Bruno Giussani has his own website, giussani.com, on which he promotes his book as "the first hype-free roadmap for the wireless future".
On reading it, one cannot but agree, although it’s not a difficult statement to live up to — the hype around the wireless Internet has bordered on the hysterical.
The travel motif is central to the book, which is loosely structured on the definition of the word roam: "to travel purposefully unhindered through a wide area" (Webster’s Dictionary).
But this work is a lot more specific than a "ramble" through the wired Internet age. Giussani, a former New York Times columnist, has been called a "prophet of Internet trends" by Swiss weekly publication Cash.
The author certainly presents enough evidence and research to warrant the opinion as he digs into the societal and technological context around the sudden explosive growth of mobile technologies such as short messaging.
He writes in a language that laymen understand, such as the fascinating postmortem of WAP, which was literally hyped to death. The writing is sometimes wry — WAP means "Wait and Pay"; and there was a "WAPlash" after it over-promised and under-delivered.
Giussani includes anecdotal tales of the industry and interviews with major players such as Takeshi Natsuno, director at Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and one of the founders of i-mode, the massively successful cellphone and data service.
Central to his writing is a close examination of the definition of the wireless Internet, with attempts to underpin the business opportunities it offers and come to grips with the challenges it poses. He suggests that the wireless Internet will become something completely separate from the Internet while still being part of it.
Giussani sees the Internet as a vast network. People become part of the network, almost like nodes. Wireless is certain to change the way we do business, and he is not short of examples that show the impact that mobile phones, SMS and Bluetooth are having.
The social consequences are huge too, and there are examples of what people use the wireless Internet for, even snippets of the shortened new language used by kids who SMS each other.
He subscribes to the view famously espoused by the founder of mobile giant Orange, Hans Snook, that the cellphone will become "an intimate utility that allows people to create their own world and control it, a sort of remote control for life".
The book is crammed with facts and stats, flow charts and graphs, showing things like total cellphone penetration per country and the boom in short messaging (nothing short of phenomenal).
By chronicling the rise of wireless technology and its practical impact on society, Giussani already begins to answer his own question: "When will the promised life-changing and business-boosting wireless services finally materialise?"
Roam is a valuable excursion into the realm of mobile communication. It’s a little Eurocentric; a bit short on what it means for us in South Africa. There is a chart showing South Africa’s percentage penetration of cellphones in December 2000 (18.28 percent). We’re about a third of the way up the ladder, with Hong Kong at the top end, with 77.43 percent, and India at the bottom, with 0.3 percent.
There is no "end goal" for the wireless Internet, but the book is a fascinating way to start the journey.
(Copyright Leadership Magazine 2002)
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