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To: DaveMG who wrote (31383)	5/31/1999 10:01:00 PM
From: DaveMG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Microsoft/Nextel deal boosts wireless Net apps By R. Scott Raynovich Redherring.com May 29, 1999 Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) $600 million investment in Nextel Communications (Nasdaq: NXTL), formally completed today, is expected to give a boost to the market for wireless applications based on the Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP). The partnership is expected to yield one of the first systems for delivering a stripped-down version of Internet data to mobile phones using a wireless packet data network. This could prove the potential for the use of WAP, which allows mobile phones and other devices to more efficiently access Internet-based applications designed for wireless networks. "It highlights the value of wireless assets for delivering data, voice, and Internet services," says Harvey Liu, senior analyst at CIBC World Markets. Nextel has a sophisticated customer base that is more likely to use wireless connectivity to access Web data, says Mr. Liu. "This is a natural extension that provides Internet content to people on a 24 by 7 basis." INFUSION FOR NEXTEL ONLINE Nextel will use Microsoft's investment to fund its Nextel Online system, which will be deployed to 50 million points of presence (POPs) by year-end, according to Nextel officials. It will be tested in several major cities, including New York and Atlanta, as early as the end of the summer. Because Nextel's networks are based on a packet data network, rather than the voice circuit networks employed by many of the traditional telecom carriers, it's in a position to focus on data services and the Internet, says Mr. Liu. "They're using a packetized data network which makes Internet services more efficient," he says. ARRIVAL OF THE WAP APPS? Nextel officials say that the online service will deliver a series of WAP-based interfaces that strip out Web graphics, enabling the Internet data to be more easily delivered over wireless links. Observers say this points to an opportunity for companies developing Internet apps. "This will help companies write more apps to provide value-added services because they see WAP as an emerging standard," says David Freedman, senior managing director at Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC). Indeed, interest in the WAP protocol has flourished in just the past several months. The WAP Forum, an organization that oversees the standards for developing WAP-based applications, was officially founded by LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY), Motorola (NYSE: MOT)), Nokia (NYSE: NOK), and Phone.com (formerly Unwired Planet) in January of this year. Since then, another 33 companies have joined, including both Nextel and Microsoft. Software companies that belong to the organization include Geoworks (Nasdaq: GWRX), Spyglass (Nasdaq: SPYG), Mapquest (Nasdaq: MQST), and Starfish Software. The deployment of WAP apps may make the mobile phone a more viable competitor to other wireless devices like personal digital assistants for accessing Web data. During the past five years, cellular penetration in North America grew from 15.6 percent to 42 percent of households, according to Forrester Research. Forrester expects that by 2003, nearly 57 of all North American households will be cellular subscribers. Some companies are already focusing on WAP apps. For example, Phone.com, which is expected to go public next month, has been a contributor to wireless applications being used by equipment providers like Nokia and Alcatel (NYSE: ALA). In exchange for the $600 million investment, Microsoft received approximately 16.67 million shares of Nextel stock, accounting for a stake of roughly 4 percent of the company. redherring.com

To: DaveMG who wrote (31383)	5/31/1999 11:32:00 PM
From: slacker711	Respond to of 152472

TI is NOT a licensed CDMA ASIC supplier, no accident I presume.. Oops...I guess i should take a closer look at the annual reports. I thought they had been licensed as a CDMAone supplier. hmmm....If TXN supplies a DSP which Nokia programs to put into their CDMA phone, who needs to be licensed? I think i'm going to have to try and get a better understanding of ASIC's versus DSP's (especially when implementing CDMA). Anyway, i'm not exactly sure what it means but the CDG website has TXN listed under a list of suppliers of cdmaONE handset components. cdg.org Slacker

To: DaveMG who wrote (31383)	5/31/1999 11:57:00 PM
From: gdichaz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

To DaveMG: Your understanding re lack of TXN license from the Q to produce CDMA ASIC chips is mine also. The question then becomes, what is the practical need for DSPs as well as ASICs in mobile phones? If TXN is listed by the CDMAOne group as a phone component supplier, could it be for DSPs or other widgets used in conjunction with ASICs from the Q? As a tech non wiz, I am curious. What is clear is that the innards of Ericy and Nokia GSM and TDMA phones are heavily stocked with Texas Instruments produced components - primarily DSPs I presume. This is a sort of mystery within an enigma, no? (At least until we find out from the technology wiz's among us.) Clark, what sayest thou? Others? Chaz

To: DaveMG who wrote (31383)	6/1/1999 10:36:00 AM
From: quidditch	Respond to of 152472

TXN's DSPs and Q!'s ASICs. DaveMG and Slacker: not my area and I may be wrong, but... While TXN certainly has the fab and design know-how to compete in the ASIC market, and they did for years in semi and memory chips, it has revamped its business in the last three years to focus heavily, if not exclusively on DSPs, which I suppose could also be termed an ASIC. But the function of a DSP, I believe, is rather specific to converting digital inputs into analog outputs so the CDMA signal processed and received by Q!'s MSM chip can be converted by the DSP into recognizeable human speech/text graphics by the DSP. I'm not sure TXN's DSP is directly competitive so much as complementary. The DSP platform PR that you posted a few days ago seemed to me to be enlarging the feature and applications capability of wireless devices. BWDIK. Perhaps the DSP is morphing into something more. Regards. Steven