The tone of this year’s Fall Comdex Show was, by all accounts,
captured in the words above: The technology industry is resilient. As
the industry struggles in these challenging economic times with
corporate bankruptcies; unprecedented layoffs; sliding mobile phone
and PC sales; and delays in next generation networks, the message to
thousands of attendees was to go forth and continue to change how the
world does business and how we communicate.
From the keynote speakers to the 2,000 exhibitors, the most
anticipated trade show generated a renewed sense of optimism. In his
keynote address Bill Gates declared the road ahead would be a
"digital decade" marked by historic innovation and growth.
Highlights from a Few of the Keynote Addresses
- Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft
He declared the next ten years as the Digital Decade: "In the
decade ahead, I can predict very clearly that we will provide over
twice the productivity improvement as we did during the
nineties."
During a brief demonstration of a Microsoft-loaded Tablet PC from
Acer, Inc., he said, "The industry is moving into a new phase of
mobile computing. The Tablet takes cutting-edge PC technology and
makes it available wherever you want it. It’s a PC that’s
virtually without limits and within five years I predict it will be
the most popular form of PC sold in America."
- John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems
Mr. Chambers promoted his vision of the mobile office as a way for
companies to enhance worker productivity and save money. "I can
run our company from anyplace in the world with the right
connection," he said. "The implications are huge . . . You
have to think about revolutionary movements in productivity. Unless
you change your productivity, what happens to your profits?"
During his keynote address, Mr. Ollila launched an industry
initiative to promote a global set of open standards, which he
referred to as the ‘Open Mobile Architecture Initiative.’ Mr.
Ollila stressed that in a fragmented industry "there would have
been . . . perhaps a half-dozen different standards, leading to a
situation where you have very small volumes of each, and you don’t
get the economies of scale, and you don’t get the global
interoperability that consumers want. An open systems and software
approach is the best way to stimulate this ecosystem."
- Jeff Hawkins, Chairman, Handspring
Mr. Hawkins gave a brief demonstration of Handspring’s latest
handheld device, the Treo, which combines a cell phone, a pager, and
an organizer into a single device, and then proceeded into a
historical overview of the development of mobile computing. He
stressed to his audience that mobile devices must suit the lifestyles
of today or the industry is likely to suffer the same fate as the
railroad of the last century. "The railroad barons didn’t
realize that they were in the transportation business, so they missed
the next wave which was air travel and automobiles. The same thing
could happen to us if we get stuck thinking about mobile devices as we
did in the past."
Product and Technology Showcase
- There was a lot of expectation on Bluetooth - its status,
acceptance and real deliverables. Cambridge Silicon Radio
(CSR) announced its 100th customer design based on BlueCoreTM1,
its single chip Bluetooth solution. This was achieved with a
design win in Compaq's Bluetooth Multiport Module. More on this in
our press release on
CSR page.
- Chrysler-Daimler showcased their "filler-up with wireless
data" InfoFuel kiosk implementation. Mercedes drivers
equipped with this innovative technology in their cars would be
able to download data as the car passes a transceiver at a gas
station fitted with 54 Mbps wireless LAN hotspot. Review our
editorial of August 2001
and November 2001.
- Openwave Systems announced its Instant Messaging Software, which
is interoperable between PCs and mobile phones. It is now being
shipped in Japan and will arrive in the U.S. shortly.
- Handspring Treo handheld combines a cell phone, a pager and an
organizer into a single device.
- Fujitsu Life Book P Series is an ultra-light notebook computer,
which was named the ‘Best Notebook’ and the ‘Best of Show’
by show organizer Key3Media Group and sponsors.
- NEC announced its PocketPC 2002-enabled handheld, the MobilePro
P300. It includes Intel’s 206 MHz StrongARM processor, 32 MB of
built-in memory and a 32 MB secure digital memory card.
- Tablet PC from Acer, Inc. was unveiled. It functions like a
standard PC but with a pivotal screen so the device can be used as
a notebook and features wireless capability, and handwriting- and
speech-enabled applications.
- National Semiconductor showcased its multipurpose device the
Geode Origami Portable Mobile Communicator.
- AcceleNet introduced its Intelligent Compression Tools (ICT),
which improve mobile phone access to the wireless Internet. The
product approaches near 56 K speeds by using data compression on
both the server and client.
- Proxim introduced its 802.11a Harmony Access Point, which was
recently granted certification from the FCC.
- Wild NRG launched its anti-radiation cell phone cases using
CellBlock technology.
- Melard Technologies showcased its Sidearm rugged, wireless PC,
which allows telecom and cable workers to wirelessly receive and
update work orders from the road.
- Mercedes-Benz demonstrated its research car, a C320 sedan fitted
with a special broadband telematics system that allows volumes of
wireless data to be transmitted in a few seconds.
Announcements
- Multi-company initiative to create a global set of open standards
for mobile devices and data services.
- Xybernaut announced that it would be equipping security
personnel at three U.S. airports with its Mobile Assistant 5
device so that they can instantly identify suspicious travelers
based on face recognition technology.
- Nokia announced its partnership with Sony to develop an open
middleware platform.
- Nokia also announced that it would license its smartphone
platform to other manufacturers.
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