Live from the Wireless Communications Association International symposium

Best quote: “Survival is the new growth”. Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners.

Also from the Wednesday, 5 November 2008 sessions at the San Jose Fairmont…

  • Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff upbeat about market for mobile Internet access, compares it to mobile phone opportunity 20 years ago.
  • Alvarion VP Mohammad Shakouri saying Wimax is about mobile service to non-phone devices at a cost per bit that’s affordable for users and profitable for network operators. Says there are 400 WiMAX networks operating now in 130 countries, with 480 devices manufactured. Only 55 of those devices are certified, however.
  • Shakouri predicting 100 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012. A nice, round projection several years in the future always looks good in a presentation, but it’s not news you can use.
  • 3.65 GHz regulatory scheme adds paperwork to unregulated chaos, everything should be fine now!
  • Cisco guy says they’re putting big bets on mobility.
  • Aperto guy talking about fixed service at 3.65 but his numbers say the money is in mobile.
  • Green tech & wireless sounds nice, but lacks meaningful metrics. Market opening for a hard-science based standards setting body?
  • Uniform watt per Gigabit metric would be a good start.
  • Not impressed by 3.65 opportunities, onesy-twosy applications, gap fillers.
  • Intel pushing high capacity mobile broadband, sees small form factor mobile devices as driving their future, according to Sriram Viswanathan, Intel Capital’s VP & GM of the WiMAX Program Office.
  • Intel Wimax focus on supporting Clearwire/Xohm with multiple devices per subscriber.
  • Netbooks will be “explosive in developing markets” says Intel Capital’s Viswanathan. Atom processor sales beyond expectations.
  • Dust still clearing from FCC white space decision yesterday, but expect another round of litigation & lobbying – chance of more lawyers 100%.
  • VC panel: M2M (machine to machine) mobile datacom getting good buzz.
  • Hot wireless stuff for venture capital’s “nuclear winter”: connected, specialized, small form factor devices (ebooks, cameras, utility meters), bridges between mobile devices and corporate networks, security, enterprise focused mobility services.
  • Sign of the times: WCA’s VC panel usually draws 2-300 people, this year it’s about 60.
  • At Santa Cruz Tech Meetup now. Digital signage will track me with targeted ads. Wherever I go, someone figures out what I need to see. I pity the fool.