Who will win out?

By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick
NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER

Authors' note: The names in today's transcript have been changed to protect the innocent. The wireless advocate has been re-named "Tom," the wireline advocate has been renamed "Sue." The conversation about fixed/mobile convergence you are about to read was recently held in the hallways of a major industry analyst firm.

Tom: You know, Sue, that wireless connections will eventually replace all wireline connections. The landline PC connection is dead, and the wide-area landline market is dying. The cellular handset is rapidly replacing the desktop and home phone.

Sue: Obviously, Tom you don't have a clue and neither do the mobile phone companies. Those mobile companies still think that just giving the customer a broadband Internet connection will solve all their enterprise data needs. Have they even considered offering a business application bundled with their broadband service?

Tom: Businesses don't want any service provider to touch applications - all they need is connectivity back to the corporate servers that supply the business applications. And speaking of applications, those wireline phone companies have completely ignored bundling consumer applications, like interactive gaming, with their local loop.

Sue: Oh, really Tom? What about IP-TV? Have you forgotten that wireline companies offer television over phone lines? They even have hosted call-center applications for the enterprise included as a service.

Tom: IP-TV? Is that the best you can do? My mobile provider offers me on-demand video news feeds whenever and wherever I want. And if the business absolutely insists on support for a mobile application, how will your wireline network support tracking inventory and delivery support from factory to truck to customer?

Sue: Well, one thing's for sure, Tom. My reliable wireline network won't ever run out of transmission capacity because it doesn't depend on finite radio spectrum. And, unlike my cell phone, I never get a "searching for network" message on my desktop phone.

Author's note to readers: Who's right? Tom or Sue? Who will win the battle for applications delivery to the consumer? Who will win the battle for applications delivery to the enterprise?