The inventor of the portable cell phone didn't carry one until they slimmed down to 100 grams. Then again, he's a rebel in almost every way. Marty Cooper literally comes down from the mountaintop for our interview, arriving ten minutes late and a little out of breath after skiing all day at Vail. He apologizes and pulls off a sweater before sitting down. In 1973, while at Motorola, he led the development of the first portable cellular phone.
Cooper is no stranger to tough territory, either.
His company, ArrayComm, is championing a radically different vision for the future of broadband wireless networks, a vision that flies in the face of the incremental progress being eked out by telephone companies worldwide. Rather than building on existing cellular networks, Cooper argues, wireless data networks of tomorrow need to have new technology to support them. It can then allocate bandwidth to carry those transmissions between two points, rather than broadcasting signals in every direction, as conventional networks do. The FCC has granted ArrayComm use of spectrum to conduct a market trial in San Diego later this year. The trial will make use of devices developed by both Sony and ArrayComm to deliver not only telephone service but also Web access.