Look Ma, No Wireless

802.11 chips are available for about $10 in quantity. The big carriers are starting to figure out that cheap silicon + free spectrum is the future. Loose, incomplete networks of 802.11 devices will probably crush tightly managed, expensive 3G Networks. Intel is spending hundreds of millions of dollars marketing notebook chipsets with tight 802.11 integration. And VCs have showered the sector with loads of money.

So you'd expect that 802.11-enabled consumer devices would be pouring out by now. Digital Cameras. PDAs. Laser Printers. MP3 Players. Good luck trying to find a few. They're either vapor-ware, super-expensive, or use Bluetooth instead. The problem with Bluetooth is that it's too slow and on its way out. I have yet to see many applications of Bluetooth where good old 900MHz analog RF wouldn't have done just as well.

Why the holdup? My guess is that CE makers are waiting for low power, auto-discovery and configuration, and 802.11 standardization. Now that combined a/b/g chips are shipping from Atheros (an August Capital portfolio company), the first issue is solved. Auto-discovery can be addressed by Rendezvous and Zeroconf. Smart 802.11 vendors are working on power-efficient chips right now. Even so, some CE vendors need to accelerate this process and realize that wireless is the wire of the future.