Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Verizon Wireless reaffirmed its intentions to perform push-to-talk (PTT) trials late 2003. Nextel meanwhile is on track to have its Direct Connect service countrywide this year. Now there is an European first: Radiolinja will use fastmobile's fastchat to combine PTT with IM and MMS.

It remains to be seen if PTT will be succesful in Europe. It will not entice existing users because they would exchange the instantaneousness for loosing two-way functionality. Still, each new revenue stream must be cherished, as the sector is threatened form diverse angles (saturation, e-mail, technological issues, questionable demand for data services, possible entry of Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 4G, BFW etc.)