Copyright 2002 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The Plain Dealer

April 21, 2002 Sunday, Sports Final / All
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 1266 words
HEADLINE: Wireless innovations stream in But expect the gains in speed and power to cost a lot more
BYLINE: Chris Seper, Plain Dealer Reporter

BODY:
Northeast Ohio soon will be marching lockstep with big-city America in a clumsy trudge toward phones that will pay for Coke and download music.

Most of the country's major mobile phone companies will offer "next-generation" services to local customers in the coming months. At first, this will mean that mobile Internet connections will be fast enough to quickly send animated greeting cards to another phone.

In the next year or two, devices - they might not be called phones by then - will be powerful enough to receive live television via the Internet.

For those who use mobile phones only to talk, the adjustment won't mean much. In fact, the next year promises to be so fraught with problems that many people may pass on the first generation of next-generation life. But prophets of a high-tech future say this is an inevitable technology. Lives will be organized electronically in your pocket, with the capability to connect to anyone, anywhere, by any means desired. Business can be conducted anywhere.

"It's going to change the way people operate," said David Davidson, regional vice president and general manager for AT&T Wireless. "A hand-held device will be as operable as a laptop."

By June, AT&T and Verizon Wireless will be the first companies in Northeast Ohio to offer next-generation services, which are designed to allow mobile phones to work just like home Internet connections.

Sprint PCS and Cingular will follow in the second half of the year.

All these companies will offer new perks and gizmos that will illustrate the potential power of next-generation services.

AT&T is pushing a whole host of goodies, from attachable digital cameras to digital music downloaders that clip to the end of new ultra-light Ericsson phones.

The company also will unveil a wireless headset that works with the phone thanks to a cutting-edge technology known as Bluetooth.

Verizon soon will fill local stores with the Thera, a new breed of electronic organizer and cell phone from Audiovox that works on the next-generation network.

Each company also will cram new video games and cutesy frills into their phones. Dozens of new downloadable ring tones will be available online, and new animated e-cards can arrive in phones with a dancing bear and holiday colors.

"We'll give you a GameBoy experience," said Mark McHale, regional communications director at Sprint PCS.

Business first
Even with all these consumer trappings, business customers will get most of the attention from next-generation phone companies. Corporations can purchase the services en masse, which will help wireless firms cover the expensive start-up costs.

Next-generation phone service means, at the least, that employees could transmit business reports or even large graphics in a few minutes using their mobile phones.

Phone companies wouldn't say how much they will charge for the service in the Cleveland area. Next-generation phones will be available for as little as $100 but typically will cost $200 or more.

Many phone companies plan to charge by the size of the files sent from the phones - $10 for 1 megabyte of transmissions, for example - which is likely to confuse many consumers.

Who needs it?
Confusion about charges may be only the beginning for these new services. Wireless companies need to convince the public that fast wireless Internet service will be worth higher, more confusing phone bills.

Fierce competition among the several phone services initially may work against these new technologies. Many phone-based e-cards and instant messages - known as short message services - can work only with certain brands of phones.

For example, Sprint PCS can send short messages to AT&T and Cingular phones and may soon work with Verizon but not with any other carriers.

For Cingular, Verizon and AT&T customers, next generation will be available only in select major cities.

Sprint PCS will join Nextel, which already offers next-generation services, in establishing a nationwide network.

But most Americans don't use their mobile phones for anything but talking, making it unlikely they will flock to new services.

As a result, companies are still struggling to discover next generation's "killer application" - a use that will induce hordes of customers to use the Internet on their phones.

"We think there has yet to be a killer application for data services," said Philip Junker, the executive vice president of marketing for Alltel.

While most companies are offering next-generation services as soon as they can, Alltel will wait until its customers demand it.

Nextel won't upgrade its next-generation network until high-speed services are "cost-efficient," said Audrey Schaefer, a senior director of corporate communications.

"We have what we need, and our customers have what they need," she said.

Some customers may wait for faster and better versions that should crop up throughout 2003.

AT&T, for example, will improve its wireless service at least twice in the next year - the final time in late 2003 will reach the much-anticipated high-speed mobile Internet service.

Hip new services would seem ideal for next-generation services, but so far, they are taking a pass. A Wireless Britney Spears Fan Club will debut in May, where fans will get 25 to 30 short messages and voice mails from the pop sensation - not concert clips and other intense graphics. WFX, the company that created the service, doesn't expect much of a demand for such next-generation frills.

"In my experience with the wireless world, months really mean years," said Jed Alpert, president of WFX.

Besides struggling for customers, mobile phone companies are watching the signals they use deteriorate in metropolitan areas, said Kalle Lyytinen, a professor at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management.

Businesses soon may be forced to reduce the quality of their voice service to improve next-generation features or vice versa, Lyytinen said.

In order to pay for these services, companies risk charging high rates that could scare off a larger customer base, he said.

"If that happens, it will kill the whole idea of these services," Lyytinen said.

Troubled or not, America is moving into the second of a three-phase wireless process, according to Jim Jankowski, technical account manager in Microsoft Corp.'s Cleveland office.

Ready or not, here it comes
High-speed phones are used heavily in Japan, where people are more used to surfing the Web with a cell phone than a desktop PC.

Europe also embraced the technology and created phones that can be used like a credit card or feature 7-inch-wide screens for Internet browsing.

Here in the United States, mobile phones have been used to talk, send short instant messages, send e-mail and pick up sports scores, Jankowski said.

Thanks to next-generation services, Jankowski said, mobile-phone owners here will be able to pull up interactive city guides, receive coupons sent from nearby stores and use the phone as a European-style wallet.

Some day, the technology will be advanced enough to let corporate executives take part in video conference calls while waiting in airport lobbies or use their notebook computers to jump online with high-speed Internet connections.

"We'll have one kind of device so much more productive," Jankowski said. "I know that there is some question about the advantage of being in touch 24/7 and 365. But in the business we're running today, it's critical for some people to be available."