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Wireless industry poised to deliver long-awaited, next-generation services
By Jennifer Davies
UNION-TRIBUNE UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 25, 2004



TAMI CHAPPELL / Reuters
A model at this year's Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association trade show demonstrated how wireless Internet technology could be incorporated into fashion.

ATLANTA – Is this a defining moment for the wireless industry or just more of the same?

That was the discussion at this year's Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association trade show in Atlanta.

Amid optimistic talk of a rebound in revenue and demand, companies displayed plenty of cool phones and gee-whiz applications. Megapixel camera phones, phones that record and display video, 3-D and interactive games, and high-resolution color screens were in booth after booth.

But all these next-generation devices have been hinted at or promised for years.

"There's not a whole heck of a lot of new, earth-shattering stuff out there," said Michael King, a wireless industry analyst for the Gartner Group.

Yet William Plummer, vice president of strategic and external affairs for Nokia, said there's a difference this year: The wireless industry is finally poised to deliver the much-hyped next-generation services.

"We are there. The promise is being realized today," he said. "Be impressed with this moment in time."

In the past, wireless networks weren't able to transmit high-speed data applications like downloading a video clip, and the phones lacked memory and a user-friendly design to take advantage of applications like 3-D gaming. Also, there were few compelling reasons to spend the extra cash to buy a high-tech phone and the necessary service.

Now, Plummer said, the missing pieces are being put into place.



ERIK S. LESSER / Getty Images
On display at the Atlanta trade show were new phones, cameras and wireless game devices, including Nokia's N Gage.

Most of the major wireless phone companies have announced their intentions to launch super-fast wireless networks. Verizon Wireless, which has been offering its wireless high-speed Internet service in San Diego and Washington, D.C., for several months, this week reaffirmed plans to expand that service throughout its network over the next two years. By the end of 2004, Verizon Wireless plans to install the high-speed data technology on one-third of its network, which would cover about 75 million consumers. Verizon's wireless Internet service offers speed comparable to cable modems and DSL technology, and is based on Qualcomm's patented wireless standard.

Other cell-phone companies would have to respond, said Steve Searles, vice president of sales and marketing for Nortel Networks, one of the companies that will supply Verizon with the equipment for the super-fast wireless network.

"What's happened is that Verizon has this big bandwagon and everybody has to jump on it," Searles said. "If you don't, you'll be left behind."

AT&T Wireless, which is being acquired by Cingular, also said it plans to launch its version of high-speed wireless Internet service in four markets by the end of the year.

Rod Nelson, chief technology officer for AT&T Wireless, said two of those markets would be Seattle and San Francisco. While San Diego and Dallas had previously been mentioned as the other two, Nelson said AT&T Wireless had not decided where else it would offer the service initially.



Bloomberg News
John William Stanton, chairman of T-Mobile USA, denied widespread reports that the wireless industry had a down period.

For now, Verizon and AT&T services focus on providing wireless Internet access to laptops. But cell phones are beginning to be offered that can also use the high-speed service.

LG Infocomm, a Korean mobile-phone maker that has its North American headquarters in San Diego, introduced its VX8000 phone that will work on Verizon's souped-up wireless network and is equipped with a digital camera and video recorder and a ton of other bells and whistles.

Curtis Wick, LG's director of testing and technical support, said everybody has been talking about all the futuristic services known as third-generation, or 3G, technology for too long.

"Everybody has been saying '3G' for the last three years," Wick said. "Now you are starting to see it put to use."

But the real question is what the average consumer will use these services for. Paul Jacobs, president of Qualcomm's wireless and Internet division, said multimedia was the service that would spur demand.

The company announced several initiatives to offer multimedia, including its own technology that would allow subscribers to watch short TV segments on their wireless devices while not overburdening the cellular networks.

"Voice is the first killer app, and multimedia is the next big driver," he said.

Wireless executives say that even though next-generation services are only now emerging, the industry has been doing just fine.

John Stanton, the head of T-Mobile, said the past gloom-and-doom media coverage didn't accurately reflect the industry's performance. There was a "misconception that the industry had a down period," Stanton said.

Denny Strigl, the chief executive of Verizon Wireless, concurred, adding, "It's seldom that I agree with my friend here."

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