Wirelessnorth.ca

As first we wrote about back in April, there’s a mini revolution going on in mobile computing. Cheap and cheerful netbooks are outstripping even Intel’s expectations who can barely make enough of the Atom chips most commonly used to power the things.

This is a shot of the just announced Dell unit released to compete with the Asus Eeepc, MSI Wind, Acer whatever it’s called and many others. At an entry price of $399 for a featherweight mobile pc with (just) enough power to run firefox and any web app, a proper keyboard, and substantially more screen resolution of the best mobile phone, what’s not to like?

Here’s the thing though, all of these are coming out in Canada as wifi-only machines… where’s the 3G? This is a pc that cries out for mobile broadband, the perfect knee-top mobile computer for the streetcar or passenger seat etc.

With netbooks starting at $399, throw in a $200 carrier subsidy on a reasonable 3G contract and you would have had a hell-of-a back to school offer…

maybe in time for Christmas?

Link: Vodafone to market Dell Inspiron Mini 9 with built-in 3G on September

UPDATE / FOR EXTRA CREDIT: $399 – $200 subsidy= $199. Thanks to moore’s law the shiny new $399 pc will be $199 anyway in just a year or two. Here’s the point: Imagine a world where laptop computers cost less a pair of shoes. How many computers will you have? How many computers will everyone else have? What’s your mobile broadband strategy in such a world?

Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra, one of the largest service providers in Australia recently gave an interview on BusinessWeek, highlighting the success they have experienced with Data services, with 80% growth in data revenues! (not including SMS traffic, with 20% growth). So why should anyone in Canada be interested in an Australian network? For one reason, a number within the Rogers fold think there are many similarities between the two nations – geographic, economic and telecom fundamentals (?). So maybe there are a few lessons we need to learn and emulate to achieve similar success in data penetration and usage.

What is interesting to highlight are the reasons for the growth that Telstra has experienced:

• Infrastructure Investment in rolling out a technically superior network, with data rates reaching 14Mbps!
• Application: relevant and practical, that the consumer may actually be interested in. For instance, promoting data applications in outbacks where farmers can monitor their stock/land/crop through video riding off of the network. Given the large tracts of agricultural land with a small population, remote sensing and monitoring is a compelling application.
• Affordable rates : Is it a coincidence that the high data usage and growth being experienced are in some way stimulated by lower data rates? I would like to guess so. Compare the 5cents/Kb in Canada (Rogers) to the .025Cents/Kb offered by Telstra. And this includes “tethered” usage, currently charged at a premium by Rogers.
• Open Access : going beyind the walled-garden approach excercised by operators here to a free reign model. The motto being – give the customers the content they want and are looking for, rather then sandboxing them into content they dont. The success of the internet was not built on portals.

But the most important reasoning of all – believing that a strong business model for mobile data exists and taking the leap to provide consumer centric offerings. The right business model is certainly not an easy thing to build or come across, but it does exist as proven by Telstra. Maybe we need to send some of our folks down-under to do a study …..

In today’s news, UK operators T-Mobile and 3 UK have announced that they are going to share their 3G networks. The reason? to combine coverage areas and density as they roll out mobile broadband across the isles. Far ahead of Canada, the mobile broadband market is cooking in the UK.

“The arrival of HSDPA over the last 18 months, together with flat rate data plans has broken the cycle. HSDPA at last provides a user experience close to users’ expectations of broadband, and flat rate pricing gives users more confidence in their bill.”

It gets better, from the tech blog the inquirer:

Consequently, USB 3G modems for 3G are selling like hotcakes. 3 totally ran out of its 3G modem only recently. Plus data traffic over 3G is rising very rapidly. At last.

3′s product page for mobile broadband, shows 1GB plans starting at 10pounts ($20CAD) a month. Complete with a cute USB dongle. Yes they even call it a dongle. You can dress up your dongle as sexy as you like.

Meanwhile, back in the colonies, Rogers and Fido have just recently rolled out HSDPA service in select
geographies. You may recall that Fogers have thought to use this would-be game changing technology to offer innovations as compelling as: video calls to any other Rogers/Fido subscriber on up to 3 compatible handsets, AND streaming “vision” content of any number video files specially pre-selected by the Rogers marketing department. What joy.

When will real, ubiquitous and open mobile broadband come to Canada? When will Canada ever be a world leader in wireless access? Only time, and maybe the stiff boot of a spectrum auction or two to the industry, will tell.

link: Why cellular network sharing makes sense – the inquirer