Ericsson, Dell to offer HSPA laptops

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson said Tuesday that it has struck a deal with PC manufacturer Dell, to supply mobile broadband modules for next generation laptops.

Dell said it will offer built in HSPA as part of its laptop portfolio from the second quarter. The module Ericsson is supplying also has a GPS receiver, which could be used together with positioning applications.

Market projections according to the vendors indicate that by 2011, approximately 200 million notebooks will ship annually and Ericsson anticipates that 50 per cent of those notebooks will feature built in HSPA connectivity.

The partnership comes in the wake of a GSM Association initiative to research consumer trends and the mass market potential for notebook PCs with embedded 3G mobile broadband. Towards the end of last year the industry body released research which claimed to have discovered an untapped but addressable market for laptops with built in mobile broadband. Although the research acknowledged that PC manufacturers have yet to deliver the right mobile broadband notebook package, which would feature preconfigured mobile connectivity and mass market appeal with a $500 – $1000 price tag.

“Consumers are increasingly utilising notebooks to access the high-capacity services that they have typically experienced only through a wired or wifi connection,” said Mats Norin, VP of Mobile Broadband Modules at Ericsson.