WiMAX expected to open up mobile device market

The list of mobile device manufacturers is about to get much, much longer.
While a handful of “connectable” wireless devices have come to market in recent years-including Sony Corp.’s Play Station Portable and Kodak’s EasyShare cameras-wireless hardware has generally been limited to pagers, mini-computers and phones. Industry insiders say that will change, though, as WiMAX moves beyond traditional mobile devices and into a much broader world of gadgets and doohickeys.
“Pretty much any device that can be connected to the Internet will be; WiMAX is the first technology that really allows that to happen,” said Regina Moldovan, director of WiMAX and mesh product marketing for Nortel Network Ltd.’s Carrier Networks business. “It’s going to be about consumer electronic devices that have chipsets: iPods, digital music players, cameras, camcorders and such.”
Add-ons expected first
The first hardware to leverage WiMAX, of course, will be high-end phones and other Internet-enabled devices. Nokia Corp. has already committed to adding the technology to its N800, an Internet tablet that will work with Sprint Nextel Corp.’s WiMAX network. And after-market players will likely scramble to offer a host of “retro-fit” gadgets that will allow non-WiMAX devices to tap into the new technology.
“The first types of products you’re going to see-and if you look at the market, it’s taken 3G this long to get to this type of product-are USB dongles, data cards” and other accessories that allow portable computers to connect to the Internet, Moldovan said. “WiMAX will start there, and all the big-name device manufacturers will be in that space. . After that, that’s when the consumer devices come into play, in 2009, 2010. That’s when you’ll start seeing cameras, gaming consoles, etc.”
After that, though, the fun stuff will come to market. WiMAX aficionados claim that the new networks will allow an unprecedented combination of coverage and efficiency, and hardware vendors may stick chips in just about anything that might be able to take advantage of an Internet connection. WiMAX-enabled handsets-or even headphones-could become the transistor radios of the 21st century. On-the-go gamers could compete in real time with friends around the world without having to worry about being in a Wi-Fi hot spot. Travelers could send or post photos as they snap them, eliminating the need to get to a computer to upload the images.
Pricing options
Such a scenario has carriers salivating. Network operators could sell a la carte plans, demanding a premium for fans of massive multiplayer online gaming-a data-heavy application-but hitting tourists up for only a few dollars a month to upload pictures. Sprint Nextel has already said it plans to offer a new kind of family plan that would provide connectivity for maybe a half-dozen devices for a single fee.
Networks operators should be wary of setting price points too high for WiMAX usage, warned Monica Paolini of Senza Fili Consulting.
“Most operators appreciate the opportunity that multiple devices bring and plan to allow subscribers to add new devices to their account as it will bring lower churn, a more attractive service proposition and higher ARPU,” Paolini wrote several weeks ago. “At the same time, however, they are accustomed to associating each device with a separate fee. Such an approach is likely to slow adoption of new devices and of services overall-because subscribers will find the overall service proposition less compelling if they have to pay an additional fee for each device.”
And while the mobile industry has abused the term “converged device” in recent years, WiMAX is likely to spark production of a variety of single-use devices. Just as photogs continue to eschew the mediocrity of camera phones, mobile video fans may be more likely to pick an affordable TV-like device than suffer through programs on a mobile phone. And fans of first-person shooter games are sure to want a dedicated gaming device instead of fumbling with a 12-key handset.
So while some users may be content to carry a single phone that covers their basic needs, many business users and casual consumers may find themselves loaded down with several WiMAX-enabled handsets.
“Part of that trend is that people are acquiring more and more devices per user,” said Moldovan. “Because people will connect to the Internet, it’s no longer about the handsets giving you that connection. It could be just about any type of device.”