Nokia and Intel to jointly develop WiMAX products

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Intel, Nokia to Jointly Develop High-Speed Wireless Products

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp., the world's largest maker of semiconductors, will work with Nokia Oyj, the No. 1 maker of cell phones, to develop products that deliver high-speed wireless Internet access over long distances.

Intel will help Nokia produce handsets that operate using so- called WiMAX, Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel's mobility division, said in an interview. He declined to say whether Nokia will use Intel's chips.

The partnership with Espoo, Finland-based Nokia may give Intel deeper inroads into the cell-phone chip market, where the company failed to gain a toehold until this month, when it announced the first handset powered by an Intel signal processor. Wider acceptance of WiMAX is likely to fuel demand for Intel's other semiconductors, such as those used in laptops, Maloney has said.

``This is a nice step forward today because Nokia has a strong set of skills,'' Maloney said. ``It's an open standard and there are, and will be, competitors.''

Intel added to a roster of partnerships that includes AT&T Corp. and BT Group Plc., which plan trial services based on the technology later this year. Nokia intends to sell WiMAX handsets by 2008, though it may introduce them sooner, Maloney said.

Texas Instruments Inc. is Nokia's largest supplier of the processors that control the main functions of cell phones.

Shares of Santa Clara, California-based Intel rose 60 cents to $27.70 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading yesterday. Nokia shares fell 15 cents to 13.79 euros.

Phones, Laptops

WiMAX broadcasts Internet access over radio waves up to 30 miles. It offers download speeds comparable to those over broadband connections sold by phone and cable service providers.

Nokia and Intel plan phones and other devices, such as laptops, that operate on either mobile-phone or WiMAX networks, letting customers use whichever delivers faster access.

Intel is trying to repeat the success it had with the Centrino laptop chip. The company, whose processors power more than 80 percent of the world's personal computers, boosted notebook PC sales beginning in 2003 after investing in technology called wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi.

Consumers embraced Wi-Fi, buying routers and creating wireless networks in homes and offices that linked laptops to the Internet. Wi-Fi works over a radius of about 300 feet.

Intel's Centrino chip package, which integrated the technology into computers, helped cement the company's dominance of the laptop processor market, with a share of 86.3 percent last year, according to IDC.

The company yesterday raised its forecasts for sales and profitability in the second quarter after it got better-than expected demand for notebook chips.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aDBDLSvqgezY&refer=europe

medO

There was an idiot from Nokia on CNBC a few minutes ago talking about the Intel/Nokia WiMAX "joint venture".

Expect nothing from the Nokia end until 2008! Little more than a Nokia publicity stunt?

Nokia are too deep in bed with the over priced 2/3GSM networks to bring a wireless LAN/WAN (eg WiMAX) VoIP phone to market anytime soon.


medO