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Intel reiterates support for WiMAX after $950M writedown
Intel reiterated its strong support for WiMAX after announcing a fourth-quarter charge related to its $1.6 billion investment in Clearwire. The largest single investor in Clearwire said it plans to take a $950-million non-cash charge for the fourth quarter because Clearwire's stock value has gone below $5 a share.
"Economic conditions notwithstanding, we still believe in WiMAX and think it is the preferred 4G solution," Julie Coppernoll, director of marketing for the WiMAX Program Office at Intel, said in an interview with Unstrung. Intel believes that embedded WiMAX along with Clearwire's pay-as-you-go terms will encourage users to buy WiMAX-enabled laptops even if they don't expect to use WiMAX all the time. It's the same model that grew WiFi.
Intel expects the first wave of laptops with its embedded WiMAX/WiFi "Echo Peak" chipset to arrive this quarter and expects eight OEMs in all to deliver WiMAX-enabled laptops. Some will arrive "earlier in Q1, rather than later," Coppernoll said.
For more:
- check out Unstrung
Related articles:
Clearwire backers face charges related to their investments
Clearwire brand debuts in Portland, Ore.
Comments
Posted by Martin Suter | January 13, 2009 - 11:20am
While I am relatively agnostic about wireless standards ("Some Thoughts on Wireless Standards" - www.xchangemag.com/blogs/suter/blogdefault.aspx/p/2), I find that Intel's comments indicate that they're driving in the rear view mirror.
Mobile broadband is not about laptops, it's about handsets and ecosystems.
The industry saw how hard it was for service providers to come up with an ROI model that made sense when the only Wi-Fi devices were Centrino laptops. But now with the proliferation of mobile devices (both in number and form factor), Wi-Fi is finally hitting its stride in a big way. Note AT&T's acquisition of Wayport as a strong signal that it's got legs!
WiMAX gets the most traction in emerging and rural markets in which there is not existing infrastructure. For it to achieve lift-off as a viable mobile broadband technology in developed markets, WiMAX will require a far deeper ecosystem than Intel and a much broader set of form factors beyond laptops.
That's my .02!
Posted by Anonymous | February 11, 2009 - 1:27am
Mobile WIMAX is already dead, why this company still on this business?
Posted by Anonymous | March 23, 2009 - 3:27am
It's about coverage and availability. People will use the most cost effective and widely available wireless internet. Since WiFi is built in all the devices, one can simply using their existing devices over any of these 3G or 4G networks using a router like the Top Global MB9000 3G/4G router.
All laptop has built-in analog modem, but who not DSL and Cable modem embedded in laptops ? Let the router does its job to covert the network to WiFi or LAN.
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