Many New Faces, Opinions at Wireless I.T.

Anyone wanting more proof that wireless is no longer exclusively a telco club had only to look at the opening keynote at Wireless I.T. '99, where Tom Wheeler, CTIA president & CEO, interviewed Bill Joy, Sun Microsystems chief scientist & CEO. Their attire -- Wheeler in suit and tie, Joy in denim shirt, bolo tie and hiking boots -- differed almost as much as some of their opinions on wireless data.

In contrast to Wheeler's opening remarks praising the carrier competition that's fostered innovation in the wireless industry, Joy complained about the hodge-podge of standards, along with spotty coverage, that he argued have kept wireless and wireless data from reaching the penetration and pervasiveness they already enjoy in Europe.

"You drown in a sea of buzz-words," Joy said. "It's too much choice."

His alternative: open standards that provide both a consistent platform and innovation.

More new perspectives came at the day-two keynote, where Jeff Hawkins, Handspring chairman and chief product officer, said 56kb/s is more than enough throughput for portable devices.

"Great user experiences can be had with little bandwidth," said Hawkins, adding that the inherent value of mobility outweighs shortcomings in throughput. Hawkins also voiced mixed feelings over WAP, particularly because it's unclear what the user experience will be. Even so, he conceded, WAP might be like Bluetooth: Once a critical mass of devices are on the market, appealing apps could follow.

Also at the show:

* During his keynote, Hawkins did a live Bluetooth demo using two Visor PDAs running on AA batteries. The connection held for 100 feet, more than three times the Bluetooth spec. At another session, Intel used Bluetooth to transfer a large video file between two laptops.

* Motorola's WAP-ready iTAP input software provides predictive word support for keypads and pen-input devices.

* NeoPoint's myAlladin.com portal offers various information services. The portal will work on a variety of WAP-ready devices using CDMA, GSM, iDEN or TDMA, and an outboard GPS module also is available.