Yes, McCaw was quite an amazing visionary back in the '80s when wireless spectrum was first being lotteried off by the FCC. However, he has had his share of setbacks too. From Wikipedia:
The McCaw brothers founded NEXTLINK Communications, planning to enter the broadband and internet service provider market. In 2000, the company merged with Concentric Communications and was renamed XO Communications. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.
Also in 1994, McCaw and Bill Gates teamed up to form Teledesic, with an ambitious plan to form a broadband satellite communications system with nearly 300 low earth orbit satellites. In 2002, Teledesic halted satellite production; and in 2003, it sold its spectrum licenses. The company has since severely scaled back its plans. McCaw serves as Teledesic's chairman.
Still, his overall track record is pretty good. He owns a good-sized stake in Nextel, which was a fabulous company (until Sprint bought it ).
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Nobody is perfect. But if anyone has his hands on the pulse of the industry, he does.
Are you serious? Did you say that when "official spokesman" Steve Jobs said there would never be a Video iPod. Or when "official spokesman" Ari Fleischer said they have WMDs???
or when they said they were withholding the secret features because Microsoft may copy them into Vista.
or when they said the Apple TV was not going to be delayed
Here's an idea - how abot improving signal reception of WiFi first....I'm tired of sitting in conferences unable to pick up signals when the Dell or Thinkpad next to me has near full signal strength. (And no it is not just my machine - all of my colleagues in the room have the same issue)
Agree, my Thinkpad sees a lot more base stations than my Mac, and my Mac signal fluctuates a lot.
At least in Europe there's a great coverage for advanced 3G.
Right now for example Vodafone has deployed in Spain access for more than 70% of the population at 3.6 Mbps download / 1.4 Mbps upload speeds via HSDPA.
Prices are still a little bit steep, but not that expensive taking into consideration that you have those speeds wherever you go :-P And if you're in the 30% of the population that doesn't have HSDPA, then you'll probably have either plain 3G (UMTS 384 Kbps) or 2.5G (GPRS 64 Kbps). GPRS speeds are available in 98% of Spain's territory so even if you're up in some mountain you'll probably have 2.5G coverage.
And if you live in Japan... then it gets even better!
WiMax isn't ready for prime time yet. It will be years before it is widely deployed. Only Sprint is going with it and even they have fears that it will turn out to be another CDMA fiasco (CDMA didn't come close to meeting it's technical specs when it first came out). Since Sprint management couldn't have f**ked up the Nextel merger any more if they tried, I wouldn't hold your breath for WiMax. It will take quite some time to complete the conversion. Sprint has been showing horrible numbers and won't have the funds for a nationwide deployment anytime soon.
T-Mobile's NY area 3G network is already largely deployed. It will be available by the fall. Other major markets to follow.
Sadly though, given Apple's stupidity with the iPhone being only AT&T, I will not be at all surprised if they rig the 3G in Mac's to only work on AT&T's 3G network in the US, thus cutting out EVDO options and competing 3G networks.
After being an Apple fan since 86 I am not liking where Apple is heading of late... I liked it much more when most people hated Apple and Apple actually appreciated their customers. They are looking more and more like Microsoft every day...
I see where you're coming from, but then there's the cost to consider:
This sort of integration is far from new to the industry. Dell, HP, and many other top-tier notebook PC makers regularly offer these internal adapters as a factory-installed part for some of their models, especially business systems. Unlike Wi-Fi, however, the cost -- which typically sits at $180 or higher -- discourages most builders from including the adapter by default.
Optional seems to be the way to go. I think a lot of users would be angry to be forced to pay $180 for something they won't use.
It doesn't seem to be like wi-fi, which is relatively cheap to include.
Yeah, but remember that this is Apple. They don't like to do optional features. Its too tough for their customers to figure out whether they want something or not (that's why they have such a limited line-up, Mac user's heads would explode if they had to decide between a 15" MacBook vs a 15" MacBook Pro). All Mac laptops and iMacs come with a video camera. There seems to be no concern about the customer paying for a feature few use. iMacs and minis come with wireless by default, even though a lot of desktops have no need for wireless access.
And remember that Apple prefers to keep adding features to avoid having to reduce the cost of the computer themselves.
Yeah, but remember that this is Apple. They don't like to do optional features. Its too tough for their customers to figure out whether they want something or not (that's why they have such a limited line-up, Mac user's heads would explode if they had to decide between a 15" MacBook vs a 15" MacBook Pro). All Mac laptops and iMacs come with a video camera. There seems to be no concern about the customer paying for a feature few use. iMacs and minis come with wireless by default, even though a lot of desktops have no need for wireless access.
And remember that Apple prefers to keep adding features to avoid having to reduce the cost of the computer themselves.
That's not true.
Apple offered both Bluetooth and Wifi as options for years.
It was only after both solutions became cheap enough, and almost everyone else began to make them standard that Apple also did so.
Apple offered both Bluetooth and Wifi as options for years.
It was only after both solutions became cheap enough, and almost everyone else began to make them standard that Apple also did so.
Bingo. And as the article states:
The Apple module would most likely fit that pattern and come only as an option, according to the source.
Far as the built-in camera that was cited as an example of Apple 'feature-cram', I highly doubt it adds as much cost as 3G would ($180) to Apple's notebooks. Even the full-size external iSight camera wasn't as expensive as that when introduced (and costs have come down since), and video/camera functionality on most cellphones/smartphones costs nowhere near that.
Apple would be foolish to up their costs by that much, by making mandatory a feature that's still very expensive and which the majority of consumers aren't using yet. \
But as an option, it'll obviously be very useful for the folks who need or 'gotta have' mobile broadband.
And if 3G-in-your-laptop ever becomes a craze, Apple can always include it mandatorily later, using time and economies of scale to help bring the cost down.
Comments
Yes, McCaw was quite an amazing visionary back in the '80s when wireless spectrum was first being lotteried off by the FCC. However, he has had his share of setbacks too. From Wikipedia:
The McCaw brothers founded NEXTLINK Communications, planning to enter the broadband and internet service provider market. In 2000, the company merged with Concentric Communications and was renamed XO Communications. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.
Also in 1994, McCaw and Bill Gates teamed up to form Teledesic, with an ambitious plan to form a broadband satellite communications system with nearly 300 low earth orbit satellites. In 2002, Teledesic halted satellite production; and in 2003, it sold its spectrum licenses. The company has since severely scaled back its plans. McCaw serves as Teledesic's chairman.
Still, his overall track record is pretty good. He owns a good-sized stake in Nextel, which was a fabulous company (until Sprint bought it
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Nobody is perfect. But if anyone has his hands on the pulse of the industry, he does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Sp..._Packet_Access
So,
200 Mbps download
100 Mbps upload
Not bad.
How come we'd rather believe an unproven source than an official spokesman?
Because the oficial spokeman (Steve) is well known to lie about a lot of stuff.
Are you serious? Did you say that when "official spokesman" Steve Jobs said there would never be a Video iPod. Or when "official spokesman" Ari Fleischer said they have WMDs???
or when they said they were withholding the secret features because Microsoft may copy them into Vista.
or when they said the Apple TV was not going to be delayed
there been many lies by the oficial spokemen
Here's an idea - how abot improving signal reception of WiFi first....I'm tired of sitting in conferences unable to pick up signals when the Dell or Thinkpad next to me has near full signal strength. (And no it is not just my machine - all of my colleagues in the room have the same issue)
Agree, my Thinkpad sees a lot more base stations than my Mac, and my Mac signal fluctuates a lot.
At least in Europe there's a great coverage for advanced 3G.
Right now for example Vodafone has deployed in Spain access for more than 70% of the population at 3.6 Mbps download / 1.4 Mbps upload speeds via HSDPA.
Prices are still a little bit steep, but not that expensive taking into consideration that you have those speeds wherever you go :-P And if you're in the 30% of the population that doesn't have HSDPA, then you'll probably have either plain 3G (UMTS 384 Kbps) or 2.5G (GPRS 64 Kbps). GPRS speeds are available in 98% of Spain's territory so even if you're up in some mountain you'll probably have 2.5G coverage.
And if you live in Japan... then it gets even better!
T-Mobile's NY area 3G network is already largely deployed. It will be available by the fall. Other major markets to follow.
Sadly though, given Apple's stupidity with the iPhone being only AT&T, I will not be at all surprised if they rig the 3G in Mac's to only work on AT&T's 3G network in the US, thus cutting out EVDO options and competing 3G networks.
After being an Apple fan since 86 I am not liking where Apple is heading of late... I liked it much more when most people hated Apple and Apple actually appreciated their customers. They are looking more and more like Microsoft every day...
I see where you're coming from, but then there's the cost to consider:
This sort of integration is far from new to the industry. Dell, HP, and many other top-tier notebook PC makers regularly offer these internal adapters as a factory-installed part for some of their models, especially business systems. Unlike Wi-Fi, however, the cost -- which typically sits at $180 or higher -- discourages most builders from including the adapter by default.
Optional seems to be the way to go. I think a lot of users would be angry to be forced to pay $180 for something they won't use.
It doesn't seem to be like wi-fi, which is relatively cheap to include.
Yeah, but remember that this is Apple. They don't like to do optional features. Its too tough for their customers to figure out whether they want something or not (that's why they have such a limited line-up, Mac user's heads would explode if they had to decide between a 15" MacBook vs a 15" MacBook Pro). All Mac laptops and iMacs come with a video camera. There seems to be no concern about the customer paying for a feature few use. iMacs and minis come with wireless by default, even though a lot of desktops have no need for wireless access.
And remember that Apple prefers to keep adding features to avoid having to reduce the cost of the computer themselves.
Yeah, but remember that this is Apple. They don't like to do optional features. Its too tough for their customers to figure out whether they want something or not (that's why they have such a limited line-up, Mac user's heads would explode if they had to decide between a 15" MacBook vs a 15" MacBook Pro). All Mac laptops and iMacs come with a video camera. There seems to be no concern about the customer paying for a feature few use. iMacs and minis come with wireless by default, even though a lot of desktops have no need for wireless access.
And remember that Apple prefers to keep adding features to avoid having to reduce the cost of the computer themselves.
That's not true.
Apple offered both Bluetooth and Wifi as options for years.
It was only after both solutions became cheap enough, and almost everyone else began to make them standard that Apple also did so.
That's not true.
Apple offered both Bluetooth and Wifi as options for years.
It was only after both solutions became cheap enough, and almost everyone else began to make them standard that Apple also did so.
Bingo. And as the article states:
The Apple module would most likely fit that pattern and come only as an option, according to the source.
Far as the built-in camera that was cited as an example of Apple 'feature-cram', I highly doubt it adds as much cost as 3G would ($180) to Apple's notebooks. Even the full-size external iSight camera wasn't as expensive as that when introduced (and costs have come down since), and video/camera functionality on most cellphones/smartphones costs nowhere near that.
Apple would be foolish to up their costs by that much, by making mandatory a feature that's still very expensive and which the majority of consumers aren't using yet.
But as an option, it'll obviously be very useful for the folks who need or 'gotta have' mobile broadband.
And if 3G-in-your-laptop ever becomes a craze, Apple can always include it mandatorily later, using time and economies of scale to help bring the cost down.
.
Because the oficial spokeman (Steve) is well known to lie about a lot of stuff.
Even if occasionally true, this is different from all the other CEOs in the world... how?
(A: Uhh... well... Steve wears a mock turtleneck and jeans.
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Check out the write-up with pictures at:
http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/1985/63/
Here are some good links to check:
http://www.dslreports.com/archive/myvzw.com
http://www.dslreports.com/archive/spcsdns.net
http://evdomaps.com/Fastest+Downloads
http://evdomaps.com/Fastest+Uploads