It’s like falling in love with one of those James Bond-like “concept vehicles” at a car show, knowing the chances are slim of it ever going commercial and becoming yours. Well, it’s kind of like that. Or maybe it’s not like that at all. Here’s the deal: Qualcomm Inc. says it plans to make available samples of mobile devices based on the 4G technology known as LTE by the second quarter of next year. Rejoice! But before you get too excited, the vendor cautioned that commercializing the HSPA/LTE multimode option known as the MDM9000 is still up on the air.
LTE is the 4G upgrade path from 3G that many operators have committed to, including AT&T Inc., and is considered to be the key (along with sister/rival technology WiMAX) to providing enough spectrally efficient pervasive mobile broadband to support mainstream adoption of on-the-go rich media applications and an explosion of wireless-capable consumer electronics devices. However, timelines are fuzzy for commercial LTE deployment and the standard itself — which is coming out of the 3GPP — is not fully gelled. Meanwhile, HSPA — the GSM-based 3G iteration that provides 7.2mbps downlinks today ― continues to be deployed and improved, with Ericsson beginning to software-upgrade access gear to be capable of 21mbps in commercial carrier networks. It’s widely considered to be true that LTE/HSPA hybrid networks will be a common topology.
But it remains a question of when operators will adopt a multimode network approach that encompasses both LTE and HSPA, and on which frequencies, and in light of this continuingly shifting mobile broadband landscape, Qualcomm is taking a wait and see approach on the multimodal chip for devices to support those configurations, it said.
We’re still holding on for Qualcomm to create something slick as a device concept, hopefully encompassing titanium, touch screens and maybe the ability to fly or go amphibious or something even the most innovative auto designers can envy.
