It’s been an interesting year. To fully understand my meaning here, you must understand what I mean by interesting. To some, it means merely of interest. But once in awhile, a doctor or friend will say the word “interesting” in a tone that gives it an entirely different meaning. As in, “That’s an interesting mole you have growing there,” or “That’s an interesting color of blue you chose to paint the house. What do the neighbors think?”
In a way, 2000 has been “interesting” in that sense. Don’t get me wrong. It’s been a great year. A fast year, a year full of change and excitement and energy. But it’s also been a year of basement stock prices, balloons burst and bankruptcies.
Since this newspaper began choosing a “person of the year,” in 1993, I have always felt very confident in my vote. (Some years the person I voted for didn’t win, but I was always passionate in my arguments for why my candidate had the greatest impact on the wireless industry that year. This year, I waffled initially. In the end, Vodafone’s Chris Gent was a shoo-in among the editorial staff-including me-but it took a little longer to get there.
In football, it would be called a year of rebuilding. All the pieces are being put in place that will set the foundation for a great year later. The wireless Web, with all its wonders and weaknesses and WAP is still an infant, if not an embryo. It must mature a little before we realize the opportunities it holds. People still use their phones to talk. But like the young college quarterback who is simultaneously brilliant and clumsy, we hold our breath watching the potential of the wireless Internet and hoping that potential is realized.
Telecom stocks were “most interesting” in 2000. The RCR Wireless News stock index peaked near 3200 in March, but the end of the year has been brutal for some companies. Perhaps its just a rebuilding year.
And then of course, it was an interesting year for alleged connections between cancer and mobile-phone use. Are they or aren’t they? Lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, and a little more litigation played out against the backdrop of studies showing hands-free devices are safe-no, unsafe-wait, they are safe again.
Just as the British government warned its children not to use cell phones and Disney pulled Mickey, Donald and Goofy faceplates off the shelves, the National Cancer Institute published findings in The Journal of American Medicine pronouncing cell phones safe. Will the Mickey Mouse faceplate make a comeback? What about in the U.K.?
And then there was George Carlo’s behind-the-scenes account of WTR. Now that was interesting.
