Wireless communication, \o7 a la \f7 Dick Tracy's two-way wrist radio and Maxwell Smart's telephone-in-a-shoe, is no longer just the stuff of comic book fantasy and goofy TV shows.
Some of the nation's largest companies are betting billions that demand for this new style of mobile communication for both voice and computer chatter will become the next high-tech mother lode, perhaps comparable to the personal computer bonanza of 15 years ago.
But unlike the personal computer market, created mostly by tiny start-ups under the noses of the era's sleepy computer giants, early combatants for the wireless communications market could be part of a Who's Who of American technology, communications and entertainment companies. Among them: American Telephone & Telegraph, International Business Machines, Motorola Corp., the regional telephone companies, Cox Media and cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc.
Unlike previous technology breakthroughs, the wireless market is the first to emerge in the era of deregulated telecommunications, which has brought about a blending and overlapping of the once separate telephone, computer and entertainment media industries.
Several players are joining forces to bolster their already formidable strengths.
IBM and Motorola jointly operate a wireless data network. Apple Computer has formed alliances with several larger and smaller companies to build hand-held wireless computers. AT&T is a primary backer of a small Silicon Valley company, Eo, that recently unveiled a portable, cellular computer.
And last week, AT&T announced plans to invest $3.8 billion to obtain a one-third stake in McCaw Cellular, the country's largest cellular operator, to speed development of a national wireless phone network. On Monday, MCI, the nation's second-largest long-distance company, said it wants to form a consortium to create another wireless network.
"This is not the Home Brew Computer Club all over again," said Richard Shaffer, editor of a technology research newsletter in New York, referring to the small group of young computer aficionados who built the first PCs. "The early wireless market entrants are all big, powerful companies with deep resources who have spotted an opportunity just as fast as the little guys. They learned their lessons from the personal computer. They're not about to allow the creation of another Bill Gates (the billionaire founder of software powerhouse Microsoft) right under their noses."
