Expo Highlights Ways to a Wireless Life

Yardena Arar, PCWorld.com

Phones, pagers, and other portable gizmos that put a wealth of data and entertainment at your fingertips--and the networks and technologies to make it all possible--take center stage in Orlando this week at CTIA Wireless 2000, the premiere trade show of the wireless telecommunications industry. But the big question behind the glitter and gadgets is whether the huge investments made in wireless can pay off.

Some 40,000 attendees are expected to attend the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association show at the Orange County Convention Center. Among them are such notables as keynoters Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, Intel Chairman Andrew Grove, and Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union. For entertainment--if side trips to the Disney and Universal attractions don't suffice--Jerry Seinfeld will headline the Tuesday night Wireless Gala. Top-level wireless industry executives from nations around the globe will also be on hand to take the pulse of the U.S. wireless scene.

Rob Mesirow, CTIA's vice president of conventions, describes the show as the largest of its kind ever. He says its "wireless lifestyle" theme indicates the growing role wireless communications will play in everyday life.

"The wireless industry is not just about the device on your belt," Mesirow says. "It's about permeating and changing the way we live, work, and play."

To dramatize this, a lifestyle area on the show floor features diverse demos of the wares for a wireless life. A hospital setting demonstrates the use of wireless technology in health care. A fashion show features both gadget-friendly clothing and eye-catching wireless products such as a pin with a built-in microphone that communicates via Bluetooth to a cellular phone in a woman's purse. On a more practical level, Jabra is showing a $99 sub-one-ounce Bluetooth earpiece called the FreeSpeak.

Handset Heaven

The exhibit floor, open Monday through Thursday, is crammed with booths by about 1000 exhibitors. Participants range from major cellular carriers such as Sprint, AT&T Wireless, and Verizon to handset and device manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion (RIM, creators of the popular Blackberry devices), Samsung, and many more. Also on hand are a plethora of companies with technologies they've licensed or hope to license to carriers or handset vendors.

For example, Verizon and Qualcomm are jointly announcing the launch of Qualcomm's BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) platform, technology similar to an operating system that lets people download and run applications on cell phones. The service will launch initially in San Diego, but by the end of May it is expected to be available throughout Verizon's wireless network.

Customers with BREW-enabled phones will be able to access a variety of applications. Among the selection are games such as EA Sports' Tiger Woods Golf, or ring tones based on pop hits such as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. The choices are accessed over the airwaves and paid for via their Verizon cell phone bill. At launch, Verizon customers who sign up for a two-year contract can choose from two BREW-enabled handsets: a $399 unit with a color screen from Sharp, or a $149 monochrome Kyocera handset.

Wi-Fi Competition

Digital cellular services aren't the only way to go wireless at CTIA. The entire convention center will offer 802.11b wireless access to the Internet. The project is sponsored in part by a startup called Boingo, which is promoting its service. Boingo targets wireless travelers by offering access to a growing number of commercial public 802.11b networks on a single billing plan.

In fact, the prospects of public 802.11b networks as opposed to those of slower, more expensive, but more widely available digital cellular networks is an interesting question being raised at the show, says Jane Zweig, chief executive of The Shosteck Group, an international telecommunications consultancy specializing in wireless technology. She expects to see more services like Verizon's BREW offerings as the carriers struggle to determine how to secure a return on their very costly investments in wireless infrastructure.

Phones will become more elaborate, Zweig says. She anticipates larger color screens, built-in cameras, and other gadgetry that could entice users to sign up and pay for more bandwidth. Options could range from streaming video to playing multiplayer games.

A number of vendors are showing off location-based services, which deliver content to customers based on their physical location, as identified by geographic positioning equipment built into phones. But Zweig is skeptical. "The industry believes consumers want location-based services and will pay for them. I'm not sure people really want that kind of service," she says. Among other things, many people might view such location-pinpointing technology as an invasion of privacy, she notes.