Mobile data technology is evolving. From sending a few bytes at a time as SMS, to WAP which promised mobile internet then disapointed when it failed to deliver as the hype promised we have moved on, GSM data connectivity (HSCSD for example) is ubiqutous in the UK and much of the rest of the world. GPRS is common and EDGE is being touted as an alternative or fill in during the roll out of 3G. Mean while Wifi 802.11a,b,g etc. wirelss networking is becomming common place with hotspots springing up across the UK.
This article looks to the future, the near future, when the mobile phone data technologies, HSCSD,EDGE,GPRS and 3G / WCDMA and WiFi (802.11) converge into what form a user view point will be one data pipe. The so called GSM.11 wireless data scenario
Smartphones which support GSM and 802.11b are now the market in the EU. Look out for the sucessor to the SonyEricsson p910, the p990 and the majority of smart phones from Nokia.
Machine to Machine (M2M) wireless data is a graowing market. The emergence of power efficient low cost GSM, edge and 3G modem modules has provided new options for embedded systems desiners to add communictions to devices as diverse as soft drinks machines and parking meters. The wireless data modems enable services such as credit card validation, remote stock control, usage monitoring and remote software upgrades.