Microwave radio networks have enabled organizations to extend their IP networks far beyond their local environments, achieving a rapid ROI in the process.

Creating a wireless application that works on as many devices as possible is not difficult, it's useless! If you invest a huge amount of resources today, chances are that a new device will ship tomorrow and you'll need to tweak your application again...unless you use WURFL and its framework.

Every day I am literally amazed at the evidence of progress presented to me between all involved in the mobile data value chain. The estimated gap between the U.S. with its segmented interoperability and the holy union of GSM-based Euro operators was about two years behind in terms of delivering next-generation applications and user experiences.

With today's rapid developments in wireless terminal capabilities and increasing pressure to market data-based services, there's a huge market growing for wireless applications that reside on the handset. QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform is an exciting step forward that helps developers create these applications.

Operators who take SMS seriously will stand a much greater chance at succeeding with next-generation data services. The global market for SMS-based services has undergone a significant expansion during the past year.

This article will show you how to develop your very first Series 60 application using CodeWarrior, and get it running on a mobile phone.

As much as a parent might be beguiled by the acronyms that teenagers use when texting to each other, MNOs definitely are not. Handsets nowadays are building on SMS 'speak' by integrating the truncated phrases into their phones so messages can be sent by pressing a single key on their handsets.

In a sea of seemingly incompatible MMS strategies, divergent mobile operator schemes, and innumerable advertising campaigns aimed at would-be U.S. camera phone users, Philippe Kahn navigates enviably.

The ability to carry five or more volumes of reference information around in their pocket, and interfaces that are easier to use than flipping pages in a book, will make PDAs a norm for medical workers everywhere.

In this concluding part of a three-part series on the space shuttle, WBT's David Geer looks at spread spectrum technology and its role in keeping encrypted data secure.

What work is now being done in a mobile setting that can and should be mobile-enabled? Can it be simplified or made better through mobilization? Who are the stakeholders impacted by this change - customers, staff, finance?

Wireless game playing is already a big business. Combined with company branding to a targeted audience, the potential for wireless ad campaigns skyrockets. PespsiCo has been one of the first international companies to get the ball rolling.

Marketing mobile technologies to consumers as the 'the Internet in the palm of your hand' may have been an oversell. It's time for hte industry to figure out practical ways for consumers to use mobile applications.

Paul Eisenstein, publisher of THECarConnection.com, reports from the June 15-16 EyeForAuto Conference in Detroit that the repeat purchase rate on telematics service is low. That is, once current telematics customers finish their free first year of service, they refuse to pay the annual fee for a second year. Their reason: the content is too similar to that on PCs, laptops, and cell phones. Telematics is not a land rush similar to e-commerce, the Internet, or, most recently, m-commerce

We've all seen it - the driver in rush-hour traffic reading the paper, a parent turning toward the backseat looking after a young child, a driver and passenger engaged in a heated discussion and, of course, the people who talk animatedly on their cell phones, oblivious to the world. The consequences of such driver distraction are frequently catastrophic.

I'm looking at my huge field of corn, millions of ears ready for harvest, every one genetically engineered to be identical. From the root structure to the tips, every stalk's the same, and offers the maximum yield made possible by modern science. But enhancing production is only part of what the breaking of the genetic code can offer me. Should the need arise, I can release specially modified viruses into my field, allowing each infection to make minute alterations to the DNA of the crop, updating my harvest. In this way I can provide protection against unforeseen pathogens, and modify the very blueprint of my harvest to suit climate or market conditions.

Wireless text messaging (or SMS) is a juggernaut in almost every GSM mobile operator network on the planet. Here's a look at some of the reasons why it hasn't yet caught on in the U.S.

Will machine-to-machine communications be the Internet technology trend of the 2010s? Does what we see of M2M today constitute the first signs of a technological development that may turn out to be as revolutionary as the PC era and the Internet at the end of the 20th century? Will the new mobile subscribers of tomorrow include toys, bicycles, cars, and all sorts of machines?

Entrepreneurial interest in wireless was strong at this year's TiEcon conference in Santa Clara, CA. After all, there's more money under management at VC firms now than at any time in history. It's just not being handed out as freely to seed and first-round investments.

The development of electronic commerce has led to an ongoing search for so-called killer applications. In today's environment of electronic commerce there have been some clear winners, such as electronic auctions, but the killer application for mobile networks (especially 3G) has yet to be found.

With the entire telecommunications industry awaiting the launch of 3G networks, there have been conflicting reports about its state, its cost, and its launch date. Not only is it one of the most important events in recent years, it's also one of the most controversial. The market has opened up beyond the established mobile operators and new entrants are keen to stamp out their territory as 3G service providers. Here we examine the reasons for moving beyond 2G, the state of the market, and benefits from the smart-card manufacturer's perspective.

The inexorable link between business and technology has been propelled to a new level in recent years. With the development of the Internet and the resulting boom of Web-based businesses, technology has made information more important and more accessible. In the past decade, businesses have made previously unimaginable claims: to run on Internet time at Internet speed, and to bring the world together via the language of technology.

WBT: Can you share your operator and WAP Forum executive perspective on WAP 2.0? Mike Short: We're very excited about WAP 2.0, because XHTML and TCP/IP will bring more developers and more consistent standards to WAP. We need standards so users can receive content whenever and wherever they are. We also see a greater partnership developing between bodies such as the WAP Forum and IETF, and between the WAP Forum and the W3C, and perhaps operator bodies such as the GSM Association.

Welcome to WBT's inaugural 'M-Campaign Watch' column where we'll look at a variety of marketing schemes - some in the U.S., some abroad, some successful, some not - but all bound to give you your own ideas.

Anyplace, anytime learning has become a reality. Innovative training programs - especially for the mobile workforce - have already resulted in significant ROI. As the market evolves, and industry-standard protocols are resolved, demand will explode.

Companies are always risking their business, betting on what will be happening next year, and how they can make money out of it. The trick is to get it right. We all know that we work in a fast-moving industry. Even before wireless communications raced ahead, the IT field was already moving too quickly for most industry commentators - fast enough in fact to make a fool of anyone rash enough to try to predict future developments.

Just as northern California drew the greatest technical talent in the semiconductor industry to Silicon Valley, southern California has become a hotbed for the telecommunications industry in San Diego. This mecca for engineers, software developers, and technical managers has also become the unofficial headquarters for the venture capital industry. Now that the hype has died down, it's time to look at the next phase of wireless ideas being generated there.

There are three critical questions you must consider when investigating mobile synchronization and data-management solutions. Mobile devices are entering the corporate enterprise in two distinct ways. The first is through the traditional IT infrastructure in which IT managers standardize a device and distribute it to employees. However, because of the low costs generally associated with PDAs, many employees are buying their own devices, bringing them into the corporate infrastructure, and asking IT to support them. This second method of entry is an unnerving prospect for many IT managers because it makes implementing mobile device hardware standards difficult.

Wireless and mobile networks have the potential to provide new levels of security and confidence, as long as we design them that way. With open networks, the responsibility for creating a secure environment must fall to whoever deploys the application, not the network itself. Every day, we're using cryptography that would have been unthinkable, not to mention illegal in many countries, five years ago.

What better way to highlight the issues that need to be addressed by wireless information providers (i.e., Reuters, Instinet), wireless software tools vendors (e.g., SpiritSoft), and wireless terminal providers (e.g., Compaq) than by looking at a day in the life of a typical businessperson in the emerging wireless world?

We've all heard the promises that 3G will deliver a plethora of full-motion, audiovisual streaming applications and services. But at what cost? Operators will have to charge for these - over and above anything delivered so far - then convince you that they'll be worth paying for. Exaggerated subsidization of handsets could well be a thing of the past.

NTT DoCoMo has announced plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange in September, launching what is expected to be one of the most heavily traded American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programs by a Japanese company.

One of the most critical initiatives that faces modern business executives is the need to improve efficiency. Savvy companies continue to drive costs out of their business model in order to improve the bottom line. Is this a sound business practice? Absolutely.

In the past year NTT DoCoMo has spent $14.7 billion building up a portfolio of European and U.S. telecom interests, including a 15% stake in KPN Mobile of the Netherlands, which is suffering from high debts incurred through its purchase of 3G licenses.

3G is not yet fully established, but the promise of increased bandwidth and greater speed has encouraged the development of more sophisticated wireless applications that can use this higher capacity.

Despite a massive marketing drive from the entire Scandinavian telco industry, it turns out that WAP users are typically abandoning use of the technology after just a short time. Businesses, too, iare cold-shouldering WAP.

As mobile computing becomes more widespread, the need for mobility support for Internet devices increases. The number of mobile computers is expected to soar. Cellular phones that offer IP services based on WAP or GPRS are already available, and their number will increase rapidly. 3G cellular devices will be packet-switched rather than circuit-switched. Therefore, IP services on 3G cellular devices will play an integral role.

Within four years one out of four people on the planet will be wirelessly connected via a mobile device. These mobile devices will soon become an integral part of an individual's personal area network and daily experience. Whether it's a voice-enabled PDA or a smartphone, each device will need to be custom-configured to meet each individual's specific needs.

There's no need to always wait for technology to catch up with the way you want to use it. Here's a real wireless app that offered return on investment even in its first year... This particular customer was in a business that serviced industrial customers on a route-oriented basis.

As location-based wireless Internet services become more advanced, so does end-user security and privacy technology. The notion that an application or business can 'track' a mobile user is creating major privacy concerns. The wireless Web, labeled by many as 'The First Big Market Opportunity of the 21st Century,' has driven developers and businesses to 'mobilize' their services, implementing new ideas for the delivery of content to wireless devices and generating additional revenues.