This past Thursday, we attended the monthly speaker series sponsored by Bill Sobel’s “New York Media Information Exchange Group” (NYMIEG for short). This month’s event featured a discussion on the future of high speed wireless networks, namely WiFi and its likely successor, WiMax. Moderated by NBC tech reporter Sree Sreenivasan, the event featured a panel of experts from a variety of fields including Dana Spiegel and Laura Forlano (NYCWireless), Ari Zoldan (Launch 3) and Gene Keenan (Isobar Mobile Marketing). Each speaker offered a few thoughts on the way wireless networks were changing in their respective fields, followed by a discussion and Q&A led by Sree.
Although many people think of wireless networks as a means to access the Web using a laptop, they are increasingly relevant for mobile devices. As more handsets like the iPhone allow users access to WiFi in addition to traditional cell towers, the importance of these networks as new media platforms takes on a whole new dimension. Furthermore, expert Ari Zoldan anticipates many major urban areas will be blanketed with high-speed WiMax networks (which offer signals up to 30 miles) in the next 5-10 years.
As many of the panelists agreed, the confluence of these two trends will have some interesting implications for the way we consume and use information on mobile. For marketers, wireless hotspots become a new platform for advertising. Potential opportunities include free sponsored access pages or even building proprietary wireless “hotspots” that engage mobile users with their brand. In the realm of mobile content, high-speed wireless networks will allow mobile users to take advantage of VoIP, making voice a commodity and forcing carriers to provide new value-add services.
As publications like the Economist have noted, this proliferation of wireless networks marks the beginning of a “post-cellular” world - a world in which the cell phone is just one of a plethora of devices which can communicate seamlessly and “wireless-ly” across the web.
1 response so far ↓
1 Uttam K Acharya // Jul 11, 2008 at 1:29 am
I am working with Wi-fi tech. I am interested to know about wimax. if any collage teach I want to join
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