Digressions

Marilyn Hansson Montgomery

Marlilyn Hansson Montgomery passed away tonight, November 29th, 2007.  She was the Homecoming Queen of San Diego State University in the dawn of the 1960's.  She graduated with recognition in Who's Who in America.  She was president of Chi Omega.  She married my father - her sweetheart and SDSU alumni.  She was a teacher for over 30+ years in elementary education in Orange County, CA.  She won teacher of the year and was nominated for Walt Disney Teacher of the Year.  She was also my mother, my best friend, and my hero.

I will be suspending my blog for the near future in order to focus my time on family and friends.  Then I will come back and write again, as my mother never would let me quit just because the chips were down.  Bye for now.

Sprint Scraps WiMax

Reston, Va. -- Unable to agree on the final terms of a deal, Reston-based wireless giant Sprint Nextel said on Friday that it has scrapped its plan to jointly build its nationwide high-speed WiMax network with Clearwire, the Kirkland, Wash.-based telecommunications firm headed by wireless communications pioneer Craig McCaw. The two companies had agreed to team on the massive project in July, but failed to "resolve complexities" associated with the deal and couldn't agree on terms, Sprint Nextel said. The Wall Street Journal reported that last month's departure of Sprint Nextel CEO Gary Forsee also complicated matters. Sprint Nextel said that the it remains on track to initially launch the service -- which promises wireless Internet speeds comparable to cable Internet -- by year's end in Baltimore, Washington and Chicago, with plans to roll it out nationwide in 2008. Still, in light of the announcement, the company said that it is "reviewing its WiMax business plans and outlook." 

From Patomac Techwire Feed.

http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1075432 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119460952196987883.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news  (subscription required)

I will be back with more commentary on this.  Apologies that I have not posted in a while. Moved out from one house and into another and have been out of town quite a bit. 

Inphonic Claims Bankruptcy

In the continuing implosion of all things wireless, Inphonic just bit the dust.  On October 12th I reported their default on their debt.  Yesterday the Washington Business Journal reported their filing for Bankruptcy.  This ends the house of cards known as Inphonic.  They were an online aggregator for sub prime wireless customers for the big carriers.  The article states that Inphonic filed "a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization petition Thursday, a move it says will facilitate its asset sale to Versa Capital Management, a private equity firm in Philadelphia."  The article went on to state that, "InPhonic says it will consider higher or better offers, but Versa has agreed to fund its operations until its acquisition of InPhonic closes."

Many of those who I knew who worked there at one time stated it was like one large ponzie scheme.  Many stated that the company passed on customers to the big carriers that were sub-prime by paying their deposit for them.  That means the big carriers were taking on much riskier customers than they really understood - because many would not have signed up if they had to fork over an additional $200 to activate their account.  Who knows what is true and what is rumor.  But, what I do know is that they have been in trouble for quite some time.  Interestingly enough, they also ran an MVNO operation for some time with their acquisition of Liberty Wireless - of which they eventually sold of at a later date.