NEW ORLEANS
-- Wireless executives at a Tuesday morning keynote session here at the CTIA Wireless show looked toward ubiquitous high-speed
services and new ways of using phones, but some disagreed as to how those services will be delivered.
Wi-Fi wireless LAN hot spots will complement fast wide-area data services such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), said
Sky Dayton, founder and chief executive officer of Wi-Fi service provider Boingo Wireless. Boingo on Tuesday announced a partnership
with T-Mobile in which users will be able to connect to Wi-Fi hot spots and GPRS services with the same account and the same
software,
Dayton
said. The software, provided by Boingo, will show the user all the hot spots available in the local area as well as whether
GPRS is available, and the user can choose between the two.
"These two technologies really belong together. They have different strengths and they're complementary, and together we can
deliver a better user experience,"
Dayton
said.
Irwin Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, sees a different future. High-speed 3G (third-generation) cellular service will
leave behind Wi-Fi for most users on the go, he said.
"You don't have to go to a hot spot. You don't have to park your car in the gas station in order to get a download. It's available
wherever you might be," Jacobs said. "That's the one, I think, that will end up being the preferred service ... for most people.
Once you've paid for that service, then why pay additional whenever you're near a hot spot, if the service is completely adequate?
NTT DoCoMo president and CEO Keiji Tachikawa gave a glimpse into the future of that carrier's wireless services. Wireless
services are moving from voice to non-voice, from domestic to international and from people to other kinds of "users," such
as PCs, cars and pets, Tachikawa said.
E-mail
Printer Friendly
Reprints
(InfoWorld) - In the litigious world we live in, deploying a unified communications platform in your enterprise could...
