The market researcher believes that number will swell to 9.5 million home networks by the end of 2003. With that sort of potential on the near horizon, small wonder that wireless home networks have intrigued some big technology players. Motorola Inc. Some of the applications are obvious. People with two or more computers, even if one of them is a portable or hand-held machine, could lug a laptop into the back yard to link to the Internet while catching a few rays. Intel, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant, has begun to offer some products for wireless home networks.
Simplicity is the key.
The customer has to pull it out of the box, and maybe with just some simple input of numbers, it can start working. Other analysts agree, pointing out that perhaps millions of U.S. consumers still have problems programming their VCRs. And it would have to be absolutely transparent. Say a person is using a computerized device to listen to a song transmitted from the Internet. That gadget, which could be part of a home entertainment center, should also be able to communicate with the Net and download a play list from the rest of the album that contains the original song.