Great story from Smartmobs' blog:
UPS is enabling a mix of short range + mid-range + long-range wireless technologies:
"United Parcel Service of America(UPS) have announced it will begin deploying wireless technologies to package facilities and drivers in Europe."The first part of the deployment will occur inside UPS sorting centers and hubs. It involves pager-sized Bluetooth scanners, worn on the middle finger, which send package tracking data to small Wi-Fi (802.11b) terminals worn on the waist by package sorters. The Wi-Fi devices then send the tracking data to UPS’s computer network, where it can be accessed by customers,"the companies press release states.Further from the article."The deployment of the wireless scanning systems will be further boosted by the rollout of the newest hand-held computer to UPS’s delivery drivers. The DIAD IV (Delivery Information Acquisition Device), currently in field trials in the United States, is the first handheld computer to include wireless connectivity options for personal (Bluetooth), local (Wi-Fi) and wide-area networks (GPRS or CDMA)"."
Now think what else you could to if you replace Bluetooth by Zigbee, Wi-Fi by UltraWideBand, and GRPS or UMTS by Wi-Max... Lack coverage ? Add a bit of mesh networks into it...
Close to the ubiquitous high-speed internet...
BusinessWeek had a recent report on wireless commercial applications and a glossary about all these technologies.