Guy Kewney

I wish shows such as Enterprise Wireless Technology were more like Star Trek. At least then we wouldnt be tempted to look for rational motives in their stars. Last year, EWT in London was a temple of Wi-Fi hot spots. This year, it was all cell phone operators. The telcos have taken over. Well, weve […]

Given a choice between Research In Motion Ltd.s BlackBerry and Danger Inc.s Hiptop, any sensible user would choose the latter. However, the trend shows that we arent going to be given the choice. Were just admiring the BlackBerry and watching Palm and others make deals with RIM to allow mail-push servers reach devices that arent […]

One day, the story may be told of why developers tool house Metrowerks pretty much abandoned two of its best customers—Palm and Symbian. But when it is told, I dont expect the story to be told by a smug Microsoft smart phone manager. Call me skeptical, but the idea that Microsoft, with the most bloated […]

So, it is official. You can use a phone on the plane, and the thing wont plunge into the sea or crash into a mountain. Youll never, ever get an engineer to sign a bit of paper to say so, however, so it was gosh-darned clever of the guys at Airbus to come up with […]

In-flight cell phones will be a reality by 2006 or 2007, according to partners in OnAir, the name of a new service introduced on Wednesday, at the World Airline Entertainment Associations annual conference and exhibition in Seattle. The effort comes from an as-yet unnamed company formed by Airbus SAS, telecommunications vendor SITA Inc., and inflight […]

I dont think Id ever heard of a mobile phone network holding a developer teach-in. But now, Ive been to one. It was held by Orange, another telco that doesnt want to be just a bit pipe. “They dont want to be bit pipes,” a developer remarked. “They are bit pipes; deal with it!” But […]

The Investing Business with Knowledge broadcast convention, broadcasts biggest convention in Europe, is coming up. And wireless Web is on the menu. But where are IBCs advertisements for it? Heres my take: Nobodys making the commercials. Theres no money in it. But that will change in the next year. Wireless data will make it possible. […]

The condemned man always talks a good fight. “Its great news,” they assure me. Its tempting to be cynical about ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line). No, heck, its not tempting, its irresistible. I think an awful lot of people are simply going to go to the wall and just dont want to preempt the market […]

Imagine this. Youre driving around in your HOV (highly ostentatious vehicle), and you follow your normal route home. The next day, you are notified by your insurance company: “Under the terms of Court Order 34/FKC/34 paragraph 12 subsection iii, your auto insurance is void.” It turns out that you drove within a mile of the […]

Im off to Spain for a week: so Ive hired a portable two-way satellite dish. All I can say is: Im glad nobody with a camera was watching me set the thing up. First off, the good news: it works. Time will tell what its little “features” are, but if youre heading out into the […]

Ah, the excitement! A new “area code” for London phones! It isnt exciting at all, though to read the local press, youd never guess. Its the final step in a bumbling set of incompetent decisions, echoed around the world, as telcos fail to realize that phone numbers are obsolete. Obsolete? Phone numbers? Well, yes. OK, […]

Opinion: Heres a question. Whats the quickest way to be told to FOAD? (Fall Over And Die, Feel Old And Die, Flit/Fly Off And Die….you get the idea). Answer: Approach any regional communication authority around the world. Say: “I have created a transceiver which broadcasts at random on any frequency from VHF radio right up […]