-unit gap.

Posted by Mike Barton on February 24, 2006 12:39 PM

February 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)

'WiFiber' challenges optic cables

Just as 3G cell cards begin to challenge WiFi for speed and NTT DoCoMo hit 2.5Gbps in a 4G trial, wireless networking has set its sights on fiber.

MIT Technology Review reports a wireless service from GigaBeam dubbed "WiFiber" is one-upping WiMax to rival fiber optic networks in some applications with speed of more than one gigabit per second.

Wireless networking in the gigabit per second range is an advance but fiber is still faster, as readers of the story pointed out and the Technology Review website corrected.

Gigabeam said its point-to-point wireless technology could be a strong contender where digging to lay fiber-optic trenches was too expensive or not feasible.

LightPointe and Proxim Wireless provide similar services, but GigaBeam's technology uses at terahertz frequencies to overcome limits on data transmission from poor weather.

Posted by Mike Barton on February 23, 2006 12:14 PM

February 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Worried about a BlackBerry blackout? Might as well laugh about it

RIM's ongoing legal tussle is again in the news, and things are looking a little brighter for BlackBerry users. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday swatted down an NTP patent that it previously awarded and that is a key piece in the litigation against RIM.

In spite of this small ray of sunshine, the threat of a BlackBerry shutdown later this month still looms and waves of fear continue to hit BlackBerry power users. Case in point, the DOJ on Wednesday filed a legal brief asking the judge to exempt government agencies from the potential shutdown of the BlackBerry service.

So as we all wait for both the patent claims and lawsuit to play out, worried BlackBerry users can enjoy a little comic relief, courtesy of The Onion. The satirical news outlet published a creative graphic showing how BlackBerry addicts might respond to a shutdown.

Posted by Cathleen Moore on February 2, 2006 02:01 PM

November 03, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Ford pickups to get 'mobile office' makeover

Drivers today have a wide selection of tech gadgets to distract them from the boring task of driving. In addition to the non-tech standby fast food, drivers can jump around from cell phones, BlackBerry e-mail devices, GPS navigators, iPods, and DVD players for the kids in the back seats.

Soon pickup truck drivers will have another diversion in which to engross themselves: a complete mobile office. Presumably while the car is safely in Park, drivers will be able to conduct office tasks such as printing or navigating a touch screen computer --all without stepping out from behind the wheel.

Ford is ramping up PR on the new truck/office hybrid model of the Ford F-Series pickup due in dealerships next year.

At first the pickup truck seemed a curious vehicle choice for an office cubical on wheels, but apparently the F-Series pickup will be marketed at contractors, plumbers, cable installers--anyone who conducts business on the road, according to Ford officials.

"Instead of driving your truck to the office, it will soon be possible to bring the office to your truck," Ford's marketing blurb reads.

The mobile office, which will be offered as a dealer-installed accessory package for F-Series trucks, will include options for a printer, a GPS-enabled hand-held computer with a touch-screen, a digital camera, and a credit card scanner. Ford worked with Microsoft and a company called Stargate Mobile to pull it off.

Posted by Cathleen Moore on November 3, 2005 04:42 PM

August 08, 2005 | Comments: (0)

AOL aims to expand wireless unit with Wildseed acquisition

AOL acquired wireless software maker Wildseed and created a new unit as part of a strategy to boost its mobile services.

Wildseed, based in Kirkland, Wash., makes Linux-based software for mobile devices and will become part of the newly created AOL Wireless unit, AOL announced.

In addition to Wildseed, AOL Wireless will include Tegic Communications, which AOL bought in 1999 and specializes in simplifying the entry of text into mobile devices, IDG News Service reported.
Finally, AOL Wireless will also absorb AOL Mobile, which includes several AOL services for mobile devices, such as instant messaging, e-mail, photo storage, radio, search and mapping.

The Wildseed acquisition and the creation of AOL Wireless are part of AOL's continuing initiative to extend its interactive services to mobile devices and simplify and promote their usage, an AOL spokeswoman said.

Wildseed's technologies provide a mobile Linux-based Operating System which includes support for Game Boy Advanced style games, MP3 and Video playback, remote device management, AOL said. Many of the components that form Wildseed's mobile Linux solution can be sold separately to non-Linux based feature phones.

"Data-related mobile technologies are on the cusp of mainstream adoption. We see it everyday in the explosive growth of our mobile AIM traffic. The wireless industry is focused on bringing additional rich media experiences and a new gen-eration of interactive services to the mobile consumer, and we are committed to being a leader in that arena," John McKinley, Chief Technology Officer and President, Digital Services, of AOL, said in a statement. "With the combination of Tegic and Wildseed, we can offer our carrier and OEM partners the best-in-class platform they need to deliver these rich and engaging mobile experiences and help drive innovation and growth in the industry."

Posted by Jack McCarthy on August 8, 2005 04:08 PM

June 15, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Ericsson partners with Napster to bring music to mobile phones

Telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson and the Internet music downloading service Napster announced today a partnership to offer an integrated digital music service for mobile operators.

The service will allow mobile operators to develop opportunities for personalized digital entertainment on the mobile phone and personal computers and will also encompass ring tones, master tones, and video content, Ericsson said in a statement.

Napster's brand, catalog, label relationships, programming, PC and
portable offerings will be combined with Ericsson's operator
relationships, wireless development, integration, hosting, deployment
and support and IPX charging system, Ericsson said.

The announcement follows news earlier this week that Sony Ericsson unveiled several mobile phones, including a 3G high-data speed phone that offers enhanced features such as video conferencing, music and games. Ericsson is pursuing an ambitious program to develop phones that handle increasingly diverse features.

"With Napster we are uniquely positioned to deliver the easy to use, complete suite of music offerings our customers are asking for," Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson, said in a statement.

"We gain access to the biggest digital music brand in the world and
exposure to the largest music catalog available, which will not only
increase our customer's consumer offerings and revenues but
substantially strengthen their own brand image as well," Svanberg said.

The service is scheduled to start in Europe during the next 12 months and will initially be offered to operators in selected markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America, Ericsson said.

The new service will support coordinated wireless and PC downloading
of digital music in both subscription and a la carte models, and
phone-based initiation will ensure convenient and easy music library
access for both mobile and PC usage, Ericsson said.

The service scales to current handset models and networks but can
also accommodate next-generation technology for newer handsets on
higher-speed networks and is designed to work on mobile phones from
all major manufacturers that support content protected by digital
rights management.

The platform delivers a complete digital music solution
under one brand via a consistent user interface and with billing
consolidated by mobile operators.

Posted by Jack McCarthy on June 15, 2005 05:17 PM

March 31, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Making blogging mobile

The next big thing in blogging may just be the ability to blog from a mobile phone, at least if a company called Intercasting gets its way.

The company plans to release in April an application, called Rabble, that will enable users to blog directly from a cell phone and, according to a Mercury News atricle, a major wireless provider will offer the service.

Intercasting says Rabble is about more than blogging. Here is the marketingspeak from the company's Web site:

Rabble enables a new kind of self-expression that informs, entertains and connects people through the media they create. It’s like putting virtual sticky notes on the world around you. Through bits of location-tagged media, find and interact with other people and get information you won’t find in the yellow pages. Part blogging, part location-based personal networking, Rabble connects mobile consumers with the world around them through a unique and intuitive way by turning users into producers and creating a marketplace for mobile user-generated content.

I've read terms like mobile blogs, mobile media revolution, personal publishing platform, and content with local relevance, to describe Rabble, but it's too early to predict any revolutions, technological, social or otherwise.

At first blush, though, Rabble seems like one of those products that someone should have created already. Presuming that inputting blog posts and images is easy enough via mobile phones to make the process worthwhile, the notion of posting via a phone seems to be something of a gimme.

The Mercury News story also quoted a Yankee Group analyst saying that Rabble will face competition from the likes of Yahoo in the near future.

Intercasting's president Derrick Oien has a blog of his own.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 31, 2005 08:06 AM

March 10, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Chicago becomes latest city to join continuing saga of municipal Wi-Fi

The Windy City is now considering instituting a municipal Wi-Fi network.

A city task force is doing the due diligence and will study the best way to offer wireless throughout the city, The Chicago Tribune reported.

As is the case in Philadelphia, service providers and carriers are trying to prevent Chicago from moving forward with its plan.

In Chicago, the advocates are saying municipal Wi-Fi could generate revenue, while the opponents claim that, based on other cities' experiences, it could result in a loss.

A similar argument is brewing in Philadelphia, though it seems from news reports that the debate is further along in Philadelphia. In the City of Brotherly Love, Mayor Street is driving the initiative and claiming that municipal Wi-Fi could help to bridge the digital divide, and also be used by the city's existing services, such as the police force.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 10, 2005 09:18 AM

February 17, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Municipal Wi-Fi debate lingers in Philadelphia

The City of Brotherly Love is divided on the topic of Wi-Fi.

Mayor John Street is pushing forward with plans to offer Wi-Fi in every neighborhood of the city. But, as The New York Times reported this morning, Philadephia's plan has enraged a debate over who should provide the Wi-Fi service.

Street's plan, of course, is met with more than mild trepidation by the phone companies -- the very organizations that stand to lose financially if the city institutes Wi-Fi.

Glenn Fleishman offers an in-depth, and expectedly informed opinion on the debate that's worth a read.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 17, 2005 10:27 AM

January 25, 2005 | Comments: (0)

SBC aligns with California to Create Wireless State Parks -- No Thank You

When does wireless computing tilt the seesaw away from pervasive and directly into the invasive realm? Well, one place where this is starting is California State Parks.

SBC Communications struck a deal to provide wireless access to 85 of California's State Parks. The telcom will offer Wi-Fi from picnic tables, RV spaces, tent sites, and cabins. A free service allows users to access state park Web sites, such as http://www.parks.ca.gov/, for park and camping information, such as which roads are closed. I've been to enough state parks to know that information is typically available at the ranger station on the way into most parks, anyway.

Users who want access to more Web sites and to their e-mail can get that, too, for a fee. This is where it gets more disturbing -- because it means that coming from the next tent site I might have to listen to that noise made every time an IM is sent or received. Just like a chipmunk scurrying around a camp site at night can sound like a grizzly bear, the beep a PC emits upon incoming e-mail will carry in the woods.

True, no one has to bring their notebook if they don't want to but, then again, no one has to bring a cell phone out in public either, yet leaving one's cell at home does nothing to protect them from the annoyance of other people talking on their mobile phone a few short feet away.

The deal between SBC and California is being marketed as the largest scale Wi-Fi deployment of its kind. In my mind, though, it is set to become the largest wireless disaster of its kind.

I can think of no better way, excluding logging, roads and arson, to destroy the land sanctuaries we have set aside than to transform them into wireless hot spots.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 25, 2005 07:30 AM

December 15, 2004 | Comments: (0)

Sprint and Nextel make this the month of the merger

With 2004 winding down, it's tempting to call it the year of the merger. More accurate, perhaps, would be to say that December 2004 is the month of the merger.

Consider that in the first 15 days, we have seen IBM sell its PC arm to Lenovo, a move that Big Blue has said is as much partnership as sale, Oracle finally succeeded in its hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, and Symantec all but confirmed intentions to purchase Veritas.

This morning, Sprint and Nextel agreed to what the companies are calling a "merger of equals."

That wording sounds akin to marital stubbornness, if you ask me. After all, Sprint's CEO Gary Forsee will take the helm of the new company, and the merger included a $35 billion dowry.

Regardless of the marketing speak, though, the newlyweds are now the third largest competitor in the wireless market, even if they had to merge to survive.

The New York Times has a story online this morning, Software Sector Finally Enters A Merger Phase, that quotes a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management who wrote in a book that the software industry has too many companies by a factor of three or more.

Clearly we can expect more mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry, so the more pertinent question is whether we will see any more this month.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 15, 2004 06:44 AM

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