Motorola quietly confirmed that a cellular/WiFi roaming partnership it formed last summer with Cisco Systems has been called off because of carrier uncertainty about the plan. The two companies had announced plans to deliver a seamless enterprise mobility solution that would include WLAN and cellular-phone technologies. It's not surprising given the fact that operators are putting all of their cellular/WiFi roaming efforts into the consumer market to enable roaming between cellular and WiFi in the home, according to a recent discussion I had with Steve Shaw, director of marketing with Kineto, the developer of UMA(unlicensed mobile access). Shaw says all operators want to measure acceptance and quality with the mass market first. He also expects to see two launches this year for sure of UMA services and is hoping for four before the year is out.
To read more about the death of Cisco's and Motorola's cellular/WiFi deal:
- check out this report from Light Reading