Taking Stock, Not Stock Options
Devin Pike, Senior Editor, AnywhereYouGo.com
January 2, 2001

With the year drawing to a close, and almost no viable news on the technology front to speak of, it's a good time to take stock in the last twelve months of the wireless space. For a lot of us, this space was a big void this time last year, with just a glimmer of what would be.

Aw, hell, I'm getting sentimental. Must be the chill in the air.

Bear in mind, this list pertains to North America... the lucky Eastern Hemisphere residents have their own list to make up.

Plus

The Wireless Industry: 2000 was the year that wireless data got past the purview of gadget hounds and 'maybe next year' and became a viable technology. Attendance grew exponentially at major wireless conferences, carriers finally got serious about offering wireless data to their subscribers... after a fashion.

AT&T: Their Wireless spin-off took a pounding in the stock market, but their heart is in the right place. By offering a flat rate for their wireless data, AT&T gave the other major carriers pause. Then, scoring the big date for the prom, AT&T cozied up to NTT DoCoMo to bring i-Mode to America. No one knows what i-Mode will look like by the time the hybrid offering hits the market, but it has to be a vast improvement to current offerings.

i-Mode: Oh, so you say people won't pay for content? That's the real reason i-Mode is the big success story -- it has little to do with Hello Kitty cartoons or the like. Monthly content subscription can work, if you give subscribers solid content. The devices are a plus as well.

Handspring: They may not have come out with a model endorsed by Claudia Schiffer, but they did start rolling out some great hardware for their Springboard slot. The GSM phone module is super-sexy, but priced for the gadget geek with a platinum card. Wake me up when I can get the Visor and phone module for under $350.

Motorola: The Big M says they're abandoning the phrase 'not in house' when it comes to development. Only time will tell if they follow through on that commitment. In the meantime, their new devices are great, and if they can make the documentation as sleek as the product, the sky's the limit. Also, the adoption of J2ME for the iDen platform is a harbinger of things to come.

Minus

The Wireless Industry: Bickering over standards, or developing proprietary technology that won't translate well into the mixed-media landscape, shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, especially with the way desktop Internet evolved over the last six years. Still, after that bloodbath, you would think developers would have learned their lesson. Guess not.

WAP v. i-Mode: The whole argument is almost as interesting as 'Kirk v. Picard,' 'Mac v. Windows,' or 'Superman v. Batman,' except the subject matter isn't nearly as sexy. Even on our own site, people have debated this to death, without one claim one way or the other to convince either side of the argument's validity.

Madison Avenue: Whoever first coined the term 'the wireless Web' needs to be drawn, quartered, and set on fire.

AT&T: Great services, horrible service. If they're going to integrate UMTS and i-Mode services into their network, they had better fix the billing on the existing systems first.

The 'New Economy': It's hard to point a finger at one person, group, industry, or even a concept, but the air has begun to leak out of our little balloon. Stupid money was thrown after stupid money, and companies that should have gotten funding went belly up before their time. No amount of pre-IPO stock options can make up for the pain of watching the plug getting pulled on a labor of love.