Just a thought – but I’m curious why we haven’t seen a greater push by the WLAN chip vendors to create stronger consumer brand awareness. Remember the “Intel Inside” campaign of a few years ago? I think this was one of the most successful branding exercises ever conducted, even though AMD made (and continues to make) chips that are just as good – some even say better. Of course, no one really gives much thought to what processor chip is in their PC today; all anyone really cares about in the PC world is running Microsoft Office and a browser, usually the rather poor Microsoft Internet Explorer. Note here that even the OS isn’t important; I’ve yet to hear anyone jumping up and down about the wonders of Vista. Indeed, I think Vista will go down as a serious error in judgment on Microsoft’s part, quite the opposite of “Intel Inside”. But I digress.
So, whereas the PC and its processor have become commoditized or at least marginalized, there are still big differences between WLAN chips and the continuing rapid evolution of both standards and underlying technologies create marvelous (partial pun intended) marketing opportunities for the major and even minor players. Surprisingly, none of the vendors of the routers and client devices that I recently tested for Network World would reveal what chips they use. Now, it’s not difficult to find out what chip is built into each product (a screwdriver may be required), but I would think that the chip guys would want the promotional opportunity of being associated with a top-rated product. The finished-goods guys counter that they in fact use a variety of chips in their products and that the version number on the product is the only way to tell them apart. Given that the performance (and perhaps even the compatibility and interoperability) of a given product is largely determined by the chipset, I find this a questionable and even troubling practice, perhaps even misleading to the consumer as to what they are really buying.
I understand that manufacturers need the flexibility to redefine their products to meet cost and other objectives. But it seems the chip guys are missing a big opportunity here, and I expect this to be addressed, at least in part, over the next few years.
