The Art of Reincarnation

In late February 1997, AT&T Wireless Services revealed that it was clandestinely developing fixed wireless access technology. The disclosure was significant for many reasons and upsetting to numerous contingents.

The prospect of a Ma Bell subsidiary eyeing the local loop frightened incumbent local carriers. The possibility of a behemoth former monopoly developing proprietary technology on its own struck fear in the hearts of equipment vendors. And the escalating prominence of the fixed wireless format for high-speed access threatened the DSL, cable and fiber proponents of a predominantly wired world.

At the time, I was the wireless editor of Telephony, the telecom newsweekly companion to this magazine. We were closing our CTIA Wireless show issue, which featured — serendipitously — a cover profile of AT&T Wireless Services CEO Steve Hooper. The breaking news triggered a complete overhaul of the article and our cover focus.

It certainly wasn't the first time AT&T Wireless attempted to reinvent its technological self, its customer focus and its public perception. And it obviously wasn't the last.

AT&T-related serendipity (and, we like to think, prescience and shrewd judgment) smiled on our editorial team again as we prepared a reinvention of our own: A complete overhaul of the content and design of Wireless Review. When the now-famously irksome mLife marketing campaign of AT&T Wireless finally culminated on Super Bowl Sunday, we knew we had our cover. And the controversy surrounding the marketing effort didn't hurt.

This is a magazine about people who put technology in motion. Our mission is to deliver clarity, if only during the moments spent reading our coverage, about critical and timely wireless innovation in its earliest stages of development — to tell you what's coming on the technological, financial and strategic fronts.

At the heart of our coverage are the most innovative people across all sectors of wireless: the inventors, the engineers, the marketers and the company leaders. We show you who's making the biggest bets, what the spoils are and what they stand to lose. All of that is packaged in a bold, kinetic new design that portrays the residents of the wireless sector exactly as they are: the renegades of the telecom set, poised to own the technological future.

The fixed wireless strategy of AT&T Wireless never panned out. Steve Hooper moved on, ultimately to a VC life that allows him to ignite wireless innovation over and over. AT&T Wireless sold its proprietary technology format to a vendor. Controversy subsided. And eventually, the new buzz around AT&T Wireless was about something called mLife.

Such is the cyclical nature of a life in constant motion.