802.11me

Idea for a talk

WiFi, 3G, and VoIP: What if the killer app for the data channel is voice? There are some very very compelling business ideas when you start to consider VoIP and WiFi together. There are some very interesting businesses the cable folks could get after here. You can start with them totally taking over local phone services without running anything else to the home. Some very cool possibilities from the simple to the complex....an obvious simple one is you're watching tv, your Mobile device (which is also a home phone when it can see the cable box) rings somewhere in the next room, and the tv you're watching displays the caller id. this seems very doable and cool. of course, the Tivo hackers have already got a variation of this sorted out through their tivo boxes, but this could be an out of the box cable service.

Will be interesting to see whether the cable co's or mobile opp's get this all figured out first. Cable key advantage is router/home area network in every home, mobile opp advantage is handset provisioning....interesting emerging space. RBOC advantage? uh.....gimme a minute.

why do you even need to think about 'local phone' if you're going to route things through mobile devices anyhow? still think families will need a general "home number" for a long time...just doesn't have to be the same type of line we've thought of in the past.

NB: yes, i'm assuming the non-existence of the FCC (or at least the non-existence of them making a hash of this) for the purposes of my idea above....this is like high school physics when you don't use calculus and all problem sets "assume a frictionless surface". actually, it's a great analogy.