Features
Above the Fray
Follow the Money
Market Research
Big Ideas
Technoptions
Developer Insights
Q & A
Opinions

Archives
Calendar of Events
ASP Directory
Other Cahners Pubs

Submit a Release
Meet our Staff
Contact Us
Advertise
Magazine Subscription

Our Take:
Sparking New Ideas

by phil carson
July/August 2001

In this editorial space I’d like to announce that I have the answers to the current economic slowdown, a brilliant idea for the killer 3G app, a roadmap for U.S. spectrum auction procedures and a clear sense of how to get the industry to healthy earnings. Plus, resolve Euro-U.S. differences over the Kyoto Treaty on global warming, inject rationality into the United States’ missile defense efforts and save the whales.

Were that it were so. Instead, journalists find people with track records of talking sense and generating provocative ideas and pump them for what they’re willing to share, then deliver the goods to readers who depend on solid market intelligence. Well, that much we can do.

We can shed a little light on what’s working now and provide a glimpse at what’s ahead. On that journey, if we stimulate new thinking on familiar conundrums or spark an idea on how to whip your company into shape while effectively lashing–in a civilized manner, naturally–your competition, then we’re doing our job.

The smorgasbord on offer in this issue represents a cross-section of the wireless data industry. There’s the conceptual, for which no factual answers are yet available: Can European operators laden with 3G spectrum license debt make W-CDMA work in time to compete with other carriers in more predictable technology paths? Will users take to multimedia messaging like ducks to water, even in SMS-crazy European countries? And there’s the practical: Our software development expert offers a helping hand to IT managers with reviews of management tools for relational databases.

If you’re looking for hard data on leading market mysteries, three major research firms provide original research. Cahners In-Stat Group’s wireless Internet panel gives its reaction to mobile advertising. Telephia Inc. measured how end-users are faring with wireless data by tracking variability in WAP downloads. Jupiter Media Metrix provides a solid idea for gauging assumptions on the market’s demand for data consumption per month.

Finally, unfiltered by our journalistic lens, our Marketplace of Ideas includes an enlightening interview with a proponent of profits now, Andrew Harries of Sierra Wireless. The issue closes with a few, pithy thoughts on how to streamline the U.S. spectrum auction process from Motorola’s Barry Lambergman.

So, sit back, relax, don’t press any tiny keys. We believe that an old-fashioned instrument of learning–a magazine packed with competitive insights–remains a welcome and necessary pleasure. Simply turn the page and enjoy the spread we’ve laid out for you. Bon appetit.

E-mail: pcarson@cahners.com