Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[Eric]

Different Strokes for different folks ...

Rob,

<< LoL!!!! Eric don't be so hard on XXXXXX - his head is in the right place; even if his heart isn't... ;^> >>

Hey look, I already reneged on a commitment I made to SFX, not once but twice, and I'm not going to make it thrice.

<< Flarion's FLASH-ITP is merely a stepping stone to a true broadband, mobile wireless open standard. >>

It is just that, and like all strictly proprietary technologies, it could be implemented by a Nextel, or Nextel and Sprint (in MMDS spectrum), quicker than a technology based on an evolving open standard.

Related to this, I recently mentioned your 'name de jour' in responding to a WiMax oriented post on TMF, and I'll repeat my response in its entirety here.

One of my TMF colleagues stated:

"It does seem to me that the form factor of the receiving device is going to be paramount for sometime to come."

I responded ...

I agree. For stationary computing types, the desktop PC is the device of choice, and even a docked notebook is a compromise. For the corporate road warrior, a notebook or subnotebook is the device of choice, and the voice-centric cum data mobile handheld is a requisite supplement (increasingly serving as a modem), and will remain so.

Our friend 'Cool Hand Luke' who sees IEEE putting the 3GPPs out of business would vehemently disagree with me but while I view OFDM based 802.16 WiMax as truly disruptive technology, I do not view it as disruptive of 3rd Generation CDMA based G3G Mobile Wireless Telephony, and Edward Rerisi of ABI Research agrees and states that better than I could:

"Support for WiMAX among manufacturers large and small is building and driving demand away from some 3G and Wi-Fi applications, but the primary market will be the 'sweet spot' between the speed of Wi-Fi and the range of a cellular base station. In the end, the largest threat is to the demand for landlines, not 3G or Wi-Fi."

http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1466

Someday, WiMax may be incorporated into enterprise class mobile handheld devices like Nokia's 8 ounce 9500 3GSM EDGE/WiFI Communicator that will ship Q4, but in its early iterations it will supplement WiFi in upgraded Centimo class notebooks and be available in desktop PC modem cards. Until it's capable of intermodal interfrequency handover with CDMA2000 and relatively ubiquitous GSM/3GSM infra at bullet train speeds (which will be one heck of a long time from now - if ever) it's a fixed and portable solution, and will have little appeal to the mass consumer market for mobile wireless voice and data telephony where 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, 1xEV-DV, 3GSM EDGE, and 3GSM WCDMA are targeted and will dominate in this decade and well into the next.

Interesting recent WiMax article here:

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/04/12/to_those_who_dont_quite_grasp_wifi____....

Best,

- Eric -