Dear friends of Wireless Messaging and Paging,

Please consider writing something for the newsletter during the coming year. Anything of interest to our wireless messaging community would be appreciated. Following are some suggested topics:

• How wireless messaging has helped someone
• New messaging products
• New messaging services
• New telemetry products/applications
• Innovative marketing ideas
• Recollections on the early days of paging
• Biographical information on industry pioneers
• Technical whitepapers
• Industry meetings and conventions
• Industry statistics

There are two main topics in this week's newsletter. One is the FCC's recent order to promote migration to narrowband (12.5 kHz) technology in the private land mobile radio (PLMR) services (called Refarming) and their decision to exempt Part 90 paging-only frequencies from the narrowbanding requirements (part 22 paging was already exempt). The other one is an index of topics that have been covered in all the 2004 newsletters—2004 IN REVIEW.

FCC Order
In an order released 12/23/04 and styled as a "Third Memorandum Opinion and Order, Third Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order" the FCC accepted the petition of AAPC and other paging industry representatives and declared that Part 90 paging frequencies should be exempt from mandatory migration to 12.5 kHz.  This decision is contained in a 71-page order.The order is good news indeed for the paging industry and culminates a successful campaign by AAPC and other paging industry representatives to retain current bandwidth authorizations for Part 90 paging frequencies.  More information will be circulated about the order after the first of the year.
Source: AAPC

A clip of the part of the order dealing with Paging and a link to the complete order appear below, about half-way through the newsletter.

And now on to this year's last wireless newsletter.

Promoting Wireless Messaging, Telemetry, and Paging.

A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon Eastern US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account.

There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major paging and wireless data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers, so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.

I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the paging, and wireless data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my website.

NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.)

Our hearts reach out to those hurt by the Indian Ocean tsunamis.

Help survivors and their families by making monetary donations to these organizations:

• American Red Cross International Response Fund
• AmeriCares South Asia Earthquake Relief Fund
• CARE USA Asia Quake Disaster
• Direct Relief International International Assistance Fund
• Médecins Sans Frontières International Tsunami Emergency Appeal
• Oxfam Asian Earthquake & Tsunami Fund
• Sarvodaya Relief Fund for Tsunami Tragedy
• Save the Children Asia Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund
• SEVA South Asia Emergency Fund
• UNICEF South Asia Tsunami Relief Efforts
• World Food Programme Tsunami Disaster Appeal

The attack known as "Skulls" affected text messages and contact lists. It is one of five malicious software programs attacking cell phones this year.

Early this month, several Web sites began offering software promising ring tones and screen savers for certain cell phones. But those who downloaded the software found that it turned every icon on their cell phones' screens into a skull-and-crossbones and disabled their phones, so they could no longer send or receive text messages or access contact lists or calendars.

Security experts named the malicious software "Skulls" and consider it an early warning of the damage hackers could do as they turn their malevolent talents to cell phones from computers.

"Hackers are simply trying to put it out there that it can be done," said Vincent Weafer, senior director of security response for Symantec Corp., a security software firm. "The motivation is to say (cell phones) aren't as secure as you think."

Mobile phones are a tempting target because they've become a part of everyday life. In addition, consumers are buying more sophisticated "smart phones" with Internet connections that provide an easier pathway for cell phone infections. Few phones come equipped with protection against malicious software, though some companies are starting to install it. Most cell phone users aren't on guard for attacks like those that periodically bring down computers worldwide, and at this point there is little they can do to protect themselves.

"The impact is potentially larger on the phone because we're not savvy about that," said Victor Kouznetsov, senior vice president of mobile solutions at McAfee Inc., a security software firm. "Also, the profile of a mobile society is a cross-section of society who are potentially less (technically) savvy than computer users."

Skulls is one of five malicious software programs attacking cell phones this year, security experts and analysts said. The scale of such attacks is hard to quantify because the federally funded CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University, which monitors viruses and other malicious software on the Internet, doesn't separately tally reports of such problems with cell phones.

But there are anecdotal reports. For instance, in Japan, cell phones have frequently been "spammed" with junk messages, some of which redirect phones to Web sites that cause the phones to crash.

Most basic phones can send and receive text messages, which makes them vulnerable to some attacks. And new ways of using cell phones encourage the spread of viruses. For instance, cell phones can transfer infections when users participate in a dating service that allows them to contact strangers in the same room via text messages or play online games.

The potential for trouble increases with smart phones. Like a computer, the newer phones can run e-mail programs and download PowerPoint slides, games and other applications that can come with malicious software attached. Such advanced phones make up 2 percent of cell phones domestically, according to the Yankee Group research firm, which predicts that share will increase to 17 percent by 2008.

Software that protects computers from viruses and other bad software has not been programmed for cell phones.

John Pescatore, an analyst with technology research firm Gartner, said malicious programs will be as much a problem for cell phones in 2006 as they are for computers today. "First it will be a nuisance," he said. "The next phase will be crime, like theft or theft of service, and then after that we'll start seeing different types of attacks" that bring down networks.

Now, computers are a bigger target. Cell phones use a number of operating systems, meaning that separate programs must be designed to disable each one. That makes it harder to design a mass attack. "It's never going to be as uniform a landscape for hackers," so it's unclear how broad an attack might be, Yankee Group analyst John Jackson said.

Still, concerns are growing with cell phone use. There are 170 million cell phones in use, compared with less than 116 million personal computers, according to the trade group CTIA-The Wireless Association and research firm IDC.

Experts have tried to anticipate how big a problem malicious software might be by simulating attacks on cell phones in software labs. They found that e-mail viruses can multiply by sending messages through a cell phone's address book. Viruses can allow unauthorized users into a phone to access passwords or corporate data stored on the device. And they can be used to manipulate the phone to make calls or send messages at the phone owner's expense.

"The nightmare scenario with cell phones is a virus that would delete the contents of your phone, or start calling (a toll number) on its own from the phone or recording every single one of your conversations and sending the recorded conversation somewhere," said Mikko Hypponen, director of anti-virus research at F-Secure Corp., a Finnish security firm.

In June, a gang in Europe that calls itself "29A" released a virus called Cabir. It spread through Bluetooth, a feature on some phones normally used to synchronize phones and computers. It sends wireless signals up to 30 feet, so calendar and contact information can be updated without hooking devices together with a wire. But Cabir hijacked that function, sending Bluetooth phones on a search-and-destroy mission to infect other Bluetooth phones, spreading the virus.

The resulting virus called attention to itself through a text message that said "Caribe—VZ/29a." It also drained cell batteries and killed the phone's Bluetooth feature. Members of 29A did not respond when contacted through e-mail addresses posted on their Web site.

Once a virus gets out, it's hard to contain. Cabir was sent to the labs of anti-virus companies but continued to spread. F-Secure said Cabir last month spread mysteriously from those companies' labs to phones in Singapore. Cases have since been reported in the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and last week in Beijing. There are no known cases in the United States, according to security experts.

Companies are beginning to respond. Nokia Oyj plans to introduce two phones in coming months with built-in anti-virus software. "As an industry, it's our responsibility to react very quickly," said Laurie Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the Finnish cell phone maker.

DoCoMo, Japan's main cell phone carrier, launched a McAfee program that can send software over the cell phone network to combat problems with malicious software on its phones.

Dozens of smaller companies are also jumping into the mix. Companies such as Trust Digital of suburban Washington and Baltimore-based Bluefire Security Technologies Inc., which is backed by Motorola Inc., are designing software to help companies protect their wireless phones from hackers. Last year, Texas Instruments Inc. started using security technology made by Belcamp, Md.-based SafeNet Inc. in the chips implanted in Nokia cell phones.

"The industry recognizes that today we're in a sheltered environment," said Mark Desautels, vice president for wireless Internet development at CTIA, "but that's not where we're going to stay."

Source: The Washington Post via The Detroit News

2004 IN REVIEW

HIGHLIGHTS OF WIRELESS MESSAGING, PAGING, AND TELEMETRY NEWS

System Operation
Payment Guardian™ is the only patented, low-cost system that truly saves your company’s time, money and manpower! This technologically advanced -wireless payment-assurance system is easy to operate from virtually anywhere in the world using the online System Control Center.

Payment Guardian requires absolutely no customer interaction and integrated seamlessly into the vehicles electrical system and is not visible to the customer, decreasing the possibility of tampering.

Unlike other similar products on the market, Payment Guardian™ requires no keypads or input devices, eliminating the hassle of having to generate codes and giving those codes to the customer each and every payment cycle. With Payment Guardian?, lenders no longer have to rely on customers to enter codes into a keypad correctly.

With Payment Guardian, only non paying customers require use of the system. Once the system has been activated in the customer’s vehicle—each time the ignition is turned to the OFF position, Payment Guardian reminds the customer that payment has not yet been received or insurance is not current and provides them with specific instructions to contact the leinholder immediately. If the reminder is ignored, you can simply activate Payment Guardian’s Starter Interrupt feature allowing no one to start the vehicle until the system is reset.

Payment Guardian’s system control center has been designed to meet the different need of individual lenders and dealers that want a total customized solution to manage their systems, providing you with 3 different ways to use the systems features. This enables you to instantly activate system features, schedule activations to occur at a preset time or completely automate the systems features, allow you to just manage your systems with just a click of the mouse.

System Features

Audible Voice Reminder
Payment Guardian is designed to meet most states right to cure laws. Each time the ignition is turned to the OFF position, Payment Guardian reminds the customer that payment has not yet been received or insurance is not current and provides them with specific instructions to contact the leinholder immediately. As an option, we can also provide you with a customized message, in any language or gender, to fit your specific needs.

Starter Interrupt
If the customer ignores the voice warning and chooses not to respond, you can simply activate Payment Guardian’s Starter Interrupt feature allowing no one to start the vehicle until the system is reset.

Emergency Override
Payment Guardian’s override feature enables the customer to start the vehicle for an additional 2 days in cases of emergency, eliminating potential liability.

Vehicle Finder
Payment Guardian can also be interfaced into the vehicle’s horn, allowing the customer or repossession agent to easily locate the vehicle if needed. This feature also may aid local police in the recovery of the vehicle if stolen. Once this feature has been triggered, the horn will sound for 30 minutes, or until turned off.

Door Unlock
Payment Guardian gives you the optional ability to connect the system to vehicles with power door locks which enables you to remotely unlock the doors if ever needed. This provides a tremendous advantage in the event of customers locking themselves out of the vehicle as well as aiding in repossession.

For more information, please contact Brad Dye.

Save $$$$$$$

Satellite Uplinking Service

• Reduce your monthly Satellite expense!
• Lower than average industry costs
• Increase your system reliability
• Completely redundant hardware
• Access to knowledgeable technical staff 24/7

Technical Support
Glenayre Transmitters & Terminals

• Paging terminal upgrades, relocations, troubleshooting, emergency repair & training
• Transmitter installation & maintenance
• Experienced former Glenayre Technicians and Engineers
• Satisfaction Guaranteed

Call or write today to learn more
Alan Carle
Director of Engineering
888-854-2697 x272
acarle@ucom.com

SECOND TERM SUPPORTER

Newsletter repair prices—starting at:

• $4.50 labor for numeric or alphanumeric pagers
• $6.50 labor for 2-way pagers
• $9.50 labor for cellular phones

**Special pricing on cellular and pager refurbishment**

Motorola Authorized Service Center for Paging and Cellular.

Ask for Special Newsletter Pricing.

Please call: (800) 222-6075 ext. 306 for pricing.

CONTACT
E-mail:	info@minilec.com  CLICK HERE
	Minilec Service, Inc. 9207 Deering Ave., Suite A Chatsworth, CA 91311

www.daviscommsusa.com

• Contract Design, Engineering, & Manufacturing
• Telemetry Devices
• Bravo Pagers—Numeric/Alphanumeric

ISO9001-2000 Certified Facility Low Cost-High Volume solutions Maximize Time-To-Market Objectives Minimize procurement materials management	FLEX-POCSAG-ReFLEX Receiver Boards-FLEX-POCSAG Integrate our RF Technologies into your product
Bravo 800 Front Display Alphanumeric Pager	Bravo 500 Front Display Numeric Pager
BR802 Front Display Alphanumeric Pager
BR502 Top Display Numeric Pager	BR501 Plus Top Display Numeric Pager

Daviscomms—Product Examples

For information about our Contract Manufacturing services or our Pager or Telemetry line, please call Bob Popow at 480-515-2344, bob@daviscommsusa.com or visit our website www.daviscommsusa.com

Prism Message Gateway Systems
Modular and Configurable

Your Choice of Options

• Radio Paging Terminals
• Voicemail Systems
• Email and Network Text Messaging Systems
• Digital Trunk Switching Systems
• Digital Trunk and Voicemail Concentrators
• Remote Network Encoders
• TNPP Network Routers

Popular Choice for Domestic and International

• Commercial Paging Carriers
• Private Paging Systems
• Hospitals
• Public Safety
• Federal, State and Local Government
• Industrial Paging
• Energy Companies – Load Management

Logical Choice

• Replace Outdated, UNLICENSED Paging Terminals
• Eliminate Outrageously High Support Costs
• Add New Paging System with ALL THE FEATURES
• Provide Your Customers With Features They Want
• Designed and Supported by Industry Experts

Go ahead . . . be choosy . . . choose Prism Systems International

CONTACT

Prism Systems International, Inc. 300 Colonial Center Parkway, Suite 100 Roswell, Georgia 30076 USA

Telephone: 678-353-3366

Internet: www.prismpaging.com CLICK HERE

E-mail: info@prismpaging.com CLICK HERE

SECOND TERM SUPPORTER

Specially designed course for sales, marketing, and administration personnel. Engineers will only be admitted with a note signed by their mothers, promising that they will just listen and not disrupt the class. (This is supposed to be funny!)

This is a one-day training course on paging that can be conducted at your place of business. Please take a look at the course outline to see if you think this might be beneficial in your employees: Paging training course outline. I would be happy to customize the content to meet your specific requirements.

Although it touches on several "technical" topics, it is definitely not a technical course. I used to teach the sales and marketing people at Motorola Paging and they appreciated an atmosphere where they could ask technical questions without being made to feel like a dummy and without getting a long convoluted overly-technical answer that left them more confused than before. A good learning environment is one that is non-threatening.

Let me know if you would like to receive a quotation, or if you would like to have any additional information.

Download Mr. Mercer's resumé. CLICK HERE

Signal Pro Test Equipment For Sale

This equipment is used for monitoring, optimizing, and capturing paging data which includes full messages, capcodes, times, frame information, and other technical data.

Intelligent Paging & Mobile Data Products

Selective is a developer and manufacturer of highly innovative paging receiver/decoders and mobile data equipment including the PDT2000 Paging Data Terminal, THE MOST INTELLIGENT PAGING RECEIVER IN THE MARKET.  The PDT2000 is a large display pager designed for desktop or in-vehicle mounting and is widely used by emergency services and in onsite paging systems for forklift dispatch etc. All of the following capabilities are standard features of the PDT2000 and of our other paging data receivers:

• FLEX or POCSAG decoding
• POCSAG encoding and transmitter control
• Parallel printer output
• Serial inputs & outputs
• Relay control (1-256 or more)
• PC interfacing and message management
• Message interception & logging
• Remote control
• Cross band repeating & paging coverage infill
• LED sign control
• Message printing etc.

Our mobile data equipment includes a range of intelligent Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) which may be interfaced to a variety of wireless networks including GPRS & CDMA cellular. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and GPS solutions, Dispatch & Messaging software. We offer mobile communications dealers and systems integrators a “fast to market” job dispatch and job management capability with the inbuilt job processing system which may be interfaced to a variety of CAD & JMS platforms.

Specialised local area paging systems, paging interception and message reprocessing software, field force automation and mobile dispatch solutions. We do custom product development and export worldwide.

CONTACT
Postal Address:	Selective Communications Group PO Box 8798 Symonds St. Auckland, New Zealand
Street Address:	3/2 Haultain St. Eden Tce Auckland, New Zealand
Web site:	www.selective.co.nz CLICK HERE
E-mail:	info@selective.co.nz CLICK HERE
Phone:	+64-9-3021142
Fax:	+64-9-3021148
THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

I am an authorized Manufacturer Representative for Selective Communications. Please contact me directly for any additional information. CLICK HERE

If you see someone in the field (like salespeople, technicians, and delivery people) using paper forms, their company could probably save a pile of money, and get much better timeliness, accuracy and efficiency, by using converting to Outr.Net's Wireless Forms. Custom applications for as little as $995, delivered in just a few days.Outr.Net has a web page on Wireless Forms for Timeports at: http://www.outr.net/overnight_pw.htm Their latest newsletter is: "Business Development in Mobile Data"

Please call me so we can discuss your need or your idea. Or contact me by e-mail for additional information. CLICK

Advertise Here

Your company's logo and product promotion can appear right here for 6 months. It only costs $500 for a full-size ad in 26 issues—that's $19.23 an issue. (6 month minimum run.)

Details about the various advertising plans can be read here.  CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Complete Technical Services For The
Communications and Electronics Industries
Design • Installation • Maintenance • Training

Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E.
Consulting Engineer
Registered Professional Engineer

The Electronic Entities Group

www.EEonTheWeb.com

Remember that old word “Residuals”?

The EE Group is actively seeking Dealers with sales/ service/installation capabilities to promote the latest wireless AVL, SCADA and data products from Telegauge Systems, Inc. This innovative program requires NO inventory and NO billing by your facility; you just sell it and sign up the end user to collect the commissions.

Now the real reason to choose the EE Group and Telegauge over the host of others; we pay you permanent residual income every month on your airtime sales forever.

Airtime commissions range up to 12% per month based on prior sales and you buy all equipment direct from the factory at 2-tiered wholesale prices as well for great margins. 

Telegauge builds fully 2-way overt and covert (hidden) GPS based Automatic Vehicle Location, SCADA, remote management, telemetry and data systems routed via cellular and satellite that are delivered to the end user via the Internet or direct to the desktop. Applications are both ‘canned’ and custom depending upon the customers needs. We even have full dispatch systems including credit card swipe and billing if needed.

Finally, the prices on the product are guaranteed to be the LOWEST in the industry at under $600 retail for the equipment and from $6 to $30 on the monthly airtime with most customers in the $15 range. Note too that the price is the same for cellular OR satellite world wide coverage and no one else has this exclusive capability.

Telegauge provides the product, software, airtime, billing and final information from a single source and you can be a BIG part of it. You stock NOTHING, just collect the checks.

We are paid by the manufacturer to support YOU and unlike other factories; we never bid against you, restrict you or take your deal. We help you with demo equipment, brochures, information, sales assistance, web advertising and user name/passwords for the website so that you don’t even need to buy anything to start up fast.

Contact us for a no-obligation CD of all the presentation and training material, price spreadsheets and information at: EEGroup@EEonTheWeb.com or for fast action call for a link to the Dealers Only page: 310-534-4456 and mention that you found out about it via Brad Dye’s Newsletter. You have nothing to lose and some great residual income to gain. Call or e-mail NOW.

SPACE AVAILABLE

WHY NOT

PUT YOUR

ADVERTISEMENT

HERE?

500 BUCKS

FOR 26 ISSUES

THAT'S ONLY

$19.23 PER ISSUE.

AAPC Mission Statement

To represent paging carriers throughout the United States to ensure the success of our industry by:

• Identifying issues of common concern to its members
• Providing an effective forum for the discussion and progression of issues relating to the industry
• Monitoring and addressing regulatory and legal matters as a unified organization
• Providing research into and development of our industry and its current and prospective markets
• Providing education and resources to address the challenges and trends affecting our operating environments
• Encouraging and maintaining high standards of ethics and services
• Championing the industry and representing paging carriers with a positive voice

Our industry must move forward together or we will perish individually.

AAPC links:

• Newsroom
• Paging Technical Committee
• Printed Newsletter archive
• Dues
• Membership application
• E-mail (more information)

Zetron Simulcast System

High-speed simulcast paging with protocols such as POCSAG and FLEX™ requires microsecond accuracy to synchronize the transmission of digital paging signals.

Zetron's Simulcast System uses GPS timing information to ensure that the broadcasted transmissions between the nodes of the Simulcast System and associated transmitters are synchronized to very tight tolerances.

This system is ideal for public or private paging system operators that use multiple transmitters and wish to create new paging systems or to build out existing systems into new regions. For more information about Zetron's High Speed Simulcast Paging System, the Model 600 and Model 620, go to:

www.zetron.com/paging. CLICK HERE

CONTACT

Zetron, Inc. P.O. Box 97004 Redmond, WA 98073-9704 USA

Tel: 425-820-6363

Fax: 425-820-7031

E-mail: zetron@zetron.com CLICK HERE

THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

www.gtesinc.com
Your Professional Services Partner

GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available.

New Product Development

New Hardware Platform
New Data Protocol Support
Small Campus Two-Way Systems
Location LSP
Hosted Two Way Support

Please call GTES Sales at 770-754-1666 for more information on the above.

Continued Support Programs

GTES Partner Program
Product Sales
On-Site Services
Software Development
Product Training

CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS

Wireless Communication Solutions

The Hark ISI-400LX is a hardware device that encapsulates serial data into TCP/IP for transmission over the Internet. It can also be configured to convert incoming TAP messages from the serial port and send them over the Internet to paging providers in email (SMTP) or Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) format. The ISI-400LX with the optional external modem can connect to a secondary dial-up ISP when a failure on the ethernet port is detected.

This device is the perfect companion for the Hark Gateway products. An ISI can be located at a remote location for receiving TAP, TNPP, or Billing traffic using a local ISP eliminating long distance phone charges.

System Features & Benefits:

• Hardware Based
• Uses Embedded Linux as the Multitasking OS
• Secure access for Configuration and Maintenance
• Converts Serial TAP message to SNPP or SMTP
• Converts Serial Data to TCP/IP and TCP/IP back to Serial
• Connects to Internet using 10Base-T Network
• Connects to Internet using Modem and PPP
• Dial Backup to another ISP or Modem
• Can be Configured to use 1 to 4 Serial Ports

CONTACT

Hark Systems, Inc. 2675 Lake Park Drive N. Charleston, SC 29406

Tel: +1 800-367-4275 or 843-764-1560 ext. 8104

Fax: +1 843-764-3692

E-mail: leanne@harksystems.com CLICK

Web: http://www.harksystems.com CLICK

THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

This is a clip from a very important recent FCC ruling. It is only one section of a 71-page document and does not include several important footnotes. This is the section on Paging. This and other sections in the order deal with changing the bandwidth limitations in certain types of radio communications from 25 kHz channel spacing to 12.5 kHz spacing. I strongly recommend that you read the whole document if it affects you or your business in any way. You can download the "pdf" file directly from the FCC web site by clicking here.

TOWERS FOR SALE
New, never installed, complete with hardware.
Please call or e-mail with questions.

MANUFACTURER	MFG. ID	LOCATION	TWR TYPE	Height	Wind (mph)	CARRIERS	SALE PRICE	ACCESSORIES
Central Tower	GT-942	Newburgh, IN	G	350	70	3	$17,500
Central Tower	GT-952	Newburgh, IN	G	380	70	4	$25,800
Commstructures	20155	Pensacola, FL	M	65/100	70	3	$6,800	Platform at 65'
Commstructures	20156	Pensacola, FL	M	80/100	70	3	$7,900	Platform at 80'
Commstructures	99054	Pensacola, FL	M	100	70	2	$6,600	Direct Imbed. Found.
EEI	7675	Belle Chase, LA	M-tree	160	110	4	$160,000
EEI	10560	Belle Chase, LA	M-tree	140/160	75	5	$97,500
Fibrebond	CRC0942	Minden, LA	G	375	70	4	$24,000	1 Set of Sector mnts.
FWT	21136000	El Paso, TX	M	65/80	75	4	$3,800	1 Top Platform
Summit	11858	Mercer, PA	M	100	85	3	$11,800	1 Top Platform
Summit	14263	Mercer, PA	M	75/95	90	5	$9,000	2 platforms, brown paint finish
Telestructures		Pensacola, FL	M-flag	160	70	4	$35,900
Valmont	14185-01	El Paso, TX	M-flag	65/75	80	2	$5,500	Antenna Canisters
TOO MUCH TO LIST • CALL OR E-MAIL
Rick McMichael 888-429-4171 rmcm@preferredwireless.com CLICK
THIRD TERM SUPPORTER

The Sunday Times Business Person of 2004

Steve Jobs swoops in as Mr iNcredible

His success with the Apple iPod and Pixar films has transformed two industries. Paul Durman reports.

IT is not often that a company boss gets to bathe in the success of a product that is a smash hit with consumers. It is rarer still for that product to be genuinely important, transforming not just the company that designed it but the face of an industry.

It is even more remarkable for one chief executive to enjoy this level of success, not at one company, but at two quite different businesses in the same year. And to accomplish all this while undergoing treatment for cancer—well, that’s just incredible.

Yet this is the story of 2004 for Mr Incredible himself—Steve Jobs, 49, chief executive of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs is the man behind Apple’s iPod music player and The Incredibles, Pixar’s latest computer-animated blockbuster. The iPod and The Incredibles have both done terrific business this Christmas, providing a barn-storming end to a phenomenal year.

Jobs’s power in the entertainment industry made him a key player in another of the biggest business stories of the year—the attempt to unseat Michael Eisner as chief executive of Walt Disney. Jobs’s decision last January to terminate discussions to renew Pixar’s distribution deal with Disney was the catalyst for Eisner’s bruising battle with his shareholders.

There were other strong contenders to be Sunday Times Business Person of the Year. Sergey Brin and Larry Page added a few zeros to their fortunes by floating Google. Roger de Haan made more than £1billion from the sale of Saga, the travel and insurance group. And Lakshmi Mittal created the world’s largest steelmaker with a three-way merger that formed Mittal Steel. And there is always Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of the all-conquering Tesco.

But none of their achievements had the consumer and cultural appeal of the iPod. In the end, there could be only one winner, and it had to be Jobs.

Despite his trademark jeans and black polo-neck top, Jobs remains an aloof figure, obsessively controlling his company’s interaction with the outside world. Jobs and his executives are reluctant to be drawn on any subject much beyond the wonderfulness of Apple’s products. Even in the e-mail that in August announced he had undergone surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, Jobs took the opportunity to point out he was writing on an Apple Powerbook computer.

With The Incredibles, Pixar has extended the unbroken run of success that stretches back over six movies, 16 Academy Awards and $2.5 billion to the original Toy Story. Pixar has shown Hollywood how to make great animated movies with wit and intelligent story lines. The Incredibles, the story of a family of retired superheroes, is forecast to take $600m in box office receipts, and many millions more in merchandising.

The Incredibles is an enormous hit. But it is dwarfed by the success of the iPod.

This was the year the iPod finally took off. The original version of the digital music player had been around since October 2001, and it had repeatedly won applause for its stylish design and ease of use. But until this year, the media acclaim had run far ahead of sales.

With the iPod’s status as a fashion icon assured, Jobs and Apple have continued to drive sales with constant promotion and fresh innovation. This has led to the 1,000-song mini iPod—even sleeker and more fashionable than its grown-up sibling, and just the right size for a girl’s handbag. More recently there has been the iPod photo, which besides music can store and display 25,000 pictures.

Sales have accelerated through the year, reaching 2m units and $537m in the third quarter. With many American and British teenagers putting an iPod at the top of their Christmas wish-lists, analysts are forecasting that sales in the Christmas quarter could double again to 4m units.

This growth is supported by, and is encouraging, a revolution in the music industry. Jobs was in London in June for the European launch of Apple’s iTunes online store, which has almost single-handedly created a market for the legal downloading of music over the internet.

Despite numerous attempts to replicate iTunes’ simple pricing, Apple claims it retains a 70% share of the market in legal downloads. Ten days ago the company announced that more than 200m songs had now been bought and downloaded from iTunes.

Combined, iPod and iTunes have transformed the profile of Apple’s business. After several years of flat sales, Apple’s turnover has doubled in 18 months—from about $6 billion to about $12 billion.

Source: TIMESONLINE

3G wireless licenses likely in 2006

Published: December 30, 2004, 2:17 PM PST
By Reuters

New U.S. wireless airwaves for advanced, or "third-generation", services like high-speed Internet will be auctioned off as early as June 2006, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday.

Some of the airwaves are used by federal government agencies but a new law signed by President George W. Bush last week would reimburse them for a move to other spectrum using the proceeds from the sale of the wireless licenses.

"The spectrum relocation fund mechanism that Congress has established will result in successful auctions, smooth relocation of important government operations and, most important, competitive high quality communications services being provided to American consumers," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell.

The bands to be auctioned include 1710-1755 Megahertz and 2110-2155 MHz. The agency said it would try to sell licenses for airwaves in the 1432-1435 MHz band in July or August 2006.

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration will be required to advise the FCC of estimated costs and timelines for relocation of the government operations at least six months before the auction.

Auction of those airwaves previously used by the government can only be completed if the proceeds equal 110 percent of the estimated relocation costs, according to the new law.

U.S. wireless companies, like Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, are typically hungry for additional airwaves to serve additional customers as well as offer new advanced services, which could one day include video on mobile phones.

The FCC plans to auction 242 wireless licenses starting Jan. 26, airwaves that cover cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Orlando as well as smaller areas including Albany, New York, and Columbia, Missouri.

Source: Reuters via c|net News.Com

Let's all do our part in helping the tsunami victims. This is the worst natural disaster that has occurred in our lifetime. They need our help. Instead of having an expensive bottle of wine to celebrate the new year, why not send an equivalent donation to the Red Cross so they can give a bottle of clean water to someone in South Asia?

Happy New Year—the best is yet to be.

With best regards,	Brad Dye WIRELESS DATA CONSULTANT 36°48.053N 076°19.069W		WIRELESS DATA
	Voice:
	Fax:
	E–mail:	brad@braddye.com
	Web:	Consulting page MAY I HELP YOU?
	Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk. Have a Safe and Sober New Year's eve. You could save someone's life tonight.
	Anyone wanting to help support The Wireless Messaging Newsletter can do so by clicking on the PayPal DONATE button to the left.