Sprint Shows Off WiMax Devices

Sprint Nextel Corp.’s next-generation wireless network is about to be upgraded in a few months with a new lineup of unique compatible gadgets.  Sprint displayed two computer modems at the International Consumer Electronics Show this week that will be available in April when its WiMax network becomes fully available.

One of Sprints promises is that its WiMax service will provide under its Xohm brand that receivers for it can be made into a variety of gadgets like cameras and Web tablets that normally don’t have built-in Internet connections or rely on Wi-Fi. "We fully expect an explosion of consumer devices," said Antone Porter, a product manager at Sprint.

The shortage of early WiMax devices isn’t necessarily a sign of trouble for Sprint. Gemma Tedesco, an In-Stat analyst, said the coverage area will be fairly small this year anyway, but the main task for Sprint is to build the network out from there. "Unlike Wi-Fi, users’ satisfaction will be dependent on the network coverage, and so Sprint really needs to have their metro areas well covered, to get users motivated; even this may take time, going into 2009 and beyond," she said.

Unlike Wi-Fi, WiMax signals reach for miles, and unlike cellular broadband, it is designed for data. That could make WiMax cheaper than cellular broadband, or 3G, which usually costs around $60 per month for laptops. Although pricing plans haven’t been disclosed, senior vice president of mobile broadband operations, Atish Gude, expects the service will be much cheaper than 3G.

Two devices, a modem for homes and small business from ZyXel Communications Corp. and a laptop from ZTE Corp., will be able to connect to the network at initial the initial launch date. The home modem resembles a huge coffee mug, with two antennas that look like handles. It’s intended to make WiMax an alternative to wired broadband provided by phone and cable companies.

The first gadget to come with built-in WiMax capability may be a new model of the EeePC, a diminutive laptop from ASUSTek Computer. The Taiwanese company started selling a version of the cheap computer without WiMax in the fourth quarter of last year and has sold 350,000 globally, Chief Executive Jonney Shih said.

An EeePC with WiMax will be available in the second quarter this year. No price has been disclosed. ASUS is also planning to build WiMax into full-size laptops, to be available in the second half of the year, with prices starting at $999.

San Francisco-based OQO Inc. demonstrated at the show a WiMax-equipped prototype of its small handheld Windows computer with slide-out keyboard. But the company did not say when or even if it would be commercially available. OQO already has models compatible with competing cellular broadband networks.
Finland’s Nokia Corp., which is supplying Sprint with WiMax equipment, has said it will build Intel Corp.’s WiMax chips into a Web tablet model in 2008. The backing of Intel means several big-name laptop makers, like Toshiba Corp. and Lenovo, have committed to making WiMax-equipped models, but no details have emerged.

"A lot of times the first year of a technology’s rollout is kind of experimental and bumpy – even with the various flavors of Wi-Fi this has happened, and WiMax is much more complicated," said Tedesco, the In-Stat analyst.