I’m getting ready for Mobility Field Day 8 later this week and there’s been a lot of effort making sure we’re ready to go. That means I’ve spent lots of time thinking about event planning instead of writing. So I wanted to share some quick thoughts with you ahead of this week as well as WLPC Europe next week.

• I remain convinced than half of the objections that are raised by oversight organizations when it comes to adopting new technology come from the fact they got caught flat-footed and weren’t ready for it to be popular. Whether it’s the Wi-Fi 6E safety issue or the report earlier this year from the FAA about 5G and airports it just seems like organizations spend less time doing actual investigation and more time writing press releases about how they are ready to figure it all out yet.
• I also remain cautiously optimistic that the new Apple devices rumored to be coming out later this year, namely the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro with M2 chips, will have Wi-Fi 6E support. Yes, the iPhone didn’t. It’s also a smaller device with less room to add new hardware. The iPad and MacBook have historically gotten new chips before the smaller mobile device does. If I’m wrong then I guess we’ll get to see if 6E is enough of a factor to get people to ditch their Apple device for a Google or Samsung one.
• As we rely more and more on software to expand the capabilities of our hardware I think we’re going to see more and more companies working toward the model of hardware-as-a-service. As in you lease the equipment from them for a monthly payment and, in return, you get to have a base level of features that can be expanded in higher “tiers” of service. Expect some more on this idea in the near future with the launch of solutions like Nile.

Tom’s Take

Make sure you tune in for Mobility Field Day 8 and don’t forget to tell us what you think! Maybe by next year we’ll have lots of Wi-Fi 7 content to discuss.