WiBro's 'Success' Not Boding Well For WiMax

from the ouch dept

Many people confuse the future with the present. For years, I've heard variations of the following phrase at numerous conferences and multiple articles: "Well WiMAX is here so it has a huge time to market advantage over -blank-." The author or speaker usually then moves on to cite how WiBRO is entrenched in Korea, and Sprint will have Chicago and DC hooked up by end 2007, so WiMAX is here. Citing future dates, and using the present tense is a grade-school error, and the future has ways of making fools of soothsayers. The end of the year is fast approaching, and the news out of Sprint is about a failed partnership, not a pilot launch. Meanwhile, back in Korea, WiBRO is still faltering. WiBRO was a proprietary deviation of mobile WiMAX that the Korean government promoted because they didn't want to wait for WiMAX, and they wanted to drive the standard by getting out of the gate early. But back in September 2006 after 3 months of service, the 2 WiBRO networks in Korea had attracted 479 and 15 subscribers. By February 2007 KT was up to 906 users while SK Telecom (a former employer of mine) was at 151. We joked that that represented a staggering 1,000% growth since September!

In the latest news out of Korea, Telecoms Korea reports that 17 months after launch, SKT's WiBRO has fewer than 1,000 subscribers. What an abysmal record. Of course, it's reminiscent of the early days of FOMA or of Hutch 3 UK. It's tough to shoulder the growing pains of a new technology that was launched before its time. Arrows in the back are the common reward. The government is pressuring the carrier to continue deployment of the network to meet regulatory minima. SKT will respond by increasing the number of "Hotzones" from 56 in 23 cities to 100 in 42 cities, and will eventually upgrade to Wave 2 which should double speed and capacity. Of course, as is typical of WiMAX rhetoric, it'll be hard to get clarity on whether they mean "double speed AND double capacity at the same time" or whether it really means "double speed and thereby double capacity". WiMAX now may be entering the "trough of disillusionment," but that doesn't mean it's dead in the water. If they can get the darned thing to work well, the global reference cases of WiBRO and Sprint's Xohm will shine like a beacon. If they don't get it to work in 2008, it'll be more like bacon...fried.

Filed Under: korea, wibro, wimax

Turning Phones Into Computers Means They'll Have Computer-Like Security Issues

from the hack-me dept

A security expert claims that he's managed to remotely crack the iPhone. All that's required to pull off the crack is to get the user to visit a specially-crafted website that exploits vulnerabilities in the iPhone's Webkit-based web browser. Once the iPhone has been cracked, the attacker has complete control over it, including the ability to download the user's email and voicemail, and even to surreptitiously activate the iPhone's microphone and transform the iPhone into an eavesdropping tool. It's scary stuff, and it illustrates an important point about the iPhone and other smart phones: as our phones get more and more computer-like capabilities, they're going to face more and more computer-like security problems. And that means that phone manufacturers and users will need to be more aware of the risks of security breaches and take appropriate precautions. In this case, it appears that Apple's choice to lock out third-party applications has actually backfired. Because all of the apps on the iPhone are written by Apple, they apparently all run as the "root" administrative user. That means that there's no attempt to protect the phone from a misbehaving application. As soon as you compromise one application, such as its browser, you've cracked the whole phone and can do anything you want with it. That's in contrast to Mac OS X, which typically runs applications as a non-privileged user, giving the OS an added layer of protection in case an application gets compromised. Had Apple designed the iPhone as an open platform from the ground up, it's likely they would have paid more attention to the iPhone's security model, limiting the damage that one rogue application could do. Presumably, with the announcment of a third-party development platform for the iPhone, Apple is hard at work implementing those kinds of security precautions. But this isn't a threat that's amenable to a quick fix. Apple and other smartphone developers are going to have their work cut out for them trying to add new functionality to their products without exposing their customers to new security threats.

Filed Under: iphone, mobile, security
Companies: apple

Kindle's Overpriced Content

from the hello-walled-gardens dept

On Friday, I expressed skepticism that e-book technology has reached the point where it will overtake the paper book. Now Amazon's PR blitz has begun, and so we're getting more details about the Kindle's features and pricing. I'm not impressed. First, there's the obvious point that the device's DRM will make a lot of customers wary of getting locked into Amazon's proprietary platform. But the even bigger flaw is the pricing model. Apparently, Amazon will charge you $1.99 for public domain books like Bleak House. Kindle also provides you with access to blogs, but only 250 of them (including Techdirt), and you have to pay at least a dollar a month for the privilege of reading what you can see here for free. And you can subscribe to the New York Times, but you have to pay $13.99 per month for that. This really seems like a strange pricing strategy. A lot of consumers will balk at paying for blog content they've always gotten for free online. Likewise, giving away public domain books would be a good way to spur adoption of the device at very low cost to Amazon. And it's weird to charge so much for a digital newspaper at the same time newspapers are dropping their paywalls online. Even the price for new books, $9.99, seems too expensive. Publishers don't have to print, ship, and stock e-books, so their costs are obviously a lot lower. On top of that, the demand for a lot of books is likely to be quite elastic—cut the price in half and you could easily double the number of sales.

The one undeniably innovative thing about the Kindle is the free wireless EVDO access. The limits on access to Internet content may be an attempt to keep the bandwidth consumption down. But in a world where you can get an unlimited data plan for your iPhone for $20 per month, they should at least have an option for a flat rate "all you can eat" data plan, which would allow you to access Internet content and subscribe to an unlimited number of blogs, newspapers, and public domain books. Bezos obviously wants this to be the iPod of the printed word. But one of the crucial factors behind the iPod's success is that it gives you free access to content in open formats. You can rip your CDs and listen to them on an iPod. You can subscribe to an unlimited number of podcasts. With the Kindle, in contrast, Amazon apparently expects customers to buy an unfamiliar proprietary device, and then pay a premium to read content like blogs and public domain books that's available for free on the Internet. Somehow I don't think that very many people are going to go for that.

Filed Under: content, e-books, kindle, walled gardens
Companies: amazon

Everything Old Is New Again: With MuniWiFi Troubles, We're Back To Sponsored Hotzones

from the back-and-forth dept

In the last few years, there's been plenty of talk and debate about the trouble many cities have had with offering muni-WiFi. There are a number of reasons why muni-WiFi has been troublesome, starting with technology that really isn't designed for wide-area coverage combined with poorly thought out business models. However, prior to the emphasis on "muni-WiFi" with widespread coverage, there used to be tons of stories about much more limited "Hotzone" offerings covering a a few square blocks, usually around a downtown area. It wasn't uncommon for some of these offerings to involve sponsored startup pages as well. With a narrower coverage area, these hotzones still have had some problems, but the challenges aren't nearly as big as covering an entire city. Still, it's somewhat amusing to see people get excited over the sudden reappearance of hotzones, kicked off by CBS's plan to offer WiFi over a section of midtown Manhattan, sticking access points on CBS buildings, billboards and (in coordination with the MTA) subway signs. Glenn Fleishman points out some of the nuttier statements in the announcement, including calling the offering "pre-WiMax" when it has nothing whatsoever to do with WiMax. The service will involve CBS getting to place ads on the start page, and apparently will offer up some local content, though it's unclear what that will entail. Either way, it's a bit amusing to see people suddenly back to being excited about covering a few square blocks with WiFi after years of badly planned out citywide efforts. And, we might want to wait before getting too excited. After all, five years ago, Verizon announced a similar plan, with access points built into old phone booths around Manhattan. Despite later calling the plan a success, it was shut down.

Filed Under: hotzones, muni-wifi, wifi
Companies: cbs

Garmin, TomTom Settle One Fight, In Order To Concentrate On A Different Fight

from the just-merge-and-get-it-over-with dept

TomTom and Garmin have been involved in a really nasty intellectual property battle over the past few years, involving multiple lawsuits over multiple issues in multiple locations. It really was a case of patent nuclear war, where both sides were throwing whatever they could think of at each other. However, now that the two sides have something more concrete to fight over than market share, it seems they've decided to settle all of their intellectual property battles and simply focus on fighting over who gets to own Tele Atlas. Of course, as some people are beginning to notice, this may be a pointless battle, as both companies are going to face increasing competition from the mobile device arena -- especially from the likes of Nokia who forced Garmin to bid for Tele Atlas after announcing the acquisition of Tele Atlas competitor Navteq. So it really might not matter who wins the battle for Tele Atlas, as the market for standalone navigation devices may start to disappear.

Filed Under: location based services, mobile phones, navigation, patents, settlements
Companies: garmin, tele atlas, tomtom

Wireless Piggybacking Is Still Not A Problem

from the victimless-crime dept

For years, we've been pointing out that there's nothing unethical about borrowing an open wireless connection. Unfortunately, the stories on this subject just keep getting more hysterical. The latest example is a story from the UK that dubs the offense "wi-fi tapping" and reports that more than half of computer users have engaged in the practice, which it claims is illegal in the UK. Now, you might think that the fact that a majority of otherwise law-abiding Brits have engaged in piggybacking would be a reason to re-consider the law against it, but instead the story takes the opposite tack, sternly lecturing readers about the need to abstain from borrowing Internet access. Unfortunately, they never get around to explaining what's supposed to be wrong with it. They point out that people sometimes do illegal things with a borrowed wi-fi connection, but that's like saying you should never allow anyone to borrow your car because they might run someone over with it. And they insist that it's not a victimless crime because "A crime is perpetrated against the person who pays for the internet connection." But that's just circular logic. It's quite possible the owner of the network left it open on purpose, and in any event, if the piggybacker is just checking his email or engaging in light web surfing, the bandwidth being consumed is trivial. The "victim" is unlikely to even notice, and he certainly doesn't suffer any serious harm. Of course, there might be legitimate reasons, either security- or bandwidth-related, why someone would want to lock down his or her network. It's certainly worthwhile to educate users about the pros and cons of leaving your network open, and to provide them with directions for locking down their network if they wish to do so. But the police have much more important things to do than harassing people whose only crime is a compulsive need to check their email.

Filed Under: freeloaders, open access, uk, wifi

Analyst Firm Can Keep Collecting Data Without Infringing On Competitor's Patent

from the well,-that's-a-good-sign dept

While we talk about patents quite a bit around here, one patent lawsuit last year certainly hit quite close to home -- because it focused on a patent related to how analyst firms could do research... and we are (you might recall) an analyst firm ourselves. In this case, two of the biggest wireless analyst firms faced off in a lawsuit, after Telephia claimed it held a patent on a method for measuring wireless device and network usage -- basically a way to collect the data used in all kinds of analyst reports. Luckily for all the analyst firms out there who collect data in a variety of ways, the target of the lawsuit, M:Metrics fought back... and succeeded. A judge has dismissed Telephia's patent lawsuit against M:Metrics along with some stern words for Telephia, noting that the claims have been shown "to be either factually baseless or so highly attenuated that they fail to raise any issue of material fact." Phew. Go on collecting data at will.

Filed Under: analysts, patents, wireless
Companies: m:metrics, telephia

Verizon Wireless Apparently Still Can't Train Its Sales People In Basic Math

from the add-your-0.2-cents dept

You may recall the story from last year about Verizon Wireless' dubious math skills. What kicked off the story was a guy traveling to Canada with a Verizon Wireless EVDO account. He had asked how much the roaming charges would be, and was told 0.002 cents per kilobyte -- which is quite reasonable. However, when he got his next bill, it was quite a lot bigger than he expected. That's because Verizon Wireless actually charges 0.002 dollars per kilobyte. When confronted on this, hilarity (or frustration, depending on your point of view) ensued. Even when being explained the difference in dollars and cents clearly, Verizon Wireless customer service reps continued to insist that 0.002 cents per kilobyte is the same thing as 0.002 dollars per kilobyte. The publicity backlash convinced Verizon Wireless to refund the guy's money (though still demand he not use their logo on his blog about the story). Either way, you would think that this widely talked about event would have Verizon Wireless careful to train their customer service reps on the difference between dollars and cents. Not so, apparently.

Broadband Reports points us to a guy who clearly has way too much free time, who decided to check up on Verizon Wireless, calling the company 56 times to ask about two separate data rates. Out of 56 customer service reps he spoke to, a grand total of one gave him the correct info on both questions. 52% answered both questions incorrectly. All in all, he received 22 unique answers, with many underquoting the actual rate by a factor of 100. However, as he noted, that didn't stop nearly all of them from immediately then offering him a two-year contract -- which you could claim was sold to him with false data about what he'd be paying. He put together a nice video to highlight some of the incorrect statements from Verizon Wireless CSRs: So, is it reasonable to ask when Verizon Wireless is going to start teaching its customer service reps math?

Filed Under: data charges, dollars and cents, math
Companies: verizon wireless

One More Time: The PDA Market Is Meaningless To Measure

from the please-stop-now dept

For years, we've been complaining about all these ridiculous studies that moan about how the "PDA" (personal digital assistant) market is shrinking, yet they keep on coming. The fact is that the market isn't shrinking at all -- it's just changing as PDAs are built into smartphones. Back when the internet was first catching on and people who had originally bought PCs were suddenly upgrading to PCs with modems, we didn't hear people bemoaning the death of PCs. Instead, people realized that an internet-connected PC was simply a natural upgrade in the market. The same is true with PDAs turning into smartphones.

Filed Under: pdas, smartphones

Apple's Conquest Of Mobile Browsing Continues With Google Phone Platform

from the open-source-browser dept

Google's GPhone (non-)announcement wasn't a big surprise, but some of the tidbits that are now emerging about the Android mobile OS are intriguing. For example, in a new video, Google's Steve Horowitz mentions that the default Android web browser will be based on Webkit, which he says is "the industry standard these days." Webkit is the open source package of web browser libraries that's at the heart of Apple's Safari web browser, and was originally based on the Linux Konquerer browser. Nokia gave the libraries a big boost last year when it announced a WebKit-based browser for its own mobile phones. And this year, Apple used WebKit as the foundation for the iPhone's web browser. The Google announcement further consolidates WebKit's status as a leading platform for mobile web browsers. The choice of WebKit for mobile browsing makes sense. Mobile browsers need to be fast and have a small footprint, and Apple originally chose the Konquerer codebase because it found it to be much leaner than Mozilla's codebase. The growing popularity of WebKit is good news for Mac Safari users (like me), who are less likely to see those annoying "your browser is not supported" messages when they visit websites. It's also good for the broader web-browsing public, as it represents the rise of a third major competitor in the browser market. As WebKit continues to grow in popularity, it will make more sense for website developers to focus on conforming to standards rather than customizing a site to the quirks of a particular browser. That, in turn, will force Microsoft (and Mozilla, but mostly Microsoft) to focus on conforming to the standards themselves, contributing to a virtuous circle of standards compliance that ultimately makes everyone's lives easier.

Filed Under: browsers, mobile, open source, webkit
Companies: apple, google