Thanks to everyone who came out on Tuesday. We had about 50 people. With turnouts like this, we'll soon take over all of Vic's.
Special thanks goes to Brian Coughlin who spoke to us about the future of carrier-grade wireless networks. Brian is Senior Technology Strategist and Project Manager for 4G/WiMax Device Software Platforms at Sprint and if Brian is any indication of the talent Sprint is acquiring, then the other carriers should be worried.
Brian let us all know about Sprint's future business model which, to me, is pretty incredble. Specifically, along with Sprint's WiMax initiative (4G), Sprint intends to open up its network to developers and content providers as well as becoming device agnostic and allowing any WiMax device on their network.
Brian's hypothetical was that someone could walk into their favorite consumer electronics store, purchase a WiMax device, log onto the Internet, create an accoun and be done.
I congratulate Sprint on moving to an open platform, allowing the consumer to choose their device. The fact that Sprint is confident enough to compete on service quality, rather than device subsidies and long customer contracts goes to show that in the near future our wireless lives should be upgraded.
Thanks Brian for the great presentation and question and answer session. Next week, our presentation will be on marketing for early startups by Errol Forkner.
For those of you who want a "blow by blow" detailed accounting of Brian's thoughts, see Ari Newman's blog.
Posted in: General
I just wanted to thank Jason for the opportunity to speak @ BOCC.
While Sprint policies compel me to state that I wasn't speaking in any official capacity on behalf of Sprint, I do see this kind of dialog and outreach as emblematic of the much broader open ecosystem envisioned for Sprint's 4G WiMAX service.
See everyone at future BOCC's :)