Wireless Data ServicesTechnologies, Business Models

and Global Markets

Chetan Sharma

Yasuhisa Nakamura

published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridgeThe Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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First published 2003

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Contents

List of figures page xiiAbout the authors xvForeword xviiAcknowledgements xxList of abbreviations xxii

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Progress in wireless technology 31.2 The business model and global wireless competition 41.3 Cross-cultural challenges 51.4 What makes this book unique? 61.5 How is the book organized? 71.6 Who should read this book? 91.7 Summary 10

2 The impact of globalization 12

2.1 The impact of globalization and wireless technology on education 132.2 The impact of 9/11 on the world 152.3 Globalization: culture and lifestyle 202.4 Effect on business sectors 222.5 Operator perspective 232.6 Equipment manufacturer perspective 262.7 Computer industry perspective 29

viii Contents

3 Adoption trends and analysis by region 32

3.1 USA 323.2 South America 373.3 Japan 393.4 South Korea 423.5 China, Taiwan and Hong Kong 433.6 Europe 453.7 Australia 473.8 Africa 483.9 The growth of WLAN 49

4 Subscriber needs and expectations 52

4.1 Personal subscribers 524.2 Enterprise subscribers 56

5 The wireless value chain 65

5.1 The wireless value chain 665.2 Aggregators – content/application/services 785.3 Enterprise solution providers 805.4 Where is the value in the wireless value chain? 815.5 Analyzing the forces influencing the value chain 825.6 Conclusion 94

6 Global wireless technologies: systems and architectures 95

6.1 The pervasive computing landscape 956.2 Systems and architectures 996.3 Packet data 1026.4 2G cellular systems (GSM, cdmaONE, PDC and TDMA) 1076.5 Wireless LAN, home networks 1096.6 PAN 1156.7 Evolution scenarios towards 3G 1166.8 Devices and terminals 1206.9 Smart cards 123

ix Contents

7 Global wireless technologies: network, access, and software 124

7.1 Network and access technologies 1247.2 Position location 1247.3 Fiberless optical system 1277.4 Smart antennas 1297.5 Wireless WAN 1307.6 IP-based technologies 1307.7 Voice 1327.8 Telematics 1367.9 Biometrics 1387.10 Software: catalyst to wireless internet 1437.11 SMS 1437.12 Software agents 1457.13 Middleware/gateway components 1467.14 Service discovery and synchronization 1477.15 Transcoding of content 1507.16 Mobile internet 152

8 Business models and strategies 159

8.1 Introduction 1598.2 The i-mode phenomenon 1608.3 Business model for content service providers 1668.4 Business model of advertising and publishing services 1738.5 Business model for device manufacturers 1768.6 Business model for operators 1788.7 Business model for WLAN operators 1828.8 Business model for platform services 1858.9 Business model of fixed wireless integration 1868.10 Business model for 3G services: differentiation from 2G systems 1878.11 Conclusion 192

9 Business issues and challenges 193

9.1 Hyping: a useful business strategy? 1949.2 Transition from flat rate to a la carte billing models 1979.3 Mobile SPAM 199

x Contents

9.4 WLAN business 2009.5 Interoperability 2039.6 Decreasing churn and increasing ARPU 2049.7 3G auctions and spectrum 2069.8 Consolidation 2079.9 Market saturation and search for new market strategies 2099.10 Privacy 2119.11 Security 2159.12 Position location rollout and privacy 2169.13 Mobile fraud 2209.14 Transfer of technology 2239.15 Conclusion 225

10 Technology issues and challenges 226

10.1 Technology development and the laws 22610.2 Spectrum issues 23010.3 Challenge for high-performance devices 23210.4 IEEE 802.11 vs bluetooth vs 3G 23310.5 Transition from 2.5G to 3G 23510.6 Battery life 23810.7 Security 23910.8 Transcoding and usability – phones/apps/services 24410.9 Global roaming 24510.10 Billing and payment issues 247

11 Case studies 252

11.1 Southern wines and spirits 25211.2 British petroleum 25411.3 SEGA 25711.4 RIM in enterprise 26011.5 Conclusions 261

12 Perspectives 262

12.1 Introduction 26212.2 One-on-one with Mark Anderson 262

xi Contents

12.3 One-on-one with Frank Yester 26712.4 One-on-one with Jon Prial 27212.5 One-on-one with Steve Wood 27612.6 One-on-one with Mark Tapling 28112.7 Conclusion 284

13 Future of wireless technologies, applications and services 288

13.1 Introduction 28813.2 Systems beyond 3G (B3G) 29213.3 Future of devices and displays 29813.4 Battery technology 29813.5 How to get on well with a limited frequency resource? 30213.6 Re-configurable terminal/software defined radio technology 30313.7 Mesh networks 30413.8 Seamless migration and multiple wireless systems 30713.9 Multimodal user interfaces 30813.10 Wearable computing 31013.11 Ultrawideband technology 31113.12 Applications and services 31413.13 The promise of Web services 32013.14 Intelligent agents 32213.15 R&D 32413.16 Conclusions 329

14 Conclusions and recommendations 330

14.1 Background factors for predicting the future of mobile business 33114.2 Scenarios 33314.3 Lessons 33614.4 What is next? 33814.5 Epilog 340

References and recommended reading 343Books 343Magazine articles and whitepapers 346Reports 348

Index 349

Figures

1.1 Relationship of the wireless industry with globalization. page 21.2 Internationalization – intelligent translation is more than

word-for-word (top); layout and real-estate can be markedlydifferent (bottom). 8

2.1 NTT DoCoMo’s investment around the world. 252.2 Convergence of computing and communications platforms. 303.1 Penetration of wireless telephone in the world. 333.2 Forecast of US mobile subscribers. 343.3 Latin American subscriber forecast. 383.4 Japanese wireless market growth. 403.5 The growing importance of wireless data in Japan. 423.6 Subscriber forecast for China. 443.7 Revenues for all applications in Europe. 473.8 WLAN ARPU in the USA. 504.1 Medical application. 584.2 The growth of i-mode in the corporate market. 625.1 The wireless value chain. 695.2 A look at the value chain across different geographies. 815.3 Positioning in the wireless value chain. 825.4 Porter’s five force analysis. 845.5 Wireless industry using Porter’s model. 855.6 The double helix of industry structure. 865.7 Wireless value-chain relationship. 895.8 Device value chain. 905.9 The double helix of device value-chain dynamics. 915.10 The double helix of the infrastructure chain. 936.1 The pervasive computing ecosystem. 966.2 A wireless network and its major components. 1006.3 Call set up process in wireless networks. 1016.4 GPRS network configuration. 103

xiii List of figures

6.5 All-IP 3G architecture. 1066.6 FOMA (3G) phones from NTT DoCoMo. 1096.7 Comparison of 802.11a and 802.11b. 1146.8 Concept of IMT-2000 radio access systems (for terrestrial). 1186.9 Three-mode proposal on 3G by the OHP. 1197.1 Voice Web system. 1337.2 Cost analysis for various biometric technologies. 1427.3 Error trade-offs. 1427.4 Global growth in IM subscribers. 1447.5 Transcoding as a component of the middleware engine. 1517.6 WAP programming model. 1537.7 WAP architecture. 1537.8 Comparison of i-mode /WAP architecture. 1547.9 Concept of XHTML, i-HTML and WML. 1557.10 Java 2 editions and their target markets. 1568.1 BOBO mechanism. 1648.2 Total ecosystem of wireless Internet. 1658.3 Operator-led revenue flow scheme. 1718.4 Portal-led revenue flow scheme. 1728.5 Financial service provider-led revenue flow scheme. 1728.6 Cooperative revenue flow scheme. 1738.7 Worldwide advertising market forecast. 1748.8 Wireless data tariff comparison. 1798.9 i-mode services by traffic distribution. 1808.10 Variance in WLAN pricing models (as of March 2003). 1858.11 Cmode services. 1868.12 Concept of FWI (AOLi service). 1878.13 Configuration of a remote live monitoring service. 1899.1 The hype–reality curve: (a) generalized, (b) mCommerce. 1959.2 Average CPGA for carriers. 2059.3 Carriers’ ARPU/month. 2069.4 Position-location application framework. 2199.5 Mobile fraud distribution by type. 22110.1 Moore’s Law. 22710.2 Shannon’s Law vs Moore’s Law. 23010.3 Gene’s Law. 23110.4 Spectrum requirements for technology migration. 23710.5 User retention vs click distance. 24610.6 mCommerce payment model. 25011.1 Process flow of HSE application. 25511.2 Application architecture. 256

xiv List of figures

11.3 ROI for the BP project. 25711.4 SEGA mobile games. 25811.5 SEGA wireless universe. 25913.1 Nine building blocks of the wireless world. 29113.2 The paradigm shift from first generation towards beyond 3G. 29213.3 Mobility vs bit rate perspective of 3G–4G systems. 29313.4 mITF’s view on Systems beyond IMT-2000. 29413.5 The concept of IP-based core network configuration. 29713.6 Concept next-generation devices. 29913.7 Fuel cell from Polyfuel. 30213.8 SALT architecture. 30913.9 Multimodal access scenarios. 31013.10 Multimodal integration framework. 31113.11 Spatial capacity comparison between IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, and

UWB. 31413.12 Future applications and services. 31913.13 Web services framework architecture. 32213.14 Changing paradigms of R&D. 32614.1 Three pillars of progress. 33114.2 Personalization in travel solutions. 33214.3 Where does wireless go from here?. 33314.4 How Oxygen will work. 341

1 Introduction

If we look at the progress made by Homo sapiens over the past 1000 years, the past100 years have had more impact on us than the rest of the centuries combined. Thebreathtaking pace of advances in various fields of technology has transformed thehuman landscape. As we move into the twentyfirst century, the impact of wirelesstechnologies and globalization will have a profound effect on the way we interactculturally, socially and intellectually across geopolitical boundaries.

The new millennium will continue the feverish pace of globalization, and bring itsdenizens closer to each other than ever before. One of the critical factors at the heartof this revolution is mobility; both wireless voice and data technologies will continueto enhance our daily lives and help transform the business and consumer marketplace over the course of next several decades. The global community continues toembrace wireless applications and services and globalization, irrespective of region,gender, culture, or age. This trend is not limited to human beings; even machines areexchanging information wirelessly.

The recent explosive development of wireless technology has contributed not onlyto the acceleration of globalization of the world economy, but has also changed ourlifestyles. Conversely, the rapid globalization of the world has also made a greatimpact on the wireless industry. For wireless engineers like Chetan Sharma andYasuhisa Nakamura, the present authors, physical borders mean nothing. Everyday,a new wireless device is being introduced and a new service starts somewhere in theworld. This is especially true with the introduction of global third-generation (3G)standards serving as a great catalyst in establishing borderless global markets andgreater service commonality of wireless services across regions.

When Yasuhisa Nakamura was a 10-year-old elementary school student, he wastaken to a movie theater in Yokohama, Japan, by his father to watch the movie 2001: ASpace Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. At that time, he understood almost nothing aboutthe essential message of the movie. As he grew up, he watched the movie repeatedlyand discovered many of its messages along the way. In this movie, we can find a fullline-up of advanced wireless technologies such as smart antenna, voice recognition,video phone and data communications, etc. Most of the products and technology

2 Introduction

Globalization Wireless

Mob

ility

Figure 1.1. Relationship of the wireless industry with globalization.

shown in the movie are already available (3G, voice recognition, broadband accessand biometrics). In most cases, we have actually done better. This shows how theprogress in wireless technology keeps on exceeding the imagination of human beings.

Nobody can ignore the globalization of the world. Economical activities andlifestyles are becoming borderless in spite of cultural differences and physical bound-aries. It often happens that a Japanese singer becomes a superstar in Hong Kong aftera single performance. This is true for economical activity as well. We can not forgetthe tragic events of 11th September 2001 in New York, Washington, DC, and Penn-sylvania, which had a serious impact on the global economy. A situation in one partof the world can have a tremendous effect thousands of miles away. Industries suchas banking, tourism and manufacturing are closely knit across continents. The worldis becoming a smaller place every day.

As briefly mentioned before, one of the fundamental threads that tie wireless andglobalization together is mobility. Wireless access enables the mobility of the end-usersandservices.Globalizationcannotbeachievedwithoutmobilityof informationand human activities. Mobility is a unique function of the wireless system that nowired system can enjoy. Wireless systems accelerate the mobility, and mobility inturns accelerates globalization. Mobility bridges wireless and globalization, whichmakes it a win–win relationship (Figure 1.1).

Aswe takeadeeper lookat thewireless industry, thegrowth inusageandpopularityof mobile phones has just been phenomenal. By the time this book is published it isestimated that there will be over 1.3 billion mobile subscribers (2 billion by 2006)around the world. That is just astonishing. Another fact that is often overlookedis that wireless technologies have progressed differently in Asia, Europe and NorthAmerica. Technologies such as i-mode in Japan, SMS in Europe, PDAs (personaldigital assistants) and Blackberry in North America point us to the fact that wirelessapplications and services are unique to the culture and business models of a region.When thinking about transferring successes and learning lessons, one must considerthe effects of globalization on wireless communications and vice versa. This is one ofthe focus areas for this book. We will look at various wireless technologies impacting

3 Progress in wireless technology

on the businesses and consumers alike, various business models of different players inthe value chain, and the effect of globalization on wireless and vice versa. This booktakes a deeper look into why certain technologies, business models and adoptionstrategies succeed whereas others fail, and how all these elements will impact onthe future of wireless communications. With the help of examples, case studies andinterviews with industry luminaries, we will learn some lessons and derive someconclusions and recommendations. Books often concentrate only on technology,but technology is only part of the picture. By looking at different business modelsand cultural nuances around various geographies, we hope to provide a completepicture that will benefit the planners and implementers around the world.

1.1 Progress in wireless technology

Since the early 1980s, when brick-size mobile phones were introduced on analognetworks, we have come a long way. Today an average cell-phone weighs less than100 oz., has a rich graphical user interface, the processing power of a desktop com-puter, and is loaded with features that a few years ago seemed possible only infiction movies. With the advent of 3G services like FOMA (Freedom of Mobilemultimedia Access) in Japan and around the world, we are looking at broadbandnetworks able to support video streaming, voice recognition, international roaming,high-resolution GUI, and much more. We have not only made significant strides inwireless WAN (wide area network) technologies, but also in wireless LAN (local areanetwork) with IEEE 802.11 or Wi-Fi and wireless PAN (personal area network) withBluetooth, UltraWideBand, HomeRF and RFID (radio frequency identification) tagtechnologies.

An almost unprecedented adoption of wireless devices has led to the growth andpopularity of wireless applications and services over the past decade. Just as theInternet enabled legacy systems to be linked to and accessed from the Web and ledthe e-business revolution; access to information anytime, anywhere using wirelessdevices such as mobile phones, PDAs, autoPCs, Kiosks, etc., is enabling the nextphase in pervasive computing – the mCommerce, or mobile commerce, revolution.The wireless applications and services enable consumers and enterprises to accessinformation via their hand-held devices such as palm or pocket PCs or WAP phones,thus empowering the individual.

Advances in technologies in wireless and computing are energizing the vision ofmaking Internet device independence a reality. No longer must we be shackled toour desktops to access information. It is now possible to access that same informa-tion from an endless number of devices – PDAs, palmtops, smart phones, landlinephones, TVs, elevator kiosks, airline entertainment seats, pagers, autoPCs, gameboys,refrigerators, exercise machine screens and video phones.

4 Introduction

Also, the convergence of the computing and communications industries hasrapidly blurred the lines between the devices produced by each industry. Phonesand PDAs now possess the power and sophistication of desktops. This, coupled withan astonishing surge in mobile subscribers worldwide, is fueling the tremendousmomentum of a world without wires. Players in all industries seek ways to leverthe wireless Internet phenomenon to reinvent themselves and extend their reach tocustomers, partners and opportunities. Those who do not will risk being obliteratedby competitors.

Advances in wireless technologies are redefining the existing Internet model andits services. Technologies such as WAP (wireless application protocol) are bringingInternet e-commerce closer to the mobile world. A bank that extended its operationsarm to provide services over the Internet now provides access to user data and servicesover the air. The bank uses WAP-based applications, essentially putting its servicesat consumers’ fingertips. As e-commerce vendors connect their warehouses to thesewireless devices, they provide continual, anywhere service.

Leaders in all major industry segments are participating in trials and launchingexperimental services to learn, and adapt to, customer behavior and worldwidemarket opportunities. Sample applications include trading stocks; checking weather,news, and traffic conditions; buying books, running auctions, providing location-based customized information and playing games – all while being mobile.

1.2 The business model and global wireless competition

Like other global industries such as finance, manufacturing and information tech-nology (IT), the wireless telecommunication industry is also facing intensive globalcompetition. Cellular terminal vendors such as Nokia, Motorola and Panasonichave global strategies to increase their market share. International wireless oper-ators such as Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo are trying to get as many customers aspossible, through acquisitions and strategic alliances, because they know that the keyissue to win the game is the scale of merit and service commonality in the globalmarket.

Presently, there seem to be two fundamental business strategies in this endlesswar. One is to increase profit per end-user (consumer and corporate) by adding newvalues to the existing services. A typical example of such a strategy is to integratewireless and Internet to introduce new revenue streams by adding new applicationsand services. The unprecedented success of i-mode by DoCoMo is a typical exampleof such wireless Internet integration. Before i-mode, there was no real business modelfor wireless Internet; however, after i-mode DoCoMo enjoyed an increase in ARPU(average revenue per user) in spite of the extreme disappointment of WAP in Europeand North America.

5 Cross-cultural challenges

Another strategy is to enjoy the scaleofmerit, since thegreater themarketbecomes,the less is the cost for operations and the price of product. Vodafone and Nokia aretypical promoters of this strategy. By the end of 2001, the Vodafone group hadextended its reach to 28 countries and by mid-2002 the total number of subscribersto this group exceeded 91 million, which is twice as many as DoCoMo. Based on thishuge number of subscribers and its footprint in the world, Vodafone is increasing itssales every year.

Unlike the PC software or aircraft manufacturing markets, where Microsoft andBoeing pretty much own the market, there are no dominant winners in global cellularcompetition at present. Neither Vodafone nor DoCoMo have established a stableposition and there are many challengers every day. This represents a very attractiveopportunity for ambitious entrepreneurs and also for existing wireless players in theglobal arena. Telecommunications players and Internet business players are tryingto catch this huge potential market.

In this book, we will carefully study the various business models (both successesand failures) and give the reader some insights. We will also take an in-depth lookinto the success of i-mode in Japan and see what lessons can be drawn from theexperience.

1.3 Cross-cultural challenges

Wewill always face cross-cultural challenges in theprocessof globalizationof anykindof business. The development of wireless business is no exception. These challengesoften come from the difference in business customs, languages, cultural behaviorand also life-style.

In the USA, almost 60–70% of the total voice traffic of the cellular service is placedor received in a vehicle, which is very different from the cell-phone usage trends inAsia. In Japan and in several European countries, the train is the most convenientform of transport, so while commuting the consumers use that time to place orreceive calls or to play games or check news on their cell-phones. The language posessignificant localizationand transcoding challenges for serviceproviders.OneChineseor Japanese-Kanji character has multiple meanings. A sentence of 15 Kanji charactersmay have the same meaning as a sentence of 50 Roman alphabet characters. Thisaffects the design of display of cell-phone terminals as well as the applications andservices (see Figure 1.2).

The high penetration rates of Internet-enabled desktop PCs into residential homesin the USA exceed the rest of the world by several orders of magnitude. For mostconsumers in other countries, their first (and may be only) interaction with theInternet is via their wireless devices.

6 Introduction

Figure 1.2. Internationalization – intelligent translation is more than word-for-word (top);

layout and real-estate can be markedly different (bottom) (source: BT Technology Journal, 2002).

These are just a few examples. To promote a wireless project across the continents,careful investigation is needed into what the respective market wants. This approachis similar to that of PC software products. Newly developed PC software is carefullylocalized, including the human interface aspects, for each respective country in orderto satisfy the demand of the market.

In spite of cultural differences across the world, the explosion in the increase ofthe number of cell-phones is a common phenomenon. In 2001, China became thecountry with the largest number of cellular subscribers. A similar explosion is hap-pening in other Asian and South American countries. Many young people walk alongIpanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, talking with cell-phones. This scene is ascommon as it is in New York, Beijing or Paris.

1.4 What makes this book unique?

This book aims to take a wider view of evolution of wireless1 services around theworld. We look at its impact on society from three critical angles: technology innova-tion, business models, and cultural nuances that characterize global markets. We believethat only by taking these three aspects into consideration can any business strategy,application or service become successful and truly global. We study the impact ofglobalization on the wireless industry and how it keeps shaping the industry’s future

1 In this book, we are going to be mostly talking about wireless data related technologies and business models.Unless otherwise stated, wireless refers to wireless data (and wireless Internet).

7 How is the book organized?

by analyzing the effect of global markets on key business sectors such as operators,equipment manufacturers, and the computing industry. To follow up on our globalview theme, we take a deeper look at the trends across various important geographi-cal areas such as the USA, South America, Japan, South Korea, China and Europe. Wediscuss the various computing and communications technologies that are of greatinterest to the industry, and also those that are going to pave the way for new excitingapplications and services. A large portion of the book is dedicated to understandingand discussing the business side of running a wireless business, whether you arededicated 100% to it or just 10%. We do this by analyzing the wireless value chain indetail and discussing the business models adopted by players in different segments ofthe chain, and by looking at what has worked and what has not. No wireless Internetdiscussion is complete without the inclusion of the growth and impact of i-modeon the industry. In various sections throughout the book we draw upon the lessonslearned and dispel some i-mode myths on the way.

Another important aspect of the book is the case studies and executive interviews.The examples and views presented and argued represent a wide spectrum of thoughtsand ideas as to how to empower the end-user with more information and function-ality. The executives represent some of the most accomplished players in varioussegments of the value chain and should provide the reader with a unique collec-tion of perspectives. They share their knowledge and perspective on the future ofthe wireless industry, applications, wireless devices, 3G, the international landscape,regulatory issues and much more.

Finally, we look at the future of wireless technologies, applications and services,and draw upon the lessons learned in taking an educated guess about what is tocome in the future. Our aim has been to provide a perspective of the industry fromall angles to help the reader understand the complexities, vagaries and opportunitiesthat wireless applications and services present.

We believe that by taking the broad view of the wireless industry, we offer valuableinsights to a wide spectrum of readers around the world.

1.5 How is the book organized?

Wireless Data Services is organized into 14 chapters, including this Introduction, aswell as suggestions for further reading. As with any technology, to build wirelessapplications and services successfully, one needs to understand the market trends,history, supporting technologies and the industry in general. We have tried to coverall of these areas to give the reader a good understanding of the wireless space in thecontext of technology, business models and global markets. The chapters of the bookare organized as follows.

8 Introduction

Chapter 2 The impact of globalizationThis chapter looks at the impact of globalization on the wireless industry andvice versa.

Chapter 3 Adoption trends and analysis by regionIn this chapter, we will look at the adoption trends across various regionsaround the world. We will take a look at the USA, South America, Japan,South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Europe. In addition we will analyzethe affect of wireless data on different business sectors such as the telecommu-nications industry, equipment manufacturers, and the computing industry.

Chapter 4 Subscriber needs and expectationsWe will discuss the needs and expectations of consumers when it comes to usingwirelessdataonadailybasis –whether it is forpersonalorbusiness applications.

Chapter 5 The wireless value chainIn this chapter we discuss the wireless value chain in some detail.

Chapter 6: Global wireless technologies: systems and architectureThe wireless technology ecosystem will be discussed in more detail. As willbecome obvious from the discussion, with the convergence of the commu-nications and computing industries, the wireless industry is becoming moredynamic and the value chain is becoming more extended and vibrant. We havedivided the discussion into systems and architectures where we talk about var-ious network architectures (2G–3G) and device technology. We will also lookat various WAN, LAN, PAN, IP and related technologies.

Chapter 7 Global wireless technologies: network, access, and softwareIn this chapter we look at how network, access, and software technologies arechanging the face of the industry.

Chapter 8 Business models and strategiesIn this chapter we will discuss in more detail the various business modelsbeing adopted. We will also take a deeper look at i-mode, the most successfulwireless Internet service to date.

Chapter 9 Business issues and challengesThis chapter will focus on business issues. Although some industries have somecommon idiosyncrasies, the wireless industry is unique and sometimes issuesand problems are specific to a region or country. For instance, spectrum (whichwe will discuss later) is squarely an issue for the USA, while their counterparts inJapan do not encounter such problems, and 3G spectrum auctions are drivingmany carriers out of business in Europe. While Europe and Japan are approach-ing saturation in the consumer market, the US market is largely untapped.

Chapter 10 Technology issues and and challengesThis chapter will address some of the challenges in the technology arena.

Chapter 11 Case studiesSo far we have talked about the wireless industry – its peculiarities, thechallenges and issues with business and technologies, case studies and where

9 Who should read this book?

the industry is heading. In this chapter we will look at some case studies thatshow how companies have adopted wireless to solve problems, enhance theirbusiness and become more efficient.

Chapter 12 PerspectivesFor this chapter, we sat down with several industry leaders belonging todifferent parts of the value chain, operating in various parts of the world, andwith people who have been around the industry for a long time and witnessedthe trials and tribulations of the wireless sector over the years:1. Steve Wood, CEO, Wireless Services Corporation2. Mark Tapling, CEO, Everypath3. Mark Anderson, President and Editor, SNS4. Jon Prial, VP Pervasive Computing, IBM5. Frank Yester, VP Motorola Labs, Motorola.This chapter presents our one-on-one discussions with them on the casestudies, various aspects of the industry, their own organizations, and wherethey see wireless industry in the future.

Chapter 13 Future of wireless technologies, applications and servicesThis chapter aims to focus on the discussion of future of wireless technologies,applications and services in the twentyfirst century. In Chapter 10, wediscussed some of the technology issues and challenges for the industry. Inthis chapter we will continue the discussion on evolution and challenges ofwireless technology in the context of the next 5–10 years.

Chapter 14 Conclusions and recommendationsFinally, we leave the reader with our thoughts on how the industry might evolveunder various scenarios and what the future might be like a decade from now.

References and further readingsFor those of you interested in further exploring some of the topics discussedin this book, we have included a detailed list of references and web links at theend of the book.

1.6 Who should read this book?

Anyone who is interested in learning about the wireless market and its future willfind this book helpful. This book is aimed at the following readership.(a) Corporate technical managers around the world who are responsible for un-

derstanding and implementing wireless data solutions. These people are fromdifferent segments of the wireless value chain, from handset manufacturers tocarriers to content providers.

(b) Marketing, sales and other non-technical staff members. Successful technologies,applications or services generally do not translate well across geographies unless

10 Introduction

attention is paid to business models and cultural nuances. Marketing and salesexecutives need to understand this the most.

There are many books focusing on wireless technology and how it works and howone should be using it, but rarely do the discussions on why go into any detail. If onecan’t answer the why (should it be used?) of technology, something is wrong withthe picture. Technology for technology’s sake does not work very well, we have allwitnessed that. It is the “value proposition”, it is the “what’s in it for me” question,that makes or breaks the solution offering. Although we delve into technical issuesand discussion, this is mostly a business book about wireless technology, applicationsand services. We strive to answer the question: why should you care about wirelessdata technologies?

The salient features of this book are as follows.� A review of various wireless WAN, LAN, PAN related and upcoming technologies.� A discussion of globalization and its impact on the wireless industry.� The strategy behind i-mode’s success in Japan and lessons drawn.� A look at various business models for players across the value chain.� The transfer of technology issues and business models across borders.� An analysis of successes and failures in the wireless industry.� The convergence of the computing and communications industries.� A discussion of the wireless Internet value chain.� A preview of next-generation (3G and beyond) wireless technologies.� The strategies for 2.5/3G and beyond.� A detailed discussion of issues and challenges of the wireless data industry.� Detailed case studies: consumer and enterprise.� Interviews with industry executives and experts from IBM, Motorola, and others.� Insights from professionals who have built systems and implemented technologies

around the world.

1.7 Summary

Former Canadian English-literature scholar Marshall Mcluhan once said “the worldwill become a Global Village” and predicted the arrival of new social systems. Healso said “Electronic media will make it happen”. The development of electronicmedia, especially wireless technology, has helped support the new social systems.The broadband wireless networks around us will soon become an “air-like” in-frastructure, which we will just use subconsciously. We will not be conscious of thecharge, location, time or sometimes even the device, but we will enjoy high-speed in-tegrated broadband services under ubiquitous networks. As time goes by, more andmore people will become acclimatized to the omnipresent wireless infrastructureand environment, and the physical boundaries will be less clear. Some may become

11 Summary

confused and get lost in the situation, but we believe the advantages will overcomethe disadvantages for most of us.

In the global village of the twentyfirst century, there will be no boundaries. Peoplewill obtain full mobility in their daily lives. Any physical barriers such as location,language and age are going to become irrelevant. However, there will be significantchallenges in this pursuit. Some challenges will require a pure technical approachand thinking. Others are more driven by regulation, sociological values, and businessmodels that will shape the markets.

We invite the reader to delve into the discussions that we present in this book.We hope he or she will benefit from the insights and conversations that are drawnfrom our experiences as well as lessons from success and failure stories around theworld, from the executives and field staff we talked to, and from our colleagues inthe industry. We start by talking about globalization and its impact on the wirelessindustry in Chapter 2.

It is our hope that the information, discussions and ideas presented in thisbook will help the reader’s understanding of the wireless data industry, inspire newproducts and ideas, and become a useful text for consultation from time to time.We, the authors, would be very happy to hear from you, the reader. Your feed-back will help us with future work. We may be contacted at chetan@ieee.org andnakamuyasu@aol.com. Also, a companion website for this book is maintained athttp://www.wireless-data.net.