Tuesday, October 1, 2002
A pipe is a pipe, and the Internet is the Internet
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "ARTICLE" @ 02:31 AM
This is not my favorite subject, but one that surprises me a lot. It surprises because people, even experienced and smart, continue to get it wrong. First, however, I must give my kudos to Östen Mäkitalo, father of mobile phones and senior wireless strategist of Swedish carrier Telia. He has spent the last few years evangelizing "the Mobile Internet" as something different that the Internet. But in the last issue of Computer Sweden he concludes he has been wrong, and that he now thinks about the Internet and different ways of accessing it. It is cool to see someone of his rank admit he's been wrong in his own area of expertise, and it deserves respect to do so. Hats off.
I, on the other hand, am not bigger than this: What did I tell you? In the same magazine (Computer Sweden), Chris Forsberg and myself wrote an article stating: "There is only one Internet, and it is the Internet", and that this fact is a real threat to carriers that do not understand this. In fact, already in December 2000 I wrote: "In my world, there is only one Internet, and it is the Internet," in the PocketPC.com article "Pocket PC Claims Stake in the Mobile Business".
Why do I bring this up today? Well, in a recent ZDNet article, "The chicken and the app", Tiffany Kary totally buys into the network operator myths:
"Which has to come first--the mobile application, or demand? The answer is neither, and it's time developers and network operators rethought the entire question. There's only one player in the game that can call a truce: The network operator. "The onus is on the operator to make this happen" said Jackson. "There needs to be a concerted effort to streamline the development process, provide device roadmaps and (network) rollout roadmaps," he added."
I wonder if Tiffany Kary thinks her ISP was the only one player that made the Internet what it is today, or if perhaps software developers, service providers, hardware manufacturers, and so on have also had anything to do with it. In fact, does Tiffany think that her ISP is the one making it all happen even today?
In my world, the carrier that believes it is the only player that can make things happen is the one we'll find in the dust bin tomorrow. In my world, the carrier that first makes sure it has the fastest, most stable and price efficient Internet pipe and then (perhaps) moves on and makes available Internet services and mobile devices to mobile users, will win. A pipe is a pipe. The Internet is the Internet.
I, on the other hand, am not bigger than this: What did I tell you? In the same magazine (Computer Sweden), Chris Forsberg and myself wrote an article stating: "There is only one Internet, and it is the Internet", and that this fact is a real threat to carriers that do not understand this. In fact, already in December 2000 I wrote: "In my world, there is only one Internet, and it is the Internet," in the PocketPC.com article "Pocket PC Claims Stake in the Mobile Business".
Why do I bring this up today? Well, in a recent ZDNet article, "The chicken and the app", Tiffany Kary totally buys into the network operator myths:
"Which has to come first--the mobile application, or demand? The answer is neither, and it's time developers and network operators rethought the entire question. There's only one player in the game that can call a truce: The network operator. "The onus is on the operator to make this happen" said Jackson. "There needs to be a concerted effort to streamline the development process, provide device roadmaps and (network) rollout roadmaps," he added."
I wonder if Tiffany Kary thinks her ISP was the only one player that made the Internet what it is today, or if perhaps software developers, service providers, hardware manufacturers, and so on have also had anything to do with it. In fact, does Tiffany think that her ISP is the one making it all happen even today?
In my world, the carrier that believes it is the only player that can make things happen is the one we'll find in the dust bin tomorrow. In my world, the carrier that first makes sure it has the fastest, most stable and price efficient Internet pipe and then (perhaps) moves on and makes available Internet services and mobile devices to mobile users, will win. A pipe is a pipe. The Internet is the Internet.
