Thursday, June 13, 2002
New group aims at wireless standard
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 09:30 AM
http://www.msnbc.com/news/765575.asp?0dm=C12NT&cp1=1
Still too early to tell if this is good news or not, but I suppose it can't hurt - the real question is, will they accomplish anything? Or, like most of these "super committees", will they sit around and talk and not reach a conclusion? Part of me thinks that the market is too feral to have companies unite on a single standard. It would be nice, sure, but if there's profit involved, most companies won't hesitate to break away and do their own thing.
"Nearly 200 technology companies have signed on to the latest industry attempt to forge a universal wireless standard for all cell phones and handheld computers. The new Open Mobile Alliance will replace the WAP Forum, whose Wireless Application Protocol is the most widely used platform for Web browsers on cell phones, but has fallen short of expectations. Besides names like Motorola, Nokia and Vodafone, the most notable member of the new group may be Microsoft Corp., which in the past has shunned many industry attempts at wireless unity. NTT DoCoMo, which provides the wildly popular i-mode cellular service in Japan, is also joining the consortium. But conspicuously absent from the alliance is Palm Computing, whose popular operating system for mobile devices still accounts for more than half of all handheld computers sold. Palm did not return phone calls seeking comment."
Still too early to tell if this is good news or not, but I suppose it can't hurt - the real question is, will they accomplish anything? Or, like most of these "super committees", will they sit around and talk and not reach a conclusion? Part of me thinks that the market is too feral to have companies unite on a single standard. It would be nice, sure, but if there's profit involved, most companies won't hesitate to break away and do their own thing.
"Nearly 200 technology companies have signed on to the latest industry attempt to forge a universal wireless standard for all cell phones and handheld computers. The new Open Mobile Alliance will replace the WAP Forum, whose Wireless Application Protocol is the most widely used platform for Web browsers on cell phones, but has fallen short of expectations. Besides names like Motorola, Nokia and Vodafone, the most notable member of the new group may be Microsoft Corp., which in the past has shunned many industry attempts at wireless unity. NTT DoCoMo, which provides the wildly popular i-mode cellular service in Japan, is also joining the consortium. But conspicuously absent from the alliance is Palm Computing, whose popular operating system for mobile devices still accounts for more than half of all handheld computers sold. Palm did not return phone calls seeking comment."
