Motorola today unveiled its drive for 4G-capable consumer products. The company announced mini-cards for any manufacturer that wants to integrate mobile 4G or high-speed 3G connections into their products. There are three mini-cards: one each for LTE, WiMAX and HSPA.
Motorola is announcing the cards for any networked consumer products, but they’re particularly targeted at mobile devices: Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks, handheld gaming devices.
The WTM1100 is for WiMAX, the HTM1000 supports HSPA and the LTM1000 is the LTE card. The WiMAX and HSPA cards will be available in Q3 this year, with the LTE card coming during Q4.
From the release:
“As operators continue to deploy higher speed wireless networks to accommodate for growing consumer demand for mobility, there are opportunities for manufacturers and operators to roll out a wide range of low-power consumer electronics to enhance today’s mobile lifestyles,” said Gary Koerper, vice president of Engine Systems for Motorola Mobile Devices. “We look forward to working with the leaders in the wireless broadband ecosystem to incorporate high-speed broadband into more devices. This initiative allows us to tap our rich history of developing reliable wireless data cards to push forth the next evolution of wireless broadband. We are committed to growing the ecosystem so more consumers can enjoy the benefits of high-speed broadband connectivity on any device, anytime, anywhere.”
What we think?
Motorola has that reputation for being the company that trailblazes new territory, but doesn’t profit from it. I can’t help but think the same thing’s going to happen here. The number of operational 4G networks worldwide is still tiny. There are currently huge dives going on worldwide to create more 4G networks, but most won’t be ready for a while yet. The Telenor/Tele2 4G network won’t be ready till 2013, while MetroPCS is hoping to be ready by the end of 2010. This just seems like a really big push for a product that doesn’t work yet. Another way of looking at it is that Motorola has such faith in the success of 4G that it’s happy to jump early – and hopefully it’s confidence will pay off.
