I wrote a column in the most recent print edition of Telephony stating that one of unfortunate consequences of the telecom industry's financial bust was a loss in confidence about new technology. Confidence was replaced, I wrote, by widespread cynicism about innovation.

I mentioned WiMAX as one of the emerging technologies that's threatened by those sentiments, and recent events surrounding that technology are threatening to prove me right even earlier than I anticipated.

Certain developers of the technology reportedly are taking advantage of the lack of specifics that was disseminated by the WiMAX Forum about the certification process and claiming that they have a lead in equipment development because their gear made it to the test facility first. The fact is that a core function of certification testing is interoperability, which really means no one vendor can have a lead--because interoperability can't be tested until all WiMAX vendors' equipment has made it to the lab. And since the first phase of testing doesn't officially begin until October, those companies that have their equipment in the testing facility don't really have an advantage at all.

Look for more on the whole WiMAX certification brouhaha in an upcoming issue of Telephony. But what, you ask, does all this have to do with impatience, cynicism and loss of confidence? This: Giving the impression that the certification process is a race makes observers assume that someone is winning, which in turn makes them think other companies are losing. When no equipment with the certification stamp emerges (because how could it, given that the testing process hasn't yet begun?), people get impatient. Eventually, as they wait for what they perceive to be a long time (even though it isn't), that impatience turns to cynicism. ("WiMAX isn't working in the labs," WiMAX is behind schedule," WiMAX is never coming to market," etc.) Eventually, people start believing their own underinformed impressions and start writing off new technologies before they've even fully arrived.

Here's hoping the industry gives WiMAX the chance to at least make it to market before disparaging it.

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com.