BALTIMORE-In what he hopes will be the first of many such appearances, Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, last week told 800 civic leaders here that the marrying of the computer and wireless industries can happen anywhere, “not just in Silicon Valley.”
“You can now hold in your hand the same computing power that took us to the moon,” Wheeler said. He added that the same equipment that in the past only provided voice services today can provide data as well.
While carriers are offering services that allow subscribers to access the Internet on handheld devices, accessing the Internet or checking e-mail as easily as checking voice mail with a handset is a tough sell.
This is where the Wireless Data Forum comes in. WDF, a CTIA subsidiary, sponsored the FutureQuest 2000 breakfast of the Greater Baltimore Alliance. It also expects to sponsor with GBA a Wireless E-mail and Internet/Intranet Access Open House in February to teach how wireless data breaks what Wheeler calls the tyranny of information.
In other words, those wanting information had to go to where the information was stored-be it a library or an Interent-enabled desktop computer. The wireless Internet model is a mobile one, allowing users to access information from wherever they are-giving them more freedom and control.
The GBA events are a road test of an evangelical program that Wheeler hopes he will be able to take around the country.
The basic tenet of the message is that those companies that get behind wireless data will be that much ahead of the laggards who don’t, Wheeler said.
Stressing that wireless is another form of competition and is the most competitive telecom sector, Wheeler told the audience he does not see “wireless replacing wireline. I think it is going to displace it.” People still will want to sit at home or in their offices and talk on the phone or surf the Internet at speeds that wireless cannot yet offer, but when people are not at home or at their office, they can still be connected with wireless data. “The two fit rather well,” he said.
