Qualcomm Inc. has quietly announced a new embedded chip set named Gobi for laptops. The goal is to provide WAN wireless data connections globally without locking in users to a particular telecommunications carrier.
The Gobi chip set and related software will start shipping in business and consumer notebooks in the second quarter of 2008, Qualcomm said in a news release issued earlier today. Qualcomm executives at the CTIA’s Wireless IT & Entertainment 2007 show would not discuss the announcement yesterday, but left a suggestive “come back tomorrow” sign posted above an empty shelf at the Qualcomm booth.
“This is very important technology,” said James Brehm, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan who was briefed in advance by Qualcomm. The chip set will allow laptop users to cross countries and carriers with broadband wireless data connections not available today, he said.
Today, laptop users can connect with wideband cellular data cards to a particular carrier, with service ranging from $50 to $60 a month. Users with the same technology embedded in the laptop must rely on one carrier for service for the life of the laptop, or until they somehow swap out the embedded device, analysts said.
The new capability of Gobi could pose enormous problems for Sprint Nextel Corp. and its WiMax initiative called Xohm. Gobi will erase complexities of connecting via numerous Wi-Fi hot spots and will even help Qualcomm compete with WiMax technology, Brehm said. “Gobi is a competitor to WiMax and will even mitigate the WiMax factor,” he added.
