What Were We Thinking?

摘要

Winter is a sure sign that It's time for us to look back on the past 12 months, assess what happened, and make plans for the coming year. In keeping with this retrospective mood, remember those industry concepts that sounded good at the time, but now fall into the what-were-we-thinking category? My November-column looked at some wacky wireless notions , such as the idea that it's desirable to surf the Web using a WAP phone. To do this, one must first navigate to a search engine, then flip through various result pages before finally reaching a destination site. The wireless industry has now replaced the "wireless Web" hype with another hallmark idea that has quickly lost its charm: A consumer walking by a Coke machine receives a cell phone message that offers her a special deal on drinks dispensed by that machine. She presses a key on the phone and grabs a soda can from the vending machine.