First
day of CTIA has kicked off and Dell is once again in the news courtesy of a
couple of companies we work closely with to deliver simple, reliable and
flexible wireless access to the internet. This morning Qualcomm issued a press
release underscoring its commitment to incorporate support for the latest 3G
and upcoming 4G networks in their Gobi
chipset. Dell was an early
supporter of Gobi, and today we offer Gobi mobile broadband as an option
on a large portion of our laptops and netbooks. Qualcomm's commitment to ensuring
that it's optimized to work with the newest 3G networks makes this feature an
even better investment for globetrotting digital nomads.
For
those of you who are not familiar with Gobi, it is a mobile broadband wireless
technology that allows for seamless switching between different wireless
standards. Talking about wireless
networks often reminds me of a nice big bowl of alphabet soup – the
conversation is littered with references to EVDO, UMTS, CDMA, HSPA, GSM etc.
All most of us know is that an AT&T phone won't benefit from being located
next to a Verizon tower and vice versa. When you travel outside the U.S. this
becomes an even bigger issue, with a lot of regions polarizing to one wireless
standard. That's where the magic of Gobi steps in – basically supporting
different standards with one mobile broadband card, providing the flexibility
to connect just about anywhere, anytime.
Speaking
of 4G, Clearwire announced today that beginning April 1, the Dell Inspiron Mini
10 netbook with built-in 4G technology (a.k.a. WiMAX) will be available for purchase
through select CLEAR retail locations, telesales and www.clear.com. The Mini 10 will be available
for $249.99 after instant rebate. As
many of you know, Lionel is a big
fan of WiMAX, and I know he had a lot of fun spot testing throughput on the
Clear network at a variety of locations during SXSW.
Check
back this afternoon for more updates.