In an effort to gain a significant presence within the burgeoning netbook market, Ericsson has released details of a new HSPA module it 
claims has been optimised for use within these miniature laptops. The company also says it has gone to the extra effort of pre-certifying the new chipset in 75 countries and with major operators' networks.
The new module, labelled the F3307 and available this August, has been engineered to conserve battery power together with an eye to keeping the chipset affordable for netbook manufacturers. Ericsson says it covered off another important element by working with Intel and Microsoft to ensure interaction with Intel's next-gen netbook platform, Pine Trail-M, and with the upcoming Windows 7. This involvement of Intel comes after the breakdown of its previous embedded 3G partnership with Nokia.
"All of these efforts lower the barriers for everyone involved--a faster time to market for manufacturers and operators, and a better experience for users," said Mats Norin, VP and head of Ericsson mobile broadband modules. "We are clearly closer to the vision of mobile broadband everywhere than we were two years ago--this is a very important step as is our efforts to build a strong netbook ecosystem."
The obvious drive behind Ericsson's interest in this sector come from the estimate that more than 300 million netbooks will be sold between 2009 and 2014 with a majority having mobile broadband capabilities--and over 30 per cent of these will be sold via operators.
For more on this story:
- see this press release from Ericsson
- and there articles from xchangemag and ReThink Wireless
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