The new wireless gizmos may be humming with new applications, but promises keep outweighing results. CDMA, the technology leading the march toward a full third-generation era, continues to confront challenges.
Data services have been unfurled, but adoption is still in its infancy. Enterprise players are enjoying the speed offered by CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology. Industry, however, is learning that speed cannot be an end in itself as companies grapple with the task of turning bandwidth into opportunities.
The camera phone, with all its aesthetic appeal and convenience, still fits the description of a potential revenue stream. Push to talk, coveted by pioneer Nextel Communications’ rivals, is mired in the politics of the marquee vendors, as Nokia Corp. follows a different protocol trail from others like Siemens AG, L.M Ericsson and Motorola Inc.
Verizon Wireless has taken the lead in selling the virtues of next-generation services with the planned rollout of EV-DO services across the United States. Sprint PCS, ever the conservative powerhouse, has so far made good on its word not to take the DO route, but to jump right into EV-DV technology.
Its reason? It wants to achieve its return on investment with its CDMA2000 1x network, which it has deployed with a wide range of services including picture messaging.
In spite of the challenges, the phones are making strides, according to Pat Marshall, vice president for advanced products for Verizon Wireless information services. He cites Verizon’s 1x On The Go applications, which he says will make services more robust in content, depth and breadth.
From the handset perspective, a major hurdle for rolling out the services for 1x phones is memory, explained Marshall, adding that the challenge increases with each new generation of phones and models.
“Right now, we are limited by that,” he said. Marshall expects the problem to be tackled, though. “As that problem goes away, there will be more information into the applications for access,” he said.
He said as WAP 2.0 emerges, end users will enjoy more latitude in accessing information. He said the coming of multi-modal systems will ease some of the problems.
Another challenge, according to Marshall, is the unwieldy experience of using keypads for data and other browser-based applications. Punching in numbers is perceived as awkward to a lot of users, he said. He added some carriers, including SK Telecom in Korea, have started asking their device vendors to bring standard sets of keypad functions. He said it may work for the Korean player because it takes a dominant role in the market. But in markets like in the United States, where a variety of carriers will provide different applications, content providers and application partners, standardizing how to use the phones to access services may be a “pipe dream,” said Marshall.
Mary Palmer, public relations manager for Kyocera Corp., agrees that CDMA is making steady progress, and PTT is one of the services on which CDMA players still have faith. Extolling Kyocera’s KX440 phone unveiled during the CTIA show in Atlanta in March, Palmer said the technology is already in play with some carriers around the world. Tata Teleservices in India last month launched PTT services using Qualcomm Inc.’s BREWChat technology and KX440 handsets.
“Operators are in a foot race to get the services,” said Palmer. “Tata wanted to be the first to launch PTT.”
Verizon lists a number of services already enjoyed through its On the Go 1x offering using LG handsets. They include searchable business name or category, nationwide white pages, reverse look-up, nationwide weather, movies with show times and reviews, maps and driving directions, and restaurant reviews from content provider Zagat. Verizon’s SuperPages offering has what it calls the only nationwide directory in print, online and now in its On the Go application.
Palmer said imaging also is gaining traction, referring to Kyocera’s Koi phone, which she describes as an example of how the network and product synchronize since the network is optimized for the services on the device.
The P2x idea, which refers to push-to services including pictures, video and other dynamic media, shows some of the virgin areas untapped by the CDMA market. She also referred to machine-to-machine communications as another viable area for CDMA technology.
While 1x technology may have snagged some momentum, DO has shown greater traction in Asia. In South Korea, it is generating three to four times the revenue of 1x in the country. DO is a test case of how the next generation of CDMA technology is besting GSM’s migratory W-CDMA technology. In Japan, KDDI Corp., which deploys CDMA2000 technology, is outpacing its bigger rival NTT DoCoMo Inc. for 3G subscribers.
Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group, said Asia is leading the way with location-based services, video streaming and instant messaging, adding that “presence” technology, which taps the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems, will set the stage for more complex services like gaming.
In fact, CDMA is showing it is global in appeal, explained Sanjeev Verma, vice president of marketing and business development and co-founder of Airvana, which provides DO solutions for players such as Ericsson and Nortel Networks Ltd. “It bodes well for high-speed data services,” he said.
In Latin America, Vivo has latched on to DO technology as well.
“It is basically what people did with 1x, but with more bandwidth,” said Steve Searles, vice president of global CDMA marketing with Nortel Networks Ltd., explaining the fascination with 1x so far. He said while the enterprise users are taking advantage of PC cards in laptops, the consumer market will require better form factors.
“Not a huge divergence from 1x,” he remarked, “but richer, more fulfilling, far more penetration and usage if marketed properly.”
He said LBS has not taken hold yet in North America because the technology is still evolving.
“You need the penetration of devices for it to happen,” he said.
