?It matters if you just don t give up ? 2001

Abstract:  Prof. Gerald Q. Maguire Jr. has been an invaluable source of inspiration ever since we met in early 1996, when I was pioneering the first ?Voice over IP ? services. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my advisor Professor Maguire, who?s foresight, encouragement, enthusiasm, and inspiration set an example for my research, and his tireless support and advice helped me to start asking the real questions, and in successive projects produce step-by-step proof of the feasibility of mobile multimedia on wireless Internet and its potential for user-centric communication. I was also very fortunate to have Dr. Mark T. Smith of HP-labs as my second advisor for my research. Mark generously shared his views and advice concerning how to look upon services from a consumer perspective, which I then could contrast to the telecom mindset in the ?mobile valley ? of north Stockholm. I also thank the late Tech.Lic. Anders Carlsson- the CEO of Ellemtel until his early death in 1997, whose leadership inspired us to find new ways of communication- for preparing the ground for this research. I would also like to recognize the support of my management, Aleksander Marlevi (in 1998 the vice-CEO of Ellemtel where this thesis work began), H?kan Eriksson (head of Ericsson Research, where this thesis work was completed in 2001), and in particular Rolf Leidhammar (director of Applications & Software research) for