The Story of 2009 Will Be 3G

Amid a Smartphone Explosion, WiMAX, LTE Set to Square Off, But HSPA Is Here Now

Major 2008 Wireless Milestones

1. 700 MHz auction ends, AT&T and Verizon are the big winners.

2. Verizon says it’s interested in femtocells.

3. AT&T and Verizon announce 4G LTE plans.

4. Sprint-Nextel Corp. sees profits and subscribers drop off in staggering numbers.

5. Qualcomm Inc. sees the writing on the wall and drops its in-house UMB 4G technology to focus on LTE, setting up WiMAX and LTE as the last 4G rivals standing.

6. The success of the Apple App Store spurs on the discussion of open access and open ecosystems — the key to 4G business models according to the hype.

7. Amid deep financial trouble, Sprint spins off its Xohm WiMAX division to form the “New Clearwire,” a joint venture of Clearwire Corp. and Sprint, with investment from cablecos and Intel Capital.

8. The iPhone 3G takes the world by storm.

9. Smartphone makers start to target consumers in the wake of the iPhone’s success; notably RIM’s BlackBerry.

10. Glenn Lurie is made head of AT&T’s emerging devices unit, focused on going beyond the cell phone into a world of open consumer electronics.

11. Sprint takes commercial femtocell deployment nationwide with the Airave product; the move has the potential to radically expand the carrier’s 3G footprint.

12. Nokia Siemens Networks launches a 3G/4G mobile backhaul offering.

13. The LTE Licensing framework is formed to administer LTE patents.

14. The Open Patent Alliance is formed to pool WiMAX patents.

15. T-Mobile USA and Google launch the G1 handset, the first based on Google’s Linux-based Android OS. It also launches the Android Market, an open application ecosystem. RIM and others say they will follow suit.

16. WiMAX officially launches in Baltimore, with rate plans eerily similar to the 3G business model.

17. HSPA sees surging data subscriber growth.

18. Telus and Bell Canada say they are overbuilding their existing EV-DO networks with HSPA, and eventually will go to LTE. The reason: to prevent rival Rogers from getting all the GSM roaming revenue.

19. AT&T loses a whopping 400,000 landline customers in the third quarter alone.

20. T-Mobile Cameo, the Chumby, and the Amazon Kindle take the spotlight as the first commercial “connected devices.”

21. AT&T says it is testing femtocells.

22. The 3GPP freezes the LTE standard; final ratification expected in March 2009.

23. Ericsson launches commercial 21mbps HSPA in Australia.

24. Verizon moves up LTE deployment date to late 2009.

25. AT&T debuts the first carrier-linked netbook in the United States, available via retailer Radio Shack.

26. AT&T tests 7.2mbps HSPA in Chicago with plans to go to 14.4mbps.

27. Qualcomm Inc. announces an LTE/HSPA multimode chipset to be available for testing by the second quarter of next year.

28. LG says it has created a cell phone-sized LTE chip, installed it in a Windows Mobile-based phone and had it perform at 60mbps.

29. The IEEE says it will facilitate patents pools for all standards.

30. The FCC debates AWS-3 spectrum and passes white space rules.

31. Sprint announces commercial dual-mode WiMAX-EV-DO USB modem

32. Palm Inc. embarks on a strategy to make a comeback in the smartphone world, including OTA access to its applications store and a launch of the new “Nova” OS and related devices at CES in January 2009.

33. Fourth quarter sees an explosion in touchscreen 3G smartphones; consumer interest continues despite economic downturn.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines

Read Comments [1]