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2003 Sprint Users Forum
Tuesday, June 3
First session I attended today was "Sprint Integrated
Solutions - Convergence is Here!" This will be bad news for you PCS
Vision phone users. Sprint is currently working on IM for AOL but won't
release it until 1st or 2nd quarter 2004. Other new products/services
mentioned are Push-to-Talk (more a few paragraphs down) and real SMS!
They talked about "Infrastructure Campus Network
(ICN)". This is a really cool new integrated set of services
expected to be rolled out in full 2005-2006. The key features are:
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Replace existing wired line phone systems if offices
- One phone number (no separate number for your office and one for
your cell phone)
- PBX features in and out of the office |
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Two options for private voice networks
- Private CDMA network using Sprint Spectrum
- 802.11 VoWLAN network with CDMA/WiFi phone |
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Move about the office without being out of touch |
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Enjoy the benefits of seamless calling experience as you
travel between your campus network and the Sprint PCS network |
The "cliff notes" version of this is basically that
you have one phone. Inside your office building it operates as a plain
cordless phone using the Private Voice Network installed by Sprint. This
will be unlimited usage and WILL NOT use any of your precious cell plan
minutes. As you travel away from your office, the phone will use the PCS
network. One phone number for business and cell phone. You no longer
will need to give people one number for your office and a second number for your
cell phone. The phone will seamless switch if you're using it as you enter
or exit your building. No more corded desk phones!
The best session today was the "Voice Services for Today
& Tomorrow". We saw the first ever working demo of the upcoming
Push-to-Talk or Walkie-Talkie. The rep simply selected the coworker to
talk to and pressed the button on the side of the phone. She was
immediately connected to a co-worker in Kansas City. They are estimating
this to be available 1st quarter of 2004. They will initially release two
phones with the capability. One will be a rugged phone for the industrial
environment and a clam-shell device for consumers & businesses based on the
Sanyo 8100. Neither phone will have a built-in camera. Key features
are:
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Provides quick access to co-workers |
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Cost effective, productive communication |
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Get in, get out |
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Two-way radio style conversation |
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Nation-wide calling |
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One-to-one and one-to-many group calls |
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Expanded handset directories keep personal and corporate
"buddy lists" separate |
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Web directory management tools |
They also spoke about international roaming. This has been
available for awhile but not well known. There are 3 options available:
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CDMA roaming in Canada and Mexico |
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Can rent or buy GMS phones for European roaming - Sprint
will set everything up and mail you the phone. Your roaming charges
will appear on your regular Sprint invoice. |
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Japan roaming |
Sprint has a dedicated international roaming support group and
phone number. Unfortunately the presenter didn't have the number.
Sprint is also working on a dual CDMA/GSM chipset with Qualcom.
The afternoon ended with a reception sponsored by Microsoft but
we couldn't find one Microsoft employee. The evening was finished with an
elegant dinner of steak and chicken followed by an unbelievable, exciting show: Neil
Goldberg’s Cirque. This was one of the most unbelievable shows I've
ever seen. This show will be at the Dallas Summer Musicals. DO NOT
MISS THIS SHOW if you are in Dallas! You will see people do things that
are impossible! Tickets are available at the Dallas
Summer Musicals site. You can thank me later (by buying something).
From the HP booth: HP is working with Sprint on a deal to
create an iPAQ with CDMA technology. This would be release sometime in
2004. The 2 HP reps were stunned to see that Amazon.com is taking orders
for the iPAQ H5555 with an expected ship date of 6/30/03. They said the
product hasn't even been announced yet and not due out for a couple of months.
Well as Porky Pig says, "Well, that's all
folks!" I'm looking forward to next year's forum already.
Monday, June 2
The opening keynotes were very interesting. The focus was very much on the
speeds of data service and how the CDMA 1xRTT (PCS Vision) network is really the
platform of choice. They mentioned another company in Australia who also
choose the CDMA 1xRTTa network.
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The speakers included Gary Forsee (CEO of Sprint, Corp) and Len Lauer (President
of the PCS Division) who were very interesting. They basically talked
about everything related to wireless (voice, data, convergence,
etc.) The new Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC Phone Edition was officially
announced. |
Gary Forsee |
Len Lauer |
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They keynote ended with prizes and the top prize, a new Hitachi G1000, went
to our Content partner Greg Smith of 3gwiz.com.
Photo courtesy of Greg Smith, 3gwiz.com
They also gave away sever PCS Connection Cards and current model
PCS Vision phones.
The Hitachi G1000 is larger than the existing Toshiba
2032. Below is the G1000 next to the Samsung I330.
Photo courtesy of Greg Smith, 3gwiz.com
Click
here to pre-order the new Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC!
They also announce the new Sony Ericsson T608 (show below to the
left of the Samsung I330).
Photo courtesy of Greg Smith, 3gwiz.com
The other product announcement is the new Handspring Treo
600. It doesn't have the flip cover as the current Treo series. BUT,
Handspring wouldn't let us take a picture of it! It's one heck of a device
though.
Great lunch after the notes. One thing I can say is,
Sprint feeds you well, all day long!
Well here's the Good News and Bad News.
Good News
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The new Hitachi G1000 was announced. Great 64k color TFT screen, SD
slot, but only 32MB of Ram. No release date was mentioned.
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The Sony Ericsson T608 was announced.
The only thing missing from this phone is an integrated camera, but there is
a small camera attachment that will be available as well. The phone is
expected later this month.
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The Treo T600 was announced. Great 64k color TFT screen and has a
SDIO slot!. Suppose to be released 4th quarter. |
Bad News
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This one personally broke my heart being an avis Pocket PC users.
The Samsung I700 Pocket PC Phone Edition has been pushed back to 4th quarter
of 2003. Sprint decided they wanted to wait for the new Pocket PC 2003
OS to be released. The demo unit at the Samsung booth appears to be a
very nice device. The Samsung folks were nice, but they obviously
upset about Sprint's decision. |
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The Vision Trailer - Very disappointing. It was basically a SprintPCS
store on wheels. And while that in and of itself isn't bad, all the new
stuff was inside (in the air conditioning). The folks out there were very
nice, but nothing new to be seen. |
Photo courtesy of Larry Melamed, Sprint PCS
Rocks.com
More to come Tuesday night.
Sunday, June 1
Well the 2003 Sprint Business User Forum in Dallas, Texas
got off with a bang tonight. Happy Hours everywhere. Great food,
great entertainment, and rumors galore!
Upon check in I received my "welcome package" which was full of
goodies and had a brochures on the Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC Phone and Sony
Erickson T608 (first Sprint PCS phone with Bluetooth). The Vision trailer
was parked out front full of new products to show off during the forum. It
had a huge picture of the G1000.
We I have yet to see anything about the much anticipated i500 and i700, but I
will keep you updated. There are several workshops scheduled where
Microsoft, Hitachi, HP (gosh I hope they come out with an iPAQ with CDMA
technology), QUALCOMM, Airprime and Handspring .
Samsung guys are here so I'll definitely hit them up on info on the I500 &
I700.
More to come Monday night! Stay tuned and come back!
Click
here to pre-order the new Hitachi G1000 Pocket PC!
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