Sharing for Profit

摘要

For many, the phrase "peer-to-peer" conjures up images of teen-agers in dark rooms, flouting copyright laws as they download digital music files and zip cracked programs across the Internet. Yet the concept has more innocent manifestations, including instant messaging, Webcams and photo sharing. More than any new networking technology, peer-to-peer seems to produce confusing―and often conflicting―meanings. Whatever definition is assigned to peer-to-peer, the wireless in-dustry is focused on one particular meaning: revenue. For all the fancy applications in the wireless universe, the most popular, addictive, enduring and profitable have been peer-to-peer applications―specifically voice and short messaging services. Enter Apeera Networks, a 3-year-old Paris-based company that is trying to extend the popularity of those two services to the data backbone. With high-speed data networks coming online, carriers are looking for ways to generate traffic. And four years of wireless data flops has shown that people don't want to use their handsets to communicate with machines. So Apeera wants to find other ways for them to communicate with each other.