Qualcomm CEO Touts 3G Over Wi-Fi
We’ve certainly been among those who shout down anyone who seems to think that WiFi and 3G are competitive. They’re not. They might be in the future – and they should certainly factor in to any wireless plans – but it’s the people who compare them currently, that bug us the most. On the whole, the industry has been pretty mild in focusing in on the “competition”, though. It’s the press that seems to focus on the issue, since any headline that uses “something vs. something else” seems to draw attention. Thus, it’s a bit surprising, especially with the “everyone loves WiFi” atmosphere at CTIA to hear Qualcomm’s CEO openly trash WiFi. It’s not surprising from a business perspective – Qualcomm does stand to lose quite a bit should WiFi really become a bigger part of the market. Still, Irwin Jacobs’ claims miss the point. WiFi is here now. It’s what people want when they talk about wireless internet – and if the carriers fail to embrace it, in some manner, they risk losing the impression that they’re the ones leading the “wireless internet revolution”. If people get used to going to another provider for WiFi (which still might happen), then the carriers will have to work extra hard to bring them back when they finally get around to launching real 3G offerings for real high speed internet access.
