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January 5, 2002 Talk Is Cheap and Coming to Gadgets Near You




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this story:

No phone companies, PC's or software?

Palm Pilots will talk

'Cyberstreams'

Who cares which network you use?

Why hasn't this happened yet?

Networks forced to open

Asian Connection
s
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


By CNN Business Correspondent Marianne Bray

Houses talk to computers. Magazines talk to wireless phones. Cars talk to the Internet.

We're entering an era in which objects don't just think, they share what they know with each other, according to Motorola.

And people? While they're making inroads into the wireless future -- Singapore Airlines for one is adding in-flight Internet access -- the much-touted telecom nirvana has not arrived for them yet.

For most people, owning a mobile phone, accessing voicemail and Internet and buying a couple of books from Amazon.com is about as far as it gets.

And what about the hassles?




Connecting to the Internet and downloading Websites takes ages. Mobile phones constantly cut out. A MP3 player doesn't work because your PC doesn't have the right software.

And each new device or service just adds one more phone number, e-mail address, software package, password or PIN number to be remembered.

Chief strategist for U.S. computer giant Citrix, Traver Gruen-Kennedy, for one, is frustrated with his three phone numbers and ten email addresses.

Despite the hassles, the gloomy surveys and bleak outlook, Gruen-Kennedy is among the visionaries who say the future will change so much that phone companies, PCs and prepackaged software will be a thing of the past. With Asia leading the way.

No phone companies, PC's or software?




Talk will be cheap. And getting what you want won't be expensive, either.

Experts predict you'll buy specific services such as access to music databases, remote health monitoring and mobile stock-broking, anywhere, anytime and from any device.

Say goodbye to clumsy packages of general services linked to phone companies' own networks, with access limited to a mobile phone or PC.

Palm pilots, cameras, Walkmans, televisions and cars, will soon be able to talk to each other over high-speed broadband networks -- replacing PCs as the gateway to the Internet.

Meanwhile software will be stored in customer database centers rather than in devices, making them smaller and more flexible. You'll be able to download the most up-to-date software each time you use any of your devices.

Palm Pilots will talk




The groundwork is already being laid. In early April, Sony said every device it makes will have an Internet address so its products can talk to each other.

In Japan, the Sony walkman is already networked and able to download music from the Internet.

The market for Net-enabled products, which include wearable computers, is expected to grow so fast that by 2010, Ernst and Young estimates every person on earth will have 10,000 telemetric devices each.

Meanwhile, British Telecom predicts that 95 percent of all traffic over networks will be machines talking to each other, with only 5 percent involving those organic and slightly old-fashioned devices called people.




The Internet ? It won't be used in the simple way it is now.

Sure, you'll access the always-on Internet from your many devices. But it won't be computer screens attached to refrigerators and stovetops.

Rather, the Internet will be the connecting medium that allows machines to talk to each other and to talk to customer databases run by companies that sell you services.

Your stereo will download music files directly from a variety of on-line customer databases, using an interface designed to access music.

And the music can be provided by anyone. If you bought a BOSE stereo, BOSE may provide a five-year online music service as part of the package.




You'll be able to transfer music straight from your stereo to your walkman. If you don't own a stereo, you can download music straight onto your walkman.

All the devices will be able to talk to each other and to the customer databases.

QUOTE
"Napster's 50 million users show how consumers want the choice, convenience and flexibility they have never had before," - commentators say.



In Japan, vending machines already use a version of this technology to send a message to a central database as soon as they run low on stock. Vending machine owners know when and where to send their supply vans, rather than wasting money on weekly checks.

In the same way, you may call your home network to turn on the air conditioner. And when you're settled, download the latest movie from a video-on-demand (VOD) service.

If you want to go to bed halfway through, you can request the VOD database transfer the movie to the TV in the bedroom.

'Cyberstreams'




Eventually, experts say, it will not just be your home that is smart and networked. Equipped with your smart devices, you'll become your own personal area network roaming in and out of networks all day, every day.

Devices will become an "electronic chronicle of your daily life" or "cyberstreams," accumulating records you can tune into anywhere with any device, David Gelernter, a professor at Yale told Time magazine.

Information generated by these devices will be stored on customer databases which will identify your patterns, track your bills and feed you information you are interested in, wherever you are.

These databases will also act as a gateway to all your devices, so one number corresponding to your database location will link your phones, palm pilots, TVS, computers and appliances.




Anytime you make a call, it will be directed via your database. Anytime you are sent information, it will be received by your database and routed to whatever device you are using or one that is most convenient.

So while you're driving to work, the screen in your car might receive an e-mail. Or if you're shopping, your cell-phone might receive the same e-mail.

When you get home, it could be your TV or PC. Any of your devices can alert you to it. And if you delete the e-mail from your cell-phone, it will automatically be deleted from all your other hot-linked devices.

Because software won't be stored in your computer but on your database, you'll access the same program, the same document or service, from any device linked to your database.

Who cares which network you use?




Over time, the service you use will become the dominant business model rather than the network you subscribe too, analysts say.

Imagine for example, a heart attack alert service. You wear a wristband that monitors your heart rate and alerts a hospital service when you're having a heart attack.

You might not ever know which mobile network the service works on, because you'll buy it from a hospital that makes its own deal with one or more networks that will be invisible to you.

In the past, phone companies have operated customer databases, billing you for the service.

Soon "owners of the devices may form an alliance with the database owner and networks in the middle are a commodity," says Peter Waters, telecom specialist at Gilbert & Tobin in Hong Kong.

Customers, once forced to connect to different networks or adopt the best mix of services from one network, will be able to turn to application providers like Microsoft and content providers like AOL to manage their bills and provide them with a range of services.

"The permutations of relationships between network, content, service and application providers are almost infinite," says Stephen Ezekiel, who works for British Telecom's business development team in Hong Kong.

Why hasn't this happened yet?




So why aren't we already roaming wirelessly via our customer databases? The technology already exists, but companies are not willing to give up their power, say experts.

Microsoft with Windows, AOL with instant messenging, phone companies with massive networks are all fighting to retain their hold over products and services.

They "lock" customers in and don't allow users from other networks to use their service. This is why you can't send an instant message if you're not an AOL subscriber or send a text message to a user from another network.

Networks forced to open




But experts predict companies won't be able to hold their monopoly for long.

All the computer-enabled "smart" devices and new technologies such as Bluetooth, that allow devices to talk wirelessly to each other at far greater speed, are already moving intelligence out of the networks, says telecom specialist Peter Waters.

To make the most of their devices, consumers will want to roam across all networks and have real-time access to their customer information. This will force networks and network-like companies to interconnect with each other.

And a plethora of companies, using satellite and cable, are competing with traditional telecom companies to provide network access.

Governments too are legislating that networks or companies that offer network-like services open up.

Most recently, Japan has said NTT DoCoMo's I-mode service, which provides Net-enabled mobile services to 20 million users, must open up its network to other Internet service providers.

All these factors are working together to punch a hole in the "walled garden of network operators," Waters says.

Asian Connection

In many ways Asia is leading the way, helped by the fact it does not have a strong telecom legacy and wireless users far outnumber wired users.

Experts say Asia will find it easier to make profits from 3G.

DoCoMo is expected to debut the world's first 3G services this year, giving users high-speed mobile access to multimedia content.

Japan and South Korea lead the market for services like games and news brought to the screens of mobile phones. E-commerce across Asia is expected to grow 80 percent each year, says investment firm Goldman Sachs.

And the market is immense. China will be the largest mobile market in the world soon, says Michael Garstka, telecom specialist at Bain consultancy in Tokyo.

AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.


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Talk Is Cheap and Coming to Gadgets Near You




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this story:

No phone companies, PC's or software?

Palm Pilots will talk

'Cyberstreams'

Who cares which network you use?

Why hasn't this happened yet?

Networks forced to open

Asian Connection
s
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


By CNN Business Correspondent Marianne Bray

Houses talk to computers. Magazines talk to wireless phones. Cars talk to the Internet.

We're entering an era in which objects don't just think, they share what they know with each other, according to Motorola.

And people? While they're making inroads into the wireless future -- Singapore Airlines for one is adding in-flight Internet access -- the much-touted telecom nirvana has not arrived for them yet.

For most people, owning a mobile phone, accessing voicemail and Internet and buying a couple of books from Amazon.com is about as far as it gets.

And what about the hassles?




Connecting to the Internet and downloading Websites takes ages. Mobile phones constantly cut out. A MP3 player doesn't work because your PC doesn't have the right software.

And each new device or service just adds one more phone number, e-mail address, software package, password or PIN number to be remembered.

Chief strategist for U.S. computer giant Citrix, Traver Gruen-Kennedy, for one, is frustrated with his three phone numbers and ten email addresses.

Despite the hassles, the gloomy surveys and bleak outlook, Gruen-Kennedy is among the visionaries who say the future will change so much that phone companies, PCs and prepackaged software will be a thing of the past. With Asia leading the way.

No phone companies, PC's or software?




Talk will be cheap. And getting what you want won't be expensive, either.

Experts predict you'll buy specific services such as access to music databases, remote health monitoring and mobile stock-broking, anywhere, anytime and from any device.

Say goodbye to clumsy packages of general services linked to phone companies' own networks, with access limited to a mobile phone or PC.

Palm pilots, cameras, Walkmans, televisions and cars, will soon be able to talk to each other over high-speed broadband networks -- replacing PCs as the gateway to the Internet.

Meanwhile software will be stored in customer database centers rather than in devices, making them smaller and more flexible. You'll be able to download the most up-to-date software each time you use any of your devices.

Palm Pilots will talk




The groundwork is already being laid. In early April, Sony said every device it makes will have an Internet address so its products can talk to each other.

In Japan, the Sony walkman is already networked and able to download music from the Internet.

The market for Net-enabled products, which include wearable computers, is expected to grow so fast that by 2010, Ernst and Young estimates every person on earth will have 10,000 telemetric devices each.

Meanwhile, British Telecom predicts that 95 percent of all traffic over networks will be machines talking to each other, with only 5 percent involving those organic and slightly old-fashioned devices called people.




The Internet ? It won't be used in the simple way it is now.

Sure, you'll access the always-on Internet from your many devices. But it won't be computer screens attached to refrigerators and stovetops.

Rather, the Internet will be the connecting medium that allows machines to talk to each other and to talk to customer databases run by companies that sell you services.

Your stereo will download music files directly from a variety of on-line customer databases, using an interface designed to access music.

And the music can be provided by anyone. If you bought a BOSE stereo, BOSE may provide a five-year online music service as part of the package.




You'll be able to transfer music straight from your stereo to your walkman. If you don't own a stereo, you can download music straight onto your walkman.

All the devices will be able to talk to each other and to the customer databases.

QUOTE
"Napster's 50 million users show how consumers want the choice, convenience and flexibility they have never had before," - commentators say.



In Japan, vending machines already use a version of this technology to send a message to a central database as soon as they run low on stock. Vending machine owners know when and where to send their supply vans, rather than wasting money on weekly checks.

In the same way, you may call your home network to turn on the air conditioner. And when you're settled, download the latest movie from a video-on-demand (VOD) service.

If you want to go to bed halfway through, you can request the VOD database transfer the movie to the TV in the bedroom.

'Cyberstreams'




Eventually, experts say, it will not just be your home that is smart and networked. Equipped with your smart devices, you'll become your own personal area network roaming in and out of networks all day, every day.

Devices will become an "electronic chronicle of your daily life" or "cyberstreams," accumulating records you can tune into anywhere with any device, David Gelernter, a professor at Yale told Time magazine.

Information generated by these devices will be stored on customer databases which will identify your patterns, track your bills and feed you information you are interested in, wherever you are.

These databases will also act as a gateway to all your devices, so one number corresponding to your database location will link your phones, palm pilots, TVS, computers and appliances.




Anytime you make a call, it will be directed via your database. Anytime you are sent information, it will be received by your database and routed to whatever device you are using or one that is most convenient.

So while you're driving to work, the screen in your car might receive an e-mail. Or if you're shopping, your cell-phone might receive the same e-mail.

When you get home, it could be your TV or PC. Any of your devices can alert you to it. And if you delete the e-mail from your cell-phone, it will automatically be deleted from all your other hot-linked devices.

Because software won't be stored in your computer but on your database, you'll access the same program, the same document or service, from any device linked to your database.

Who cares which network you use?




Over time, the service you use will become the dominant business model rather than the network you subscribe too, analysts say.

Imagine for example, a heart attack alert service. You wear a wristband that monitors your heart rate and alerts a hospital service when you're having a heart attack.

You might not ever know which mobile network the service works on, because you'll buy it from a hospital that makes its own deal with one or more networks that will be invisible to you.

In the past, phone companies have operated customer databases, billing you for the service.

Soon "owners of the devices may form an alliance with the database owner and networks in the middle are a commodity," says Peter Waters, telecom specialist at Gilbert & Tobin in Hong Kong.

Customers, once forced to connect to different networks or adopt the best mix of services from one network, will be able to turn to application providers like Microsoft and content providers like AOL to manage their bills and provide them with a range of services.

"The permutations of relationships between network, content, service and application providers are almost infinite," says Stephen Ezekiel, who works for British Telecom's business development team in Hong Kong.

Why hasn't this happened yet?




So why aren't we already roaming wirelessly via our customer databases? The technology already exists, but companies are not willing to give up their power, say experts.

Microsoft with Windows, AOL with instant messenging, phone companies with massive networks are all fighting to retain their hold over products and services.

They "lock" customers in and don't allow users from other networks to use their service. This is why you can't send an instant message if you're not an AOL subscriber or send a text message to a user from another network.

Networks forced to open




But experts predict companies won't be able to hold their monopoly for long.

All the computer-enabled "smart" devices and new technologies such as Bluetooth, that allow devices to talk wirelessly to each other at far greater speed, are already moving intelligence out of the networks, says telecom specialist Peter Waters.

To make the most of their devices, consumers will want to roam across all networks and have real-time access to their customer information. This will force networks and network-like companies to interconnect with each other.

And a plethora of companies, using satellite and cable, are competing with traditional telecom companies to provide network access.

Governments too are legislating that networks or companies that offer network-like services open up.

Most recently, Japan has said NTT DoCoMo's I-mode service, which provides Net-enabled mobile services to 20 million users, must open up its network to other Internet service providers.

All these factors are working together to punch a hole in the "walled garden of network operators," Waters says.

Asian Connection

In many ways Asia is leading the way, helped by the fact it does not have a strong telecom legacy and wireless users far outnumber wired users.

Experts say Asia will find it easier to make profits from 3G.

DoCoMo is expected to debut the world's first 3G services this year, giving users high-speed mobile access to multimedia content.

Japan and South Korea lead the market for services like games and news brought to the screens of mobile phones. E-commerce across Asia is expected to grow 80 percent each year, says investment firm Goldman Sachs.

And the market is immense. China will be the largest mobile market in the world soon, says Michael Garstka, telecom specialist at Bain consultancy in Tokyo.

AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.

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