* Nationwide WiMAX net gets green light. But what will connect to it?
After a few false starts, mobile WiMAX in the U.S. has been revived, at least on paper. Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have resolved their partnership differences with a joint venture intended to yield nationwide WiMAX network services backed by a host of industry heavyweights. There’s just one thing, though: where are the WiMAX client devices?
Development plans for WiMAX client devices operating in U.S. frequencies, particularly for smartphones and PDAs, have been vague. There have been plenty of press releases, slide-ware and even trade show demos. But not a lot of hard-and-fast availability dates.
I guess it’s understandable that handset makers wouldn’t want to commit to building U.S. WiMAX products before knowing for sure there would be a nationwide U.S. network for the devices to connect to. And Clearwire says that the joint venture doesn’t expect a near-nationwide network with service in most of the U.S.’s top 100 markets until late 2010.
Until then, smartphone makers in particular have spoken evasively for the past year or so about releasing products “sometime in 2008.” There are somewhat more solid plans for mobile WiMAX-enabled tablet computers, laptops, and USB dongles:
* Intel’s Montevina notebook platform, with optional embedded dual-mode Wi-Fi and WiMAX connections, is due to ship in June.
* Nokia in April announced its N810 Internet Tablet – WiMAX Edition, to be available “sometime this summer” in the U.S. areas where Clearwire WiMAX service is available.
* Kyocera demo’d a WiMAX USB dongle at the CTIA wireless trade show in Las Vegas last month, which it said it would commercialize “later in 2008.”
* OQO demo’d WiMAX in its Model 02 ultra mobile PC in January, but so far, the device seems to still be shipping with Wi-Fi and EV-DO only.
* Motorola has said it will introduce WiMAX-enabled handsets using chips from Texas Instruments – you guessed it, “sometime in 2008.”
