Qualcomm releases dual-mode laptop broadband card
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Remember the days when you had to buy a USB WiFi card for your laptop? Clearly, those days are far behind us. The newest trend in external modems is broadband cellular cards, and even they are starting to move into the laptop’s shell. The problem is, though, that one card won’t power EV-DO technology — as used by Verizon and Sprint among others — and HSPA — as used by AT&T and T-Mobile. That makes laptop purchases that much more difficult. Qualcomm has a better idea. They’ve developed a card that uses both HSPA and EV-Do technology. So now laptop manufacturers can insert one card and not worry about alienating any potential customers.
“No one else makes a dual-mode 3G data card,” Sanjay Jha, chief operating officer and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Group. “With this Gobi technology, consumers don’t have to make a choice when they buy a laptop. They don’t have to worry whether they’re buying a Verizon laptop or a Sprint laptop.”
This development will not only allow consumers to make better choices, but it will also allow carriers to compete with the emerging WiMax network, which is a one-size-fits-all card, like it’s WiFi sister.
A dual-mode chip simplifies manufacturing. [Hewlett-Packard] and other computer companies will design and manufacture one version of each 3G laptop, Wagner said. That reduces manufacturing costs, which should result in savings that get passed on to consumers, he said.
So there is an added benefit for us consumers. We like lower prices. You do, too? We should be friends!
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