Smart Phones Get Some Dumb Analysis

Tonight PBS covered the smart phone market, and asked for input from Andrew Seybold, a prominent expert on the mobile sector. However Seybold said something that really seemed questionable:

ANDREW SEYBOLD: As much as I respect Google, the wireless industry can’t be an extension of the Internet because wireless bandwidth is finite. It’s a fixed resource, and it is shared bandwidth. The more people who use it in a given area, the less data speed they have.

Andrew, with all due respect - and considerable respect is due, I think you’ve missed something profound here. Sure, wireless capacity must increase to accommodate all the data, but it certainly will increase. There are already technologies like WIMAX and EVDO that will scale up to meet demand, and it’s likely that improvements and new technologies will emerge very fast in response to this innovative, cash rich market.

In any case, it is now *crystal clear* that all players in this space are moving to converge the phone experience with the internet experience. It is not clear exactly how that will shake out and eventually become seamless, but it seems very questionable to suggest this is not even the *direction* in which things are moving.

ERIC SCHMIDT: I completely disagree with the characterization that somehow the wireless network is going to be any different than the wired network, because there’s enormous spectrum becoming available through licensing programs, better radio design, faster computers, and so forth.

Thank you Eric, you are absolutely right. In fact I expect you already have several plans in place to make the higher speed and broader bands available to prospective gPhones and Google Phones and Android equipped phones.