Adviser Soapbox
Nick Tredennick with Brion Shimamoto, Editors
Gilder Technology Report
02.06.07, 4:40 PM ET
It's the Suits versus the Cowboys in the battle for your wireless future. The Suits are the cellular carriers; the Cowboys are entrepreneurs implementing the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' 802.xx protocols. The Suits bring zillions of dollars in wireless infrastructure, a long operating history, a huge base of captive customers, thousands of roaming agreements and vertical integration of systems, software and services. The Cowboys bring ... uh, they bring ... uh ... well, they'll improvise. My money is on the Cowboys. The battle replays minicomputers and PCs. The minicomputers were the Suits. The PCs were the Cowboys. PCs won handily. Here's the story for wireless.
My office and my house are in the middle of nowhere. I'm at the end of 1.7 miles of pavement, on a ridge that sticks out between a couple of taller ridges. There are good views from my property, but there's no clear view to geosynchronous satellites, to heavily populated areas, or to ridges with repeaters. There's no cable TV and no phone company central office within five miles. Around here, fiber is a word on cereal boxes.
...
Full story at:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/06/gilder-verizon-cowboys-pf-soapbox-in_nt_0206soapbox_inl.html
(Lead to this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)
