Wild about wireless (Sean Maloney, general manager of chipmaker Intel's Communications Group):
To me, the fascinating question is: What are the unexpected consequences of widespread Wi-Fi? What unusual, unexpected thing is going to happen? It's a fascinating time.
Have you seen the movie "Minority Report"?
Sure.
Is it going to be like the scene in that movie where the main character is shown walking in a shopping mall and advertisements change as he walks by or call out to him by name?
Hyundai in Korea is doing something similar. Right now, if you go to any of the big U.S. stores, they have your shopping history already, but it's at the terminal...and it's often only accessible through some clumsy interface. What Hyundai has done in its stores is to give all the store assistants PDAs (personal digital assistants). So when you come in the door, the guy says, "Good morning. What's your phone number?" and you give your number, he says, "Oh. Hi, John. You bought so-and-so here last week."
The PDA will automatically suggest what you want to buy today. So, by giving all the assistants PDAs, all the assistants become personal shoppers. You don't have to check out, because he's got your credit card detail there, so he just ticks off that you've got it, and you walk out the door. The experience for you is smoother, and the store has the opportunity to get you to buy more stuff.
