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New Mobile Phone Technology Leapfrogging iPhone
Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 4:00 PM - by John Martellaro
Mobile phone technology is moving fast. So fast that decisions Apple made six months ago may impact the success of the iPhone three months from now, according to The Economist on Friday.
A few months ago, we were fawning and drooling over Apples iPhone. But the phone thats catching peoples attention now is the "Ocean" from Helio, another newbie in the business.
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"In many ways Helio has out-Appled Apple. The start-up�launched less than a year ago as a joint venture between SK Telecom of South Korea and Earthlink, an American internet-service provider�caters to young trendsetters who appreciate ease of use and cutting-edge design," The Economist said.
At the recent CTIA show in Orlando, the Ocean won praise for is ingenious design and functional integration. Whats more, with a separate processor to display media, the Ocean claims 15 hours of playing time.
But thats the least concern for Apple. Whats changing is the wireless technology that the Helio phone utilizes, called Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO). This technology, according to the article, "renders Apple�s iPhone an also-ran. Mobile experts have been mystified by Apple�s decision to use Cingular�s EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) network when far better wireless communications methods abound."
EDGE is capable of about 75 to 135 Kbps while EV-DO networks used in Japan as well as Verizon and Sprint in the U.S. offer about 450 to 800 kbps. The lower speed of EDGE means that iPhone users will have to depend on Wi-Fi for anything but a phone call or e-mail. Qualcomm has been testing on EV-DO enhancements that could bring 3 Mbps down the road.
All this, however, pales in comparison to WiMAX (802.16) which is a 4G technology capable of about 100 Mbps. Intel, Sprint, and the European Union are throwing their weight behind WiMAX, and the momentum is building for this new and very inexpensive technology compared to other systems.
That has left the author wondering: "Why Apple should have hitched its wagon to so fading a star shows how quickly even the most talented of companies can be blinded by today�s blistering pace of wireless innovation."
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