In contrast to his flashy music video bestowing the progress of WiMAX (a funny video that borrowed heavily from Radar Love to produce WiMAX Love) Intel’s Sean Maloney made a couple of sobering points in yesterday’s opening keynote.
Maloney said that the Internet (with its own set of standards) will not adapt to mobility; mobility will have to adapt to the Internet. Later, when talking about mistakes learned from the past, he acknowledged Wi-Fi authentication problems and the clunkiness that takes place when roaming. (You have to stop, put in a credit-card number, etc., to get on the network.) ASIM card should have been embedded into a Wi-Fi chip from the beginning.
WiMAX proponents are putting in long hours trying to avoid these past mistakes. Some of the issues being addressed today include:
–Interoperability between network infrastructure;
–Customer expectations must be managed. Don’t promise the world before you can deliver it;
–Products must be simple to use. (Note to industry: Please pay close attention to this one.The TV used to be a simple piece of electronics. Today I find remote controls one of the most troublesome products around;
–Cost must be low to drive adoption. Iconic devices and services will speed that adoption.
As with any fledgling industry, there will be stumbles. But it’s wise that industries to address them at the beginning of the market.
I think Maloney said it best: The ecosystem needs to fix these issues before they go to market or 10 years later, it’ll still be trying to fix them.
The industry is working to address these issues in more than 350 trials around the globe. Right now it’s all about interoperability plugfests and the lessons to be learned from them. The WiMAX Forum expects to have five labs open for certification. The heavy lifting that takes place today.
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