always nice when you can guess new products 6 to 12 months out. here’s another:

1. Nextel, Motorola to offer Wi-Fi phones; working to develop Microsoft Smartphone

Nextel Communications this week said it plans to offer Wi-Fi-enabled phones. Motorola is developing the devices. The new Wi-Fi phone is designed to work on both Nextel’s iDEN network as well as on a Wi-Fi network using VoIP technology for voice calls. No word yet on when this new Wi-Fi phone will be released. And the killer news of this year’s CTIA trade show is that Motorola said it is working with Nextel to develop a tri-band mobile phone that would be based on Microsoft’s Smartphone platform. The new phone is planned for release sometime in 2004 and will run on both GSM/GPRS networks and Nextel’s iDEN network. This news confirms a rumor that we ran in FierceWireless last week (and explains why the Motorola people refused to comment).