Disruptive Aspects of Wireless Technology
Edgardo Berrios, Ravee Boonbutra, Rafael Borja, Ozgur Koc, Jim Lill, Michael Magee, Sevket Numanoglu · PDXScholar (Portland State University) · 2000
Executive Summary: Wireless technology has already made an impact business and society. Cellular telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and the wireless Internet have already altered consumer behavior, and have forced service providers and manufacturers 10 demand further innovations. The degree of disruption suffered by business and society will depend on the degree to which wireless technology penetrates existing markets and creates new ones. Hardware manufacturers, software developers, service providers, government regulators, consumers and investors wi ll each have to consider the effects of wireless technology as they plan for the future. Corporations face difficult decisions in allocating resources planning R&D to survive the "fuzzy fron t-end." One useful tool in to assess the disruption to be caused by the emergence of the wireless economy is to consider the possible convergence of technologies that can occur. This report will describe three broadly defined scenarios characterized by Slight, Moderate or Severe Disruption, describe the convergence of technologies to be expected in each case, and describe how various sectors of the economy will be disrupted. We wi ll also make some general observations concerning those economic factors that will have particular influence on the development of wireless technology.