Qualcomm chairman and Chief Executive Officer Irwin Jacobs said last week he sees no threat from Wi-Fi or WiMax. The industry isn’t about to abandon Qualcomm-linked technologies for other wireless systems in order to get out of licensing fees, Jacobs said.
He dismissed Wi-Fi hotspots as being redundant once subscribers can buy monthly services using high-speed mobile data systems such as CDMA2000 1x EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) and a faster version of WCDMA called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access).
“Now that you’re paying … for a service you can use anywhere … why would you pay extra to go to a hotspot?” Jacobs asked.
He also took digs at WiMax, a longer range wireless technology that in the future will allow for mobility.
“WiMax … has a tremendous advantage over CDMA2000 1x EV-DO or WCDMA HSDPA. … One of the great things is that it has the name. But it’s still not a technology,” Jacobs quipped, referring to the fact that WiMax for fixed broadband will not ship until later this year and the mobile version of it is still being standardized.
“How do you transition from one technology to another technology?” Jacobs said. “You’d better support both for some significant time period. If you want to support both … you’re a friend of ours,” he said, to laughter from the audience.
Mike Masnick summarizes the summary:
With all this back and forth among the “experts,” perhaps it’s a much better idea to look at the actual efforts by companies in this space. Today comes the news that a spectrum auction for WiMAX spectrum in Norway turned up exactly one bidder, suggesting that perhaps the demand isn’t seen yet by many telcos.In the end, it’s going to be actual WiMAX adoption among such companies that will prove all the analysts and pundits right or wrong. Until that time, all of the hype surrounding the technology and its backlash is just a lot of talk.
It’s The Ultimate Question.
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