Convergence Conversation

Tech battle - WiMax or LTE

There's nothing quite like a good tech battle.

Having worked with Mozilla for five years now, I'm ecstatic to see browser innovation reignited to everyone's benefit, Web user and developer alike. There's no longer a "browser war", just good web standards compliant innovation all round.  But the battle had to be waged to get us to where we are today.

But not all battles end in a heterogenous marketplace. Witness Blu Ray versus HD-DVD. Saying that, it's not clear that in the age of ubiquitous always-on broad Internet connectivity that any physical format will win out this particular battle. All along, whilst mega-bucks were being thrown around to convince the movie studios to back one disc over another, non-physical multimedia downloading and streaming grew and grew.

Do you actually know anyone with a Blu Ray player other than in a Sony PlayStation? Do you know anyone with a PVR-device and movies on-demand? Exactly.

WiMax .v. LTE

So what about next generation wireless connectivity? The battle lines are being drawn yet many tech firms continue to back both horses publicly. Is it WiMax or LTE? Or are they complementary?

I've been inspired to read up on this recently following my attendance at this year's Mobile World Congress. A number of innovations and demonstrations excited the geek within at the show, not least of which were LG's watch phone, Qualcomm Snapdragon netbooks and a Texas Instruments OMAP4 netbook demo running Ubuntu and 1080p video. (The only image I can find of the latter is one I posted to my marketing blog here.)

But Ericsson did something rather special. They had set up three LTE masts and streamed HD video live over LTE from a van driving around Barcelona. Gob smacking. Sure Ericsson had all their WiMax kit at the show too, but you just couldn't help but read between the lines where they think the future might lie.

Which will out? I have no idea! But I have found some great reading to which I've provided links below if this is of interest to you. I hope you find them interesting. And if there's any other analysis or insight you'd like to flag to me and all the Convergence Conversationists, please comment here or linkback.  Cheers.

GIGAOM - LTE vs WiMAX: A Little 4G Sibling Rivalry

European Communications - WiMax and LTE - Either or both?

InformationWeek - 100 Operators Could Launch WiMax This Year

Network World -LTE-WiMAX contest winner could be HSPA+ for now

PCWorld - WiMax and LTE Supporters Prepare for Battle

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Disclosure: ARM is a client, and the Qualcomm and Texas Instruments innovations described above are ARM powered. But if you're interested, I'd have still highlighted them!

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Image source: KayVee.INC