Mobile devices will move to Fixed Mobile Convergence, with WiFi as early as this year, says Jim Balsillie, Research In Motion co-CEO.
At the JP Morgan Technology Conference this week, Balsillie said that RIM will have a Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry “in the back half of this year.” Current Blackberry devices use cellular networks for email and messaging.
Once WiFi is added to the devices, he sees RIM and its service provider partners making a quick leap toward tying together fixed and mobile communications services with one device — the goal in the industry known as FMC.Balsillie added that in the beginning he thought that WiFi was overhyped, because people thought it would replace traditional mobile data services. He says that it’s mostly complementary to other services, and that BlackBerries could be used to tie these services together by adding WiFi capability.
Fixed-mobile convergence – the integration of wireline and wireless technologies and services to create a single telecommunications network foundation – has quickly captured the collective imagination of the telecom industry, says Heavy Reading. The Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance is a non-profit organisation focused on providing seamless and ease to use products and services.
.gif)
