Motorola CEO: Don't worry about data - milk voice

A view from across the Atlantic...

Motorola CEO Chris Galvin told wireless executives gathering in New Orleans yesterday that the industry should "get back to basics" by improving their chief product - voice calls - instead of developing new data-centric features like multiple-player games. "Just because we can do something doesn't mean we have to do it," Galvin told an audience of thousands of wireless executives during his keynote address at the CTIA Wireless 2003 spring convention. Galvin's comments run counter to what other CEOs had to say in their keynotes. Instead of stressing the voice call, most wireless companies are using the show to introduce even more complex data services such as behind-the-firewall access for mobile workers, or the ability to tap into wireless 'hot spots' for high-speed web connections. Galvin said such ventures are fine but not while US networks still need to be worked on to improve the quality of a call and to expand networks' geographic reach. If infrastructure isn't improved, Galvin said, the industry could seriously delay the day when more phone calls are made by mobile phones than landline phones, something he predicted would happen. Already, 5 per cent of U.S. adults use mobiles exclusively, eschewing landline phones and services, and more than half of all US citizens now own a mobile phone. But not being able to rely on a phone because a network is shoddy will turn back the expected tide of new users, Galvin said. "We really have to look at the relevant problems that consumers want solved," and more reliable voice calling is highest among their concerns, Galvin said. "We're going back to an era where we have to build real solutions." Galvin is touching on what is a divisive point for the wireless industry. Carriers make nearly all their money from voice calls, yet they're each spending billions on building new telephone networks capable of high-speed web access. To earn back their construction dollars, every major carrier is developing and selling downloadable applications and emails. Wireless carriers, which believe such services will help dig them out of two years of slowing growth, are now selling hundreds of different applications for entertainment or for getting behind corporate firewalls. It seems Galvin and Motorola may be fighting a losing battle, for now. Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila said during his keynote that "it's all about people creating their own content". Ollila was showing off one of his company's latest wares, the N-Gage, a combination mobile phone and game console that also includes an MP3 player and an FM radio. Though the N-Gage is part phone, Ollila never mentioned that during his 20 minutes on stage. LG Electronics chairman John Koo was on Ollila's side. Koo told convention attendees: "People want the bells and whistles." LG plans to introduce a phone in the US this year that can remotely tap into a home's network to turn on a washer or dryer or to check the view from a security camera, he said. "We've sold some of these phones in Asia, and we will be seeing lots of them in the United States," Koo said. Ben Charny writes for CNET News.com.