Broadband Wireless Comes to Pocket PCs

OmniSky and Metricom team for high-speed service, starting early next year.

Ramon G. McLeod, PCWorld.com

LAS VEGAS--The wireless Web is coming to Pocket PCs at high speed. Under an agreement announced here at the Comdex trade show, OmniSky and Metricom will bring 128-kilobits-per-second wireless Internet services to the Pocket PC platform by the first half of 2001.

Metricom's Ricochet brand network services have previously been available only for notebook users. OmniSky provides wireless Internet and e-mail services for users of handheld devices. (See "OmniSky Updates Wireless Service for PDAs.")

The two companies are working together to explore ways to deliver broadband access to the handheld and free users from the frustration of accessing the Internet over low-speed networks. (See "Wireless Internet Gathers Speed.")

The first rollout will be done early in the first quarter of 2001 in 11 U.S. markets that have Ricochet 128-kbps network services, an OmniSky spokesperson says. The services will be targeted to the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC. The company expects the services to be available in the top 46 U.S. markets by the end of 2001. Prices were not announced.

"True to our strategy, OmniSky has expanded to multiple platforms and multiple devices-- and now we are beginning expansion to multiple networks," says Patrick McVeigh, OmniSky chair and chief executive officer. "Expanding first to the Ricochet network-- the world's fastest wireless mobile network-- is a significant move for OmniSky."

"The combination of Pocket PC, OmniSky, and Ricochet will bring the rich experience handheld users have been craving," said Timothy Dreisbach, chair and chief executive of Metricom. "Our newly formed relationship is the opportunity for both companies to continue to push the mobile computing frontier and bring new capabilities to the increasingly critical handheld user market."

OmniSky launched its original wireless Internet and e-mail service in the United States on the Cellular Digital Packet Data network one year ago. Metricom rolled out its high speed Ricochet wireless service in July.