Ericsson teams up with Dell on mobile

Ericsson, the mobile technology company, has announced a deal with Dell that will see its mobile broadband modules appear in Dell's next generation laptops.

The quad-band HSDPA modules will enable owners of Dell laptops to access the internet wherever they have mobile phone network connectivity, without having to rely on Wi-Fi hotspots or external dongles.

While mobile broadband dongles are proving very popular right now , having mobile brand integrated into the notebook itself offers several benefits, such as superior downloading and uploading performance and reduced battery drain.

Eva Sparr, marketing director for Ericsson mobile broadband modules, told IT PRO why it believed integrated modules were better options than external dongles. "They offer greater simplicity, there's nothing to lose or break and it's all right there out of the box. All the user has to do is activate it."

The Ericsson modules will also integrate GPS chips, though it is up to the OEM how these are used and what applications they will be partnered with.

Sparr said: "When we started with the development work on the modules we saw that there was a big interest in GPS and the possibilities it gave for location based services. We're certainly seeing a trend towards this type of use."

Sparr added that integrated HSDPA and GPS could be found relatively soon in future iterations of devices such as the Asus Eee PC and new form factors such as MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices).

"We normally see these technologies start in the enterprise market in the first wave, reach consumers in the second and then hit other types of devices," said Sparr. "However, [with HSDPA] we could see the latter two happen at the same time and not long after the first. It's the same as with Wi-Fi - years ago it was an add-on but now people expect it inside every laptop."