Intel tells GSM bosses: build the wireless Net
Published: 19 Feb 1997 15:17 GMT
A senior Intel executive today urged the GSM community to push harder into the PC sector and create a wireless Internet. Stephen Nachtsheim, vice president and general manager for the mobile and handheld products group at Intel, made the comments in a keynote speech at the GSM World Congress in Cannes, France today.
"The GSM industry faces the same challenges as the PC industry [and] there are four main elements to promoting growth in the PC industry that have direct relevance for GSM: stimulating new applications, attracting new users, branding and selling the technology."
Nachtsheim particularly focused on the Internet as a window of opportunity: "The Internet is a key new application and open standard. The GSM business also has to work with new application developers to create new market opportunities."
Comparing it with the hugely influential Intel Inside campaign, Nachtsheim said that GSM must build on strong awareness. "The GSM brand has the potential to become a platform to promote common services across the many different players in a complex market place. The key advantage to GSM, particularly in Europe, is its ability to overcome the balkanisation effect of many different national operators. That experience is being extended to weave the whole world into a wireless communication web. Just as the Internet is causing a revolution for the PC industry and the land-line telecoms operators, it offers the potential to revolutionise the wireless business."
Nachtsheim cited Dataquest research suggesting that data represented only 0.5 per cent of traffic over GSM today. With more GSM users, PC adapters and mobile PCs, the market could explode, he said.
Did you find this article useful?
35 out of 78 people found this useful
- Share this article:
