WiMAX Notebooks and Other Devices Featured at CES 2009

Although lacking some of the glitz from the show in 2008, WiMAX products were still to be found at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. Leading the way were WiMAX embedded Notebook and Netbook computers from leading PC OEMs.

January 2009

After reading many of the headlines on lower planned attendance, I had expected a much subdued experience in Las Vegas prior to my arrival. Sure attendance was down (early reports indicated 110K attendees compared to 130K last year), but you would never know it walking the show floor.

From a WiMAX perspective, there were no flashy WIMAX F1 racing cars as in last year's show, but there was definitely a sense of more substance - with actual commercial products available. CES2008 was more about what was coming, 2009 featured actual products and WiMAX available service.



Mini-Cooper with embedded WiMAX electronics, CES 2009



Clearwire WiMAX Service


Clearwire booth, CES 2009

Last Tuesday, Clearwire announced the commercial availability of mobile WiMAX service branded "Clear" in Portland Oregon. (For a review of the performance of that market click here.) Portland will represent the second mobile WiMAX market after Sprint's XOHM network in Baltimore is assimilated under the Clearwire brand. Clearwire continues to operate in 46 smaller metro-markets utilizing pre-WiMAX equipment and plans to convert those to the newer technology at some point in the future.

For mobile users, Clearwire is offering a WiMAX-enabled USB modem from Motorola that plugs into a laptop and is available to purchase for $49.99 USD. Residential customers at home are able to take advantage of a high-speed modem also from Motorola that can be leased for $4.99 monthly.

Another interesting product demonstrated at the booth was a "Clear" branded portable Wi-Fi router paired with the Motorola USB WiMAX dongle. This will essentially allow any WiMAX subscriber to create an instant mini Wi-Fi hotspot that can be shared with other users - with the data backhauled over a high-speed mobile WiMAX network (Try this on a current 3G network). Could this be the "killer" application that drives WiMAX adoption?


Portable Wi-Fi router with WiMAX USB Dongle, CES 2009



ASUS Netbooks

Of course one of the big stories from 2008 was the growth of smaller form-factor "net books" and this was clearly evident by a visit to the ASUS booth. The booth was considerably larger than ASUS's booth at last year's CES. Although lacking some of the features of full-size laptops, theses lower priced Intel Atom™ based netbooks should help drive the market for PC ownership, especially in emerging markets. ASUS had several WiMAX enabled products on display.



ASUS booth, CES 2009




ASUS WiMAX enable Netbook, CES 2009



Toshiba WiMAX Enabled Notebooks.

Not to be outdone, Toshiba featured 2 WiMAX enabled notebooks. Both notebooks had been through the rigorous Clearwire interoperability labs and were emblazoned with the "Clear Enabled" badges. The WiMAX enabled laptops are available from Toshiba for an additional cost of only $49.00 USD.

Other WiMAX notebooks are planned from Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung in the first hall of 2009. The commitment by the PC OEMS was remarkable given the limited number of WiMAX markets currently available.



Toshiba R600 WiMAX enabled notebook, CES 2009



Toshiba "Clear Certified" WiMAX notebook, CES 2009



Motorola Integrated WiMAX/Wi-FI CPEs

Despite taking a beating in the press lately, Motorola continues to innovate and bring new WiMAX products to market. Their latest product announced was a nicely designed WiMAX/Wi-FI integrated router. The device combines a high performance WiMAX 802.16e model with a Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g router, along with two VoIP ATA ports for voice calling.



Motorola Integrated WiMAX/Wi-Fi Router, CES 2009


WiMAX MIDs and Handsets

Conspicuously absent from CES were announcements of any WiMAX enabled MIDs (mobile internet devices) or handhelds. Adding further to the speculation, Nokia reported early in the week that they had decided to discontinue the N810 WiMAX edition tablet.

In speaking with Nokia representative, the timing on the announcement was more of a reflection of the end of the products 18 month roadmap rather than any other factors, and that Nokia had not ruled out introducing other WiMAX products at some point in the future. Nokia's position is understandable given the delayed roll-out of the WiMAX networks in the US and the fact that Nokia was so early to market with this product. Also the loss by Nokia's infrastructure business to build-out Clearwire's Dallas market and other cities may have impacted their overall WiMAX strategy.

Next stop - Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 16-19. Can we expect any MID or handset announcements then?




 

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 in Equipment  | Permalink |  Comments (2)