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Wireless
Nation
By James B. Murray, Jr.
Perseus, 2001 - 352 pages
Having worked in the telecom industry and on Wall
Street I can say that this book is a must read for anyone
wanting to know about the cellular industry or telecom in
general. I found
myself having a difficult time putting the book down at
various times as the insight from this insider was
unbelievable.
Frankly I was behind the curve in the wireless sector
as far as my history went but this book did an excellent job
of getting me up to speed, describing what a wild ride is was
in the sector and the book did an amazing job of telling the
stories of some interesting characters involved in the
wireless industry during its nascent stage.
This book is a must-read for anyone involved in the cellular
industry, and should be very interesting (and entertaining)
for anyone interested in entrepreneurialism or emerging
industries. While the current success of the cellular
industry makes it seem as if its success was a
"no-brainer," Murray makes clear that this was not
the case--he does an excellent job of describing the
free-wheeling, if not chaotic, beginnings of the industry, the
fateful steps and mis-steps of some of the early players, and
the vast uncertainty of whether the industry would ever be
viable. Most memorably, he provides interesting profiles of
some of the pioneers, cowboys, and charlatans that
participated in the creation of
America
's cell-phone sector.
Mr. Murray's account of the birth of the cellular telephone
industry is remarkable. This is a subject I had little to no
knowledge of and yet I found myself unable to put this book
down. The story is truly incredible. The insider perspective
he provides gives the reader a view into the birth of an
entire industry.
Time and again he details the steps, and
more often mis-steps, that led to the wireless world we live
in today. As interesting as the stories of the visionaries who
"got it" from the beginning are, the tales of those
who guessed wrong are even more incredible. Huge corporations,
respected "experts," and the
US
government all made one wrong decision after the other, while
a handful of players who figured out just how big this
industry could be took incredible gambles to succeed. At the
same time, every day individuals from widows to plumbers had a
chance to participate, and make millions in what was
essentially a government run lottery.
A riveting first hand account of the creation of an industry
where billions were made and lost, and continue to be today.
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