Andrew Seybold's Outlook's Barney Dewey Sketches Wireless Data Landscape 2000-2002

Propelled by Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless -- "networks with good packet data services" -- and a powerful technological boost from Bluetooth, the U.S. will in 2001 take the lead in wireless data, predicts Wireless Industry Analyst/Consultant Barney Dewey in a seven-page report featured in Andrew Seybold's Outlook, the authoritative monthly newsletter for the Wireless Data and Wireless Internet communities.

An Outlook contributing editor, Dewey projects the wireless data landscape through 2002, observing that Bluetooth will cause PDA devices to become the preferred way to connect to the Internet when mobile.

"Wireless data will go through many exciting changes," he writes. "By the end of 2002, both Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS will have networks that support up to 144-Kbps packet data...Bluetooth will ... enable the interconnection of a wide variety of personal computing and communications devices, giving us new, easier-to-use wireless capabilities. New PDA phones will drive wireless data usage, especially for those who want a one-piece solution."

Mobile users waiting for "killer apps" should wait no more, Dewey says, because those applications are already here.

They are the same applications that are "killer apps" for PCs and the Internet, he says: personal information managers; general applications such as finance, news, weather and shopping; instant messaging; customer resource management; sales force automation; database access and applications; telematics; and more.

"I often hear the question: `Where are the compelling applications for wireless?'

"The question that should be asked is, `When will wireless devices and services deliver the user experience that renders these applications compelling in a mobile environment?'"

Dewey's report also delves into the contemporary wireless data usability issues, network pricing issues, win-lose technology decisions made by leading carriers, and promising emerging markets and applications.

Mobile Executive/Contributing Editor Robert Frank reports on his experiences using the NeoPoint 1000 and the Palm VII on the road with his consulting assignments.

"I was especially interested in (NeoPoint 1000's) PDA functions and WAP capabilities," Frank writes, noting that loading Lotus Domino files was accomplished in minutes, and that the unit's Tegic 9 software is "... one of the most ingenious implementations I have ever seen ... a predictive keyboard tool that uses my contact list as a dictionary." Even so, he finds minibrowsing with a 10-key keypad is "not acceptable."

The Palm VII worked "flawlessly," complemented by applets such as a schedule checker from Delta Air Lines and iMessenger, an instant messaging application, that combined to make life easier when mobile.

Contributing Editor Victor Wortman's Mobile Implementation column focuses on a new Palm V/Clarinet Systems EthIR infrared LAN recently installed aboard the U.S. Navy destroyer USS McFaul. Sailors aboard McFaul have dispensed with clipboards and tablets and currently use the Palm V to communicate with the central shipboard database and each other. Now in evaluation, results to date have proven extremely positive and, says the commanding officer, CDR Bruce Curry, so far, it's "...thumbs up all the way."

In his monthly Mobiltorial, Editor-in-Chief Andrew Seybold revisits NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, allowing that the technology can indeed be useful in the U.S., providing that applications are tailored for the service, since U.S. customer interests vary considerably from those of Japanese consumers. The youth market uptake, which propelled i-mode in Japan, he says, will be slower because of higher costs of service and the fact that many teens already have phones.

Seybold also sees AOL entering the SMS wireless message market soon, with two affinity groups the top candidates for the service: teens and business people.

"My bet is that the business community will not take to it (SMS on devices such as GSM phones), but teenagers will. Those who are serious about it will opt for devices that are better suited for instant messaging -- two-way pagers from Motorola, Glenayer and RIM, PDAs equipped with pen input and several combination devices."

Seybold also examines market potential of some of the devices, including the Motorola T900 two-way pager and the RIM devices, and he spotlights Wireless Verticals' Mobile Time Billing program as the kind of application that can and should be optimized for the wireless world.

Aimed at the legal and consulting professions, " ... This is the type of application that will drive wireless adoption," Seybold says.


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