Nokia shipping WiMax phones in 2008

Nokia announced this week it expects to start selling mobile devices using WiMAX Internet technology in early 2008.

WiMAX allows very high-speed Internet access from laptops, phones or other mobile devices over greater distances than previous technologies.

Nokia’s closest rival in the handset market, U.S. based Motorola, also plans to bring its first WiMAX enabled mobile phone to the market in 2008.

Intel, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola all support the open-standard WiMAX as an alternative wireless broadband Internet connection alongside third generation mobile telephony networks, on which Internet access can be slowed if networks fill up with voice callers.

WiMAX will make wireless broadband much cheaper to deliver — up to 10 times cheaper than current third-generation cellular telephony networks. But, while it provides fast Internet access, it is not very well suited for wireless voice calls.

Source: Reuters

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