Linux Devices says Nokia will add WiMAX to their N800 web tablet. Initially, the N800 is expected to support Mobile Wimax, with other Wimax variants following later on. According to Sprint, Wimax will be available in 19 U.S. markets by the end of next year, including major metropolitan areas, such as Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Washington D.C.
Portland, Oregon, may be the first market for Clearwire’s Mobile WiMax, launching in a few weeks. Sprint will use Nokia WiMAX gear in Portland next year.
[NOTE There's disagreement that Clearwire will launch in Portland soon]
At the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco this week, LinuxDevices spoke with Dr. Ari Jaaksi (photo at right), Nokia’s director of open source.
Asked if the combination of VoIP and Mobile WiMAX might cannibalize Nokia’s mobile phone business, Jaaksi replied, “WiMAX could change the cellular landscape; however, it’s a question of the maturity of the technology, and how it will be priced.”
He added that he thought it important for Nokia to investigate new technologies, noting that “Linux is ideal for that.”
Jaaksi said the WiMAX-enabled N800 would “most probably” include WiFi and Bluetooth as well. He felt that interference problems could be minimized, noting, “We had the same interference with Bluetooth and WiFi initially, but we solved that.”
The N800 is smaller and cheaper than UMPCs (right) or MIDs, but provides Internet access for Email, messaging and multimedia. The $400 Nokia N800 has a larger screen (4.13″) than the $500-$600 iPhone (which has a 3.5″ screen). The Nokia doesn’t support cellular phone service directly, but uses Skype VoIP.
Skype-to-Skype calling is free. Low-cost “Skype-out” and “Skype-in” services let users place calls to landlines and mobile phones, and receive calls after selecting a telephone number for their device. Users can purchase credit using PayPal and other online billing services.
SyChip announced this week the first in a family of Mobile WiMAX modules which supports embedded Linux, and targets consumer electronics. Other Mobile WiMAX chips are available from Beceem, Sequans, Texas Instruments and Wavesat among others.
The iPhone uses AT&T’s cellular EDGE service and WiFi but does not support WiMAX. Service costs a minimum of $60/month.
The N800 has cheaper voice service and faster data access (about $40/month for 1Mbps is anticipated). Nokia’s tablet currently has 256 MG of built-in flash memory, with a possibility to extend storage space via two SD slots, with 4 GB capacity. The N800 Navigation Kit ($250), turns it into a personal navigation system with GPS.
Carlos Slim, the richest guy in the world and head of Telmex, is spending $870 million on a health institute, telecenters and 250,000, XO $100 laptops.
The OLPC purchase by Carlos Slim is not surprising, says OLPC News. Nicholas Negroponte has been touting a Slim subsidized OLPC Mexico for a while now. But the price that Carlos Slim is paying for XO laptops is nowhere near the “$100 laptop” goal.
TechNewsWorld reports that Slim would devote about $70 million (51 million euros) this year to the low-cost laptop program. With an estimated cost of $250 (183 euros) to $300 (220 euros) per machine,
Is free, ad-supported WiMAX connectivity next, perhaps using television white spaces? Half the world’s population could be “unwired” and linked together in ten years.
That should be interesting.
very nice article.
Left by kenpothestar on August 8th, 2007