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Editor's Perspective
Let's get Real... or not
By Dan O'Shea
May 6, 2003
RealNetworks has announced relationships with three major carriers to provide RealNetworks' Mobile Guides for audio and video content for downloading and use on mobile phones and other handheld devices. The company also announced a new program for content developers to create or encode content on the company's RealOne platform.
However, while it looks like RealNetworks is making headway in the battle against
Microsoft's Windows Media Player platform in the mobile industry, it isn't a battle that will result in complete victory for either company.
Look no further than your desktops--the one you use at work and the one you use at home--for proof. At the office, WMP may be your corporate standard, but it's likely that the RealOne Player somehow crept onto your desktop as well. (Maybe it happened when you were downloading that Internet radio service so you could secretly listen to ball games at the office.) More than likely, you also have both versions on your home PC. Even if you don't, most Web sites offering webcasts or media downloads these days aren't picky and will support both.
Having T-Mobile USA,
AT&T Wireless and
Cingular Wireless on its side definitely will help spread RealNetworks to mobile devices. These carriers also recognize that supporting more media platform options will make customers happier. But what looks like a big victory is just the price of admission to stay in the game.
E-mail me at doshea@primediabusiness.com.
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Top News
IBM unveils Mobile Office kit
May 6, 2003
IBM has launched a new software solution aimed at increasing the adoption of its Websphere middleware by enterprises that are going mobile, an effort that also should benefit from the company's increasingly broad support of handheld device operating systems.
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AT&T Wireless launches GoPhone
May 5, 2003
After announcing plans for its GoPhone prepaid offering in January and having the company's chairman tout the product in its recent first-quarter earnings announcement,
AT&T Wireless officially released service and package pricing availability.
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DragonWave lands utility carrier
May 6, 2003
DragonWave, a broadband wireless access supplier based in Ottawa, Canada, has gained
Douglas Electric, an Oregon utility company, as a customer for its AirPair 100 Ethernet products.
Douglas Electric will use the solution to expand its existing FAST Network broadband backbone to rural markets throughout Oregon. DragonWave's AirPair can provide 50 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s connectivity, and operates in the licensed bands of 18 GHz to 38 GHz.
The system supports 802.1q virtual LAN technology, and can be configured and managed remotely using SNMP technology on a PDA or in a network operations center.
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Perfigo targets WLAN management layer
April 30, 2003
Perfigo, a one-year-old developer of management and security software for enterprise wireless LANs, knows it easily could get lumped in with the WLAN security switch vendor community if it didn't make a key point: It doesn't sell access points.
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T-Mobile, Cingular ink roaming deal
May 2, 2003
T-Mobile USA and
Cingular Wireless have expanded an existing roaming agreement to include GPRS networking.
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Reporter's Notebook
Proxim thinks 802.11g is gggreat
April 30, 2003
LAS VEGAS--Proxim Corp. is using this week's Networld+Interop show here to launch what it calls the first business-class wireless PC card that allows users to connect to Wi-Fi networks using the 802.11a, b or g standard.
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Industry Update
First WPA certifications land
April 30, 2003
The Wi-Fi Alliance, in a move that should increase the marketability of 802.11b products using the new Wi-Fi Protected Access standard, has certified an initial round of products as having successfully completed WPA interoperability testing.
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C-Level
Plastina unwires
May 6, 2003
Proxim has hired Frank Plastina, a former
Nortel Networks executive, as its new CEO and president. Former CEO Jonathan Zakin will remain on hand as chairman.
Plastina, who once was rumored to be the eventual successor to former iconic Nortel CEO John Roth, brings years of experience working with carriers to a wireless LAN vendor that increasingly could partner with public network operators.
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