Nokia and Intel are teaming up to develop mobile WiMAX technology. Om Malik writes: “Nokia is in mortal combat with Qualcomm which is using its chips and WCDMA/CDMA business to beat the established mobile guard on the head. Intel is trying to beat Qualcomm in the chip game. Qualcomm ridicules WiMAX and everything that is not CDMA mint.” Read Om’s analysis here.
The two companies will work together to develop WiMAX clients and network infrastructure. According to the Computerworld article, they plan to jointly demonstrate mobile WiMax technology to service providers as a data service that complements existing third-generation networks.
Really? Everyone I have talked to who is looking forward to citywide Wi-Fi or WiMAX tells me that they want to REPLACE their cellular data and voice subscriptions. Customers are not begging the carriers to offer a service that “complements” existing 3G networks. The customers do not want 3G data service at the price they are being offered today. And if they can find a cheap replacement with more bandwidth (i.e. Wi-Fi or WiMAX), 3G data service will be one of those “nice to have if you can afford it” add-ons.
Quote from Wall Street Journal article (10 June 2005) on the Nokia-Intel collaboration:
Tero Ojanpera, Nokia’s chief strategy officer, said WiMAX will extend today’s so-called hot-spots based on Wi-Fi into much larger “hot-zones.” Mr. Ojanpera said Nokia expects to begin selling its first WiMAX devices in 2008.
For those who have not been paying attention to gadget news, Nokia has just introduced a tablet – the 770- which comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and runs on Linux. This is the first time that Nokia has sold a product that bypasses the cellular operators. You can read Steve Stroh’s review here and Endgadget’s here.
Technorati Tags: mobile VOIP, municipal wi-fi, municipal wireless
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