Summary
1. One could guess that the Nokia executive could have chosen 8-track cartridges, audiocassettes, or laserdiscs. 2. The only problem with the VHS analogy is that DVDs have been replacing that technology. 3. LTE networks should remain in place at least several decades longer.
Analysis
In fairness, “WiMAX is taking hold” around certain portions of the world and it could remain a niche play indefinitely. Still, the Nokia executive is probably correct in prognosticating in the Financial Times that “...by 2015, we will have an LTE network that will cover most of the important places in the world and that will give us the coverage and capacity we need.” The problem for Nokia, the company, may have been the timing of such a statement. However, it is notable that the supplier did not put out a formal reply itself.
The compromise seems to have been for the administrator to reach important contacts associated with WiMAX throughout the world. But the assertion “that he was taken out of context” is not believable. It is sort of like the airlines frequently going to the standby of “pilot error.”
It is somewhat paradoxical that Sprint Nextel’s CEO emailed the message in that all of the evidence points to his company ultimately moving to LTE.
