As cool as the iPhone is, there is an even more important revolution
brewing: UMA: unlicensed mobile access. By "unlicensed" the carries
mean WiFi and other wireless services operating in open spectrum.
The feature is an upgrade to wifi phones which only use wifi for
internet access, not voice. UMA improves the wifi usage by including
voice services: basically letting you use wifi to replace your cell
link when its available.
This is a bit of a sleeper .. not just does it save on minutes, it
really rocks for travelers. If traveling abroad, and staying in a
hotel with generally open wifi (no special login), you can call world
wide on wifi with no charges. Not bad! This has got to be fussing
Vonage, I'd think. Actually, the big win for many is just use of the
cell phone at home: often home cellular signals are weak. But if you
have wifi at home, your on the air!
If the iPhone gets unlocked somehow so that it can use tmobile, it'll
certainly improve its popularity. They are already betting that EDGE
is good enough because wifi is reasonably plentiful now adays, thus
the iPhone doesn't need the faster digital cellular services (which
are not widely available anyway).
Some links:
T-Mobile UMA plan:
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/007735.htmlDavid Pogue on Cellular phone status:
http://tinyurl.com/3aquwyDavid Pogue on UMA:
http://tinyurl.com/3agwer -- Owen
Locked
