America rides the wireless wave"
Exerts From the Economists 4/29/00
"One reason for doubting the current consensus in Europe's lead has been somewhat exaggerated. Granted, in some Scandinavian countries, two out of three households have cellphones - more than twice the rate in America. But rates in big European countries such as France and Germany are actually lower than in the United States, and penetration in some urban areas now reach Scandinavian levels. What is more, America is still far ahead in Internet use, which means that Americans are likely to take up wireless Internat services faster than Europeans. Existing Internat firms can simply extend into the woreless world."
"And this is where America has two great advantages. First, it has an "inovational complex" - those thousand of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and engineers - unmatched anywhere in the world. They are now begining to do to wireless what they already have done for the internet. Secondly, America has more money than anywhere else.."
"These advantages have allowed America to forge ahead in three crucial areas : Hardare, Saftware, and Services.
Under hardware:
"Two years ago, Motorola lagged far behind its Scandanavian rivals, Ericsson and Nokia. Now, after a big push, the company has shipped 1 million web-based phones, while its competitors are only starting to sell handsets with a browser."
"Qualcomm, a company based in San Diego, owns important patents for a radio technigue called CDMA, which will most likely become the standard in wireless networks, and currently makes 90% of the chips that run CDMA networks. It could become sort of the Intel of the wireless age"
"America has also taken the lead in wireless devices that are not telephones... and the article talks about Palm devices and pagers.
The Economists is published in London. |
