The Ambassador of New

Skip Speaks did the late '90s trendy thing when he left big (Ericsson) for upstart (fixed wireless outfit Triton Network Systems). Now he's back to big as head of U.S. operations for Japanese conglomerate Kyocera. We talked to him about disappointment, new gigs and crossing the international date line.

My perspective has changed significantly through all this. I was with Sprint long distance when I got the call from Ericsson. I went to the engineers to ask about this wireless stuff, and they weren't really sure what I was talking about. So I called my wife and said, ‘I'm going to take a chance on this job.’ My perspective was that I was entering a cottage industry, and that if it didn't work out I'd get a new job. It turned out to be this incredible cultural change. Now I think wireless is a fundamental need.

I did a lot of soul-searching after the collapse off broadband wireless. I still think it's the right technology, but we got the timing wrong. After that, I really had to survey the landscape.

I spent a lot of time in TDMA and GSM. It appeared to me that CDMA was in a better place on the maturity curve. For one, there weren't as many competitors. Kyocera also looked like a bit more of a technology play. And who better than the people who actually developed the technology from the ground up? These are the people who wrote the IS-95 standard. Most of the engineers are right out of the Qualcomm school.

I bring experience working with ownership outside the U.S. The cycle time across the Atlantic or Pacific can work against you. I've learned a lot about bridging the gap from a culture and a technology expectation. I also led a wide variety of people and concerns where the task was pretty big. The other thing that was important was the objective of taking it public. I have that experience.

Kyocera has become fairly well known among the U.S. carriers, and the 1XRTT handset was a huge hit.

All industries tend to converge on a single standard.They tend to get to the point where they use the most efficient standard. How long it takes is the question. We'll see a continued evolution of GSM. I also don't believe there will ever come a time when there's one handset for the world.--As told to Vince Vittore