Wireless Goes Unlimited

Posted by: Olga Kharif (BusinessWeek TechBeat) on February 19:

I've worked in the wireless business long enough that this kind of news really interests me. Olga Kharif calls it, "...a historic day in wireless." What do you think?

It’s a historic day in wireless. Today, Verizon Wireless unveiled its first unlimited calling plan. Within hours, AT&T and T-Mobile USA followed suit.

This is great news for consumers: In effect, wireless in going the way long-distance pricing had gone years ago. Per-minute prices are becoming irrelevant. One carrier’s service looks even more like another’s; comparing service plans will become a lot easier.

For wireless carriers, though, the news isn’t necessarily good.

Consider: Today, at Sprint Nextel, $100 buys 2,000 minutes. That’s about 33 hours of talk time a month. And there are several higher-end plans offering more minutes.

Starting today, high-end plans at Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are out to pasture.

As of today, $100 — the unlimited plan’s price — is the most a carrier can charge for voice service. The telcos could also get hurt as wireless-to-wireline substitution skyrockets as well.

Google Wireless

It seems that Google has been the topic of conversation here more than any other company in recent days. And today is no exception, as Google announced on Monday that it was leading a broad industry effort to develop new software technologies aimed at turning cellphones into powerful mobile computers.

While not all industry analysts and wireless carriers (Verizon and AT&T) are convinced, I just can't imagine how anything that provides competition for Verizon and AT&T can be a bad thing (at least from the consumer perspective).

And although Google's not planning a Google Phone any time in the near future, it's main emphasis seems to be in partnering with others to develop and market the phones. The list of companies that have jumped on the Google bandwagon isn't shabby: handset makers Motorola and Samsung; carriers T-Mobile, Sprint and China Mobile, and semiconductor companies Qualcomm and Intel.

Seems to me that there will be more wireless jobs to go around some time soon.

Read the entire NYTimes article HERE.

Google Mobile - the winners and losers

Google’s big mobile splash: Handicapping the winners and losers by ZDNet's Larry Dignan --

Dignan provides his perspective on the impact of Google's move in the mobile space, giving us the winners, losers, and the companies left on the fence. This is a condensed version - check out Dignan's article for the full scoop:

Winners:

• Google: The search giant has managed to line up a big chunk of the wireless industry, cordoned off some mobile advertising inventory and may have found away to commoditize the wireless operating system.
  

• Sprint: The wireless carrier is struggling and needs a plan. By aligning with Google–by most counts Sprint will be on the partner roster–Sprint may give itself a much needed spark. This effect may be magnified if Verizon Wireless isn’t on board with Google. AT&T isn’t expected to get cozy with Google yet.

• Developers: Google’s mobile software stack is giving developers some open field to play with.

• Open source: Google’s Android is expected to integrate parts of Linux. This is a mobile victory for the open source movement in what remains a proprietary wireless world. The leading mobile software players are all proprietary.

• Handset makers: Google’s mobile software stack sounds like it’ll come cheap–like free. This fact enables handset makers to push the envelope on the hardware side of the equation.
  

Yet to be determined:

• Apple: A few folks have taken Google’s leap to surmise that Apple will be hurt somehow. There may be some potential impact, but there’s a cure for this line of thinking. Repeat after me: Apple sells hardware.
  

• Microsoft: Windows Mobile is entrenched, has a big footprint in the corporate world and is a key partner to wireless carriers and developers.
  

• Consumers: Mobile phone users will apparently get better software out of this Google move. But if the trade off is more ads on your phone it may be a wash for some.

Losers:

• Palm: Man it gets tiring kicking Palm, but it’s clear this former high flier has major problems. Wasn’t Palm trying to cook up its own Linux based operating system? Yup. It’s late to the party and looks like Google will get any momentum that may come its way. The Palm OS is rapidly becoming a footnote to the history of the wireless market.

• Wireless carriers’ current business model: Wireless carriers have a model that is extremely controlling. In the grand scheme of things, Google is nibbling away at the standard wireless business model.

Google, the next wireless carrier?

Shaun Nichols (vnunet.com) reports Google has thrown its weight behind the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) plans to turn the vacated 700MHz radio spectrum into an open wireless network.

The proposal would force the owner of the spectrum bands to allow access to any device, meaning that users would not be locked into subscribing to a carrier in order to use a mobile device, such as a smartphone.

Google is pledging to bid at least $4.6bn for the spectrum, should the FCC adopt the plan.

Looks like the race is about to get interesting in the world of wireless carriers.

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