The First Mobile WiMAX Gaming Device January 29, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Word on the Street Is....2 comments
There’s been plenty of talk about how WiMAX could work wonders for device integration as well as inciting a new era for mobile devices. Now some evidence of that is becoming clearer in the gaming world with the first WiMAX-enabled gaming device. POSBRO, a Korea-based company, has developed the WiMAX, WiFi and Bluetooth-enabled G100. It features a four-inch LCD touchscreen with a slide-out gaming pad reminiscent of a somewhat sleeker and more compact Nintendo DS. The G100 will also utilize the Opera browser for a “PC-quality” internet experience. The device is set for release early this year in Korea and in late 2008 to early 2009 in the United States.
Needless to say the gaming industry is a huge one both in the United States and abroad. The mobile gaming industry in particular is poised for major growth, with revenue increasing from the millions to the billions, according to some projections. If anything, it is thought that the somewhat limited nature of mobile technology in North America (slower connections, lapses in connectivity etc.) are what has hindered some of the potential growth in this area. WiMAX and the network speeds and reliability associated with it would allow for the development of more complex mobile games with richer graphics and better features. Devices like the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS have already made huge waves in the gaming industry without including particularly impressive web-based features. Devices like the G100 could set a new standard by raising the expectations of mobile gamers, thus realizing another niche WiMAX’s capabilities fall into. Simultaneously, the early introduction of WiMAX-enabled gaming devices would serve as a hook for the “YouTube generation” market; a market that plays a significant role in trend-setting and the successful adoption of new technologies.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, mobile gaming, POSBRO G100, WiMAX-enabled devices, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Movement With Sprint: Will WiMAX Be Affected? January 25, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Analyses and Speculations.2 comments
With last week’s announcement of 4,000 job cuts, reductions in its retail footprint and the loss of three top executives, many wonder what all these changes with Sprint will mean for Xohm. To provide more background on the latest news, key executives Paul Saleh (chief financial officer), Tim Kelly (chief marketing officer), and Mark Angelino (president of sales and distribution) are all leaving Sprint in the wake up plummeting profits and subscriber losses for the company. These realities have defied Sprint’s hopeful financial estimates and lead to some criticism–criticism that has been somewhat on the rise since the company’s acquisition of Nextel a few years ago.
Though Xohm has not been specifically mentioned in conjunction with some of the changes that have been happening with Sprint, one can’t help but wonder if it will be affected. While there were hopes that Sprint would open the new year with a big bang on its promise to roll-out nationwide, buzz on their initial three-city soft launch has been on the low end. This has resulted in some doubts, as John Oram of Geek.com expressed, “Often Sprint makes good technology decisions, however their implementations are sorely lacking; e.g., Sprint’s promised WiMAX ‘savior solution’ that is going to be, at best, a tough row to hoe.” At the same time, however, there are no indications that Xohm will be coming to a halt being that Sprint has positioned the division alongside several services and agencies that will help make it happen.
Though these key movements among Sprint’s executives and other changes may suggest instability or reason for doubt, developments with Xohm still seem to be in order for 2008. Any announcements from the company suggesting otherwise remain to be seen.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, Xohm, Nextel, Sprint, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Will WiMAX Investments Reach $30 Billion this Year? January 22, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Analyses and Speculations.2 comments
WiMAX Day thinks so. Many have cited 2008 as the year for WiMAX. In fact, WiMAX topped several lists as a promising technology for the new year. The buzz about WiMAX may very well inspire more interest and more investments in the technology. WiMAX Day compares WiMAX to where GSM was ten years ago and estimates $30 billion in investments based on deployment of new networks, mergers and acquisitions, acquiring more spectrum, and other facets. According to the article:
“With all the spectrum up for grabs, we think 20 to 30 new WiMAX networks can pop up in the next year,” said an analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York. “There’s no average size for investment, but some of these can enter the hundreds of millions [of dollars] to billions, gauging from recent RFPs issued to vendors.”
These figures do not include what Sprint is putting into WiMAX this year, or the KDDI-Intel venture in Japan. As more capital enters the WiMAX industry, some of the projected growth for this year may very well start to take shape. More details on the specific numbers for 2008 will be released by WiMAX Day later this year.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, WiMAX investment, 2008, Sprint, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
More WiMAX For Houston January 20, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Word on the Street Is....add a comment
Some businesses in Texas will have more opportunities to sign up with WiMAX services as Airband Communications, Inc. announced that it will be expanding its reach and service by 50 percent in the Houston area. This expansion includes upgrading existing infrastructure and positioning new base stations around Northwest Freeway, Arena Towers, West Chase andSugarland. Each base station covers a radius of three to five miles, thus allowing Airband to service more businesses in those areas. The company has been providing WiMAX services for Houston since 2001.
But this may very well not be the last time Airband comes up in WiMAX news. According to an article posted in Centre Daily, Airband is upgrading its Houston market as part of a larger project. With clients already located in Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, LA, Philadelphia,Phoneix and elsewhere, Airband is developing a strategy to provide services nationwide. As Airband expands its footprint, we may soon hear of businesses in other major cities gaining WiMAX as an option for their data and VoIP services.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, Airband, Houston, VoIP, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Developments in Mobile TV January 17, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Analyses and Speculations, WiMAX.add a comment
TMCnet reports on DiBcom, TeamCast and UDcast; three companies that are devoted to Mobile TV and the DVB-SH standard. All these companies are collaborating in the Moble TV Without Limits Project and are combining their equipment and support to give an added push to Mobile TV both in Europe and eventually in the United States. For those that are less aware, Mobile TV is television service delivered to subscribers via mobile telecommunications networks, such as mobile phone carriers.
Interestingly enough, UDcast is also a proponent of WiMAX technologies, in addition to its work on Mobile TV. As standards related to Mobile TV continue to develop and testing extends to the United States, it will be interesting to see if WiMAX and the advantages it has to offer could eventually merge with this emerging technology.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, Mobile TV, DVB-SH, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Chrysler Poised to Connect Your Car With WIMAX January 14, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Word on the Street Is....1 comment so far
Amid all the WiMAX demonstrations in cars and and the mobile flexibility WiMAX is set to offer, Chrysler has decided to jump on the bandwagon. At the North American International Auto Show, the company announced that it is working on a state-of-the-art in-vehicle communications system that will eventually feature wireless. The announcement was confirmed in a press release today.
Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s executive vice president of product development, explains the company’s thinking:
We recognize that customers are spending more and more time in their vehicles, and that the automobile is becoming much like an additional room in the home or office. To address this evolving reality, Chrysler vehicles will soon boast an unprecedented level of vehicle connectivity, delivering a wide array of important communications features directly to our customers, in their vehicles.
What does this mean for these future vehicle owners? If they thought features like in-vehicle DVD players, GPS and “hands-free” technologies like Bluetooth and voice command were great, what WIMAX can offer is incomparable. WiMAX-enabled vehicles will include internet search, voice-command e-mail access, streaming movies and music, file transfers, online shopping and more. So, practically speaking, while on a road trip your family could watch streaming video while you do an online search for local restaurants to check out at your next pit stop–all while keeping an eye on your office e-mail.
According to the press release plans are set for some of these features to be integrated in Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles “over the next few years.”
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, Chrysler, WiMAX car, new car features, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Sprint Reveals the Partnerships That Are Making Xohm Possible January 10, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in WiMAX, Word on the Street Is....add a comment
As rumblings in the news reveal, Sprint just announced that WiMAX is coming soon– as early as April of this year, according to some sources. This news is a good boost to overall WiMAX morale, given that naysayers have spoken negatively of the rollout since the Clearwire and Sprint fallout late last year.
Just as interesting as the rollout are some of the partnerships that are making it possible. We can see that these partnerships span the globe and are taking into account all facets of Xohm as a true contender in the wireless market. Mobile Tech News reports on just some of these. I have compiled them into a chart for the sake of reader-friendliness:
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, Sprint, Xohm, Xohm partners, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
New York City WiMAX Event January 10, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in WiMAX, Wi-Fi, wireless.add a comment
Want to talk WiMAX? For those in the New York City area, this is definitely something worth checking out. The New York Media Information Exchange Group (NY:MIEG) is having a breakfast panel discussion on WiMAX and related technologies. Here are the details:
Thursday, January 17th
7:30am to 10:00am
SobelMedia World Headquarters
4 West 43rd Street/Main Ballroom
New York, NY 10036
“Wireless, WiMAX & Mobile 2008 and Beyond: The Future of Communications”
Panelists include: Eric Bader, Laura Forlano, Dana Spiegel, Sree Sreenivasan and myself.
To register for the event click here.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, WiMAX event, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Intel Poised to Boost WiMAX Adoption January 7, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Analyses and Speculations, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, wireless.1 comment so far
In addition to the Montevina platform for notebooks, Intel may also be delivering WiMAX to ultraportables and mobile internet devices through its Menlow platform. InfoWorld reports that Intel is developing WiMAX chips specifically for mobile devices as an optional addition to the platform:
Intel is already developing a WiMax silicon chip codenamed Baxter Peak for mobile devices. Last year, Nokia said it would use Baxter Peak on its WiMax-enabled N-series Internet tablets, expected to ship in 2008... “[The chip] will be an option similar to how Echo Peak is an option for Centrino notebooks based on the Montevina mobile platform,” [according to Kari Aakre, an Intel spokeswoman]
With hopes of WiMAX taking off in 2009, Intel’s move toward including WiMAX chips in both notebooks and mobile devices is an excellent step toward boosting WiMAX adoption rates. Having a big name like Intel behind WiMAX and actively integrating supportive hardware will make providers that much more inclined to invest in WiMAX and customers that much more likely to subscribe to WiMAX services. Intel’s tactic also encourages a form of brand recognition in the sense that it gets the name “WiMAX” out to the public–thus building awareness about the technology and its capabilities.
Intel’s “Baxter Peak” and other WiMAX-enabled devices are scheduled for shipment early this year.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, Intel, Nokia, Montevina, Menlow platform, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Fortune Names WiMAX As A Top Trend for 2008 January 3, 2008
Posted by Ari Zoldan in Analyses and Speculations, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, wireless.add a comment
With the new year, investors and all breeds of business people are re-evaluating–and maybe even crossing their fingers–for the industries they’ve put their money on. Many are wondering if this will be the big year for WiMAX in particular. Fortune seems to think so. In an article entitled “The Top 10 Wireless Trends for 2008,” WiMAX came in at number five with some buzz about Xohm and Nokia’s WiMAX-enabled Internet tablet.
Also noteworthy is the fact that nearly all the other listed trends either go hand-in-hand with WiMAX or would benefit from the deployment of a nationwide network. For instance, camera phones with much more advanced functions are listed as one hot trend. With WiMAX, sending and receiving cell phone pictures would be so much faster and easier than it is on traditional cellular networks. Furthermore, WiMAX aficionados even speak of traditional digital cameras becoming WiMAX-enabled, with the ability to quickly and easily upload pictures to blogs, e-mails or other devices without ever touching a USB cord or PC. If camera phones have hit big, how much more so would a WiMAX-enabled camera be likely to hit the trend list?
For 2008, investors and others with a hand in WiMAX will be happy to see that secular sources are keeping an eye on WiMAX. The public’s technological needs and desires can be matched by what WiMAX has to offer–the key is getting it out there for the taking.
Technorati Tags: WiMAX, 2008, Tech trends, WiMAX investments, wireless, Ari Zoldan
Ari Zoldan
Launch 3 Communications
Going WiMAX 
