Wireless, fast Web is near

If you read the press releases, it seems that many problems are just waiting for solutions from the big tech companies. Want high-speed,
wireless Web access? Mobile-phone maker Qualcomm says it’s on the way — in 2005.

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But some smaller, more nimble companies are using today’s science to come up with solutions that deliver on others’ promises.
Third-generation (3G) wireless technology is supposed to create a major boom in wireless Web services, at rates of up to 3 megabits per
second — twice as fast as current cellular data rates. Industry leaders say 3G services won’t be available in full until 2005 or later.
Danger Inc., a small start-up company in Palo Alto, Calif., founded by veterans of Apple Computer and WebTV, has found ways to use
existing wireless technology to create faster and easier Web access on a device slightly larger than a Palm Pilot.
The Danger "Hiptop" handles phone calls, e-mail and full-size Web pages, and will manage your personal information, such as
appointments and phone numbers. The company says the device will cost $200 when it goes on sale this spring; most "smart phones" cost
from $300 to $600.
The reason that Danger’s Hiptop is so powerful and cheap is simple: The device itself doesn’t do the computing. Instead, the heavy lifting
is done by Danger’s central computers, then transmitted to your Hiptop.
The system also means that your personal data is backed up on Danger’s servers.
Best of all, the Hiptop is fast. The device uses an existing digital wireless network called Global Packet Radio Service, or GPRS, that can
broadcast data up to 171 kilobits per second.
Now, GPRS may seem torpid compared with what 3G promises, but keep in mind that 171 kilobits is still three times as fast as a dial-up
modem on a personal computer. And for most simple uses, such as checking e-mail and searching Web sites, 3G speed is overkill.
Danger executives say they plan to sell the device directly http://www.danger.com and through some mobile-phone-service retail stores.
Monthly fees will run $30 to $60.

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