Wi-Fi Pioneer Predicts the Future of Wireless Technology
What Greg Raleigh believes will be the future of connectivity.
— -- The scientist who innovated wireless technology that removed wires from offices and made our smartphones capable of sending and receiving high definition images is now turning his sights to how consumers buy mobile service.
Greg Raleigh, one of the pioneers of the wireless industry, said he expects being able to pay for a mobile data plan a la carte will be a leading trend in 2015 and beyond.
"We recognize the big impediment for people is the way they buy their service. People like going to the mobile store about as much as they like going to the dentist," Raleigh told ABC News.
Raleigh's latest venture, ItsOn, offers technology that can be partnered with a large wireless carrier, allowing users to purchase exactly what they need at a granular level.
"We buy everything on this device today -- books, socks, music, why can't we buy our service on the device?" Raleigh said of the technology, which has been picked up by Sprint in the United States. ItsOn is available right now on Virgin Mobile USA.
Need for Speed
Expect to see 4G LTE -- the service that makes mobile Internet painless -- continue to expand.
Raleigh said he expects over 50 percent of markets will have the faster service by the end of 2015, but it gets better.
"Over the next two years, you're going to see LTE everywhere," he said.
The Next Billion
Consumer choice isn't just for users who have their smartphones glued to their hands. Raleigh said he expects the ability to buy at a granular level will be "the on-ramp to the Internet that is going to connect the next billion users."
"You can offer some Yahoo or WhatsApp or Facebook for free as part of having a voice and text plan and then the user gets to start experimenting with the mobile Internet," Raleigh said. "They can continue buy a la carte."
He said it would cost "pennies a day" to simply add email to a plan in many emerging markets.
Solution for a Data-Hungry Society
Mobile data traffic is huge in the United States and other developed markets. With the increased strain on the spectrum, Raleigh said he expects more carriers will begin using small cells.
"The next step for adding more capacity is making cells smaller and smaller so you offer more spectrum, offering faster feeds and speeds," Raleigh said.