I am here at Esther Dyson’s PC Forum, an annual suaret for the high technology community. Larry Brilliant, now Vice-Chairman and former CEO of Cometa Networks spoke on a panel regarding the company’s strategy to build a wholesale network of 20,000 hotspots around the country in partnership with IBM Global Services, AT&T, and Intel.
One of Cometa’s first announcements is with McDonald’s. I initially thought that this was a bad idea, but I am beginning to rethink my position.
I must admit that I have come full circle on the issue of mobile gaming. Early on, I did not really believe that mobile gaming was an opportunity that would emerge in a significant way. I have come full circle and now believe that mobile gaming is a very real, near-term opportunity and potentially more lucrative than “data” in the near term.
As I was writing my review of the Palm Tungsten W, which I finally got my hands on at the latest CTIA show in New Orleans, I came across this curious comment made by a Palm executive in October 2002 (several months before the product’s oficial launch):
“This is not a replacement for a mobile phone,” said Palm senior product manager David Christopher. “We don’t see people trying to use this to make a call while traveling down the highway. But if you are sitting in the airport and want to review a presentation, respond to e-mails and make a call, this would be the device for you. ”
Hmm, I am suspicious here. With a suggested retail price of $549, not counting the cost of ongoing wireless access, that sounds like a very high price for anything but a primary access device.
I am going to take it on faith that the Palm folks did not really mean what they said — they are just smart enough to have realized that these integrated devices do not represent the death of the mobile phone.
Yes, I know that the first two handsets reviewed on my site are Sony Ericsson offerings. Please bear with me — this will change over time. I am working through my CTIA backlog and want to address as much as I can.
I am a *huge* fan of the Sony Ericsson t68i. I am currently using this phone as a supplement to my work phone and have a number of pros and cons that I would like to point out to the interested observer:
At the CTIA Wireless Expo I finally got a chance to play with the Sony Ericsson P800, one of the hottest new handsets on the market from the Sony Ericsson consortium. The device was pretty impressive, but there are the usual set of pros and cons:
Welcome to my new blog! I have changed hosting providers and am now using Simplehost, which is a great deal for those of you on a budget. Many thanks to my good friend Sindy Lee who got my MT site up and running in about an hour.
