The things we could do with the Opel WiMAX network, if....

Stuart Corner
Friday, 22 June 2007 13:32

Opinion and Analysis

Also in the US this week Motorola released the results of a survey of consumer perceptions of WiMAX. And a curious beast it was, because Motorola did not explain how the questions were framed. WiMAX of course is a technology, not a service, so it seems strange to ask what service they would use a particular technology for when other technologies could do the job equally well.

However, Motorola tells us that "the survey of 601 US Internet-using households was conducted by Centris through a national telephone omnibus survey between May 9-15, 2007. The margin of error for the survey is +4 percent.

For Motorola the focus was very much on mobility. WiMAX was defined to survey respondents as being able to be used while walking or travelling in a car, cab, bus or train, and the Internet connectivity it provided to have the connection speeds of cable or DSL, but with the mobility and roaming of today's cellular networks.

 The consumer survey of Internet users showed that in a mobile setting: nearly half of all those responding would likely use WiMAX to read or respond to e-mail; 31 percent would read or view "live," real-time online media; 28 percent would enjoy mobile entertainment, such as interactive, on demand, mobile TV; and, Another 28 percent said they would use WiMAX to download and listen to music. For business users, there was even more emphasis on mobility. Optus must surely know this sort of stuff, but one wonders did the Government?

Austar and Unwired were/are categorically planning mobile WiMAX services. Opel's thinking is, well, opaque. We are not getting the full story and it is clear from information coming out of the world's most develop WiMAX market that the emphasis is on mobility.