> Where Cellnet missed it, Orange got much closer to the actual capability: the future is wire-free. Why is your phone tied to the wall of a particular room with a piece of wire? Cellnet was guessing about applications while Orange talked about the breakthrough.
This part caused problems for me. For one, Cellnet survived. So we have evidence that whatever they did wasn't the wrong choice. Second, a sales pitch or value proposition is not a technology prediction, it's an attempt to get money in trade for a product. It's not just right to talk about specific applications, but fairly important to demonstrate the practical utility to a buyer. This has been studied widely and is falsifiable. Plus, anecdotally, I've never bought something because a sales guy said "but it's a breakthrough!", I pay for things when I see clear value to me.
This part caused problems for me. For one, Cellnet survived. So we have evidence that whatever they did wasn't the wrong choice. Second, a sales pitch or value proposition is not a technology prediction, it's an attempt to get money in trade for a product. It's not just right to talk about specific applications, but fairly important to demonstrate the practical utility to a buyer. This has been studied widely and is falsifiable. Plus, anecdotally, I've never bought something because a sales guy said "but it's a breakthrough!", I pay for things when I see clear value to me.