Anytime, Anywhere Connectivity

Opportunities and risks for embedding WiMAX in Consumer Electronics

By Jeff Orr, Maravedis

 

 

As popular consumer electronics categories continue to penetrate, many devices inexplicably do not yet support connection to the Internet.

 

Digital devices such as portable audio and video players rely on a personal computer with a high -speed Internet connection to purchase, synchronize, and access their media library. The same behavior exists with digital cameras, which promise to give consumers more control over their images. Only those comfortable with their PC skills and ability to master new software and online portals have been able to take advantage of these new functions. Small businesses have emerged solely to assist iPod owners with transferring their CD collections to portable audio players. Eastman Kodak has developed a global kiosk business enabling consumers to bring their digital camera media to a retailer and print their own images. Complexity of software applications and operating systems has created phobias for consumers who want to gather, interact with, and share their material. Internet services make this connection for some, while others remain on their own digital islands.

 

Traditionally, the Internet is where consumers check their electronic mail  or obtain information from remote servers about sports, weather, news, and personal interests. However, the Internet is foremost a global communications network. Consumer applications such as television, radio, voice communications, and socializing are increasingly popular Internet applications typified by online services such as Joost, Live365, Podshow, Skype, Second Life, Blogger, and MySpace. Consumers are looking for more ways to partake in these experiences.

 

The widespread availability of broadband Internet access has made the Internet a larger part of how consumers access media. These high –speed connections first emerged in business enterprises but have become more common in the home. Estimates show that one billion people today have access to the Internet. Companies who provide Internet access services Opportunities and risks for embedding WiMAX in Consumer Electronics

are actively looking for how to connect the next billion users to the network. The overwhelming method for consumer Internet access is via the home computer. Internet access is delivered over phone lines, coaxial cable, fiber optics, and radio frequency wireless services. The home receives the signal through a modem box that translates data into the Ethernet protocol, which connect s to a desktop or laptop computer using the same protocol.

 

To broaden connections beyond the home, consumers are looking for ways to remain connected and get access to their multimedia content anytime and anywhere. Wi -Fi hotspots are more commonly available, but still confine service to a facility. Cellular voice services using third generation (3G) services now include small data pipes for services like email, web browsing, and short message service (SMS). Trying to replicate the broadband experience fro m home over these connections is a frustrating experience. The ecosystem to support development of 3G protocols for the variety of desired consumer electronics is not yet achievable at minimal IPR impact and low chipset costs. Standards development organizations saw this bottleneck forming several years ago and created broadband wireless protocols that are designed on an Internet Protocol (IP) network like that supporting home broadband services. Promising multi -megabit per second performance to each user, these broadband wireless networks are the baseline for delivering the Internet experience to any location and any device.

 

One such broadband wireless technology is WiMAX. WiMAX takes the high-speed experience of home broadband Internet access and puts it wherever the consumer is – at home, at work, or on the road. The combination of wireless Internet access anytime, anywhere for the mass of unconnected consumer electronics devices brings about new opportunities for convenience and real -time immersion in th e digital world.

 

Despite the political battle in Europe over wireless spectrum policy, network operators continue to invest in Mobile WiMAX. Over 200 WiMAX trials have been announced, touching all of the continents. The majority of the trials are not with mobile carriers, but with broadband operators and new entities. The first Mobile WiMAX network to launch commercially was the WiBro service in South Korea. All of Seoul is currently covered by deployed infrastructure with services being offered by carriers KT and SKTelecom. Both operators selected Samsung as their infrastructure and device partner to fast -track government mandates to launch a commercial service during 2006. The initial launch has been met with slow adoption.

 

Approximately 2,000 paying subscribers are now testing the WiBro service in an effort to identify the most popular applications and attractive business models. At this rate, attaining one million users on the WiBro network would be very far off.

 

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