Analysis: Will a broadband sticker do the trick?

Founded in 1987, The GSM Association (GSMA) is a global trade association representing more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators the world.

In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as associate members.

Nathan Burley, analyst at Ovum told CRN the service mark is a sticker which might say “Intel Inside”, placed on devices to help customers identify laptops and other devices which are mobile broadband ready.

Additionally, the initial 16 companies involved have earmarked a global marketing spend of more than US$1 billion to promote the service mark.

“This is a global initiative and consumers in Australia will be impacted in the same way as other markets,” he said.

“Laptop OEMs will roll out products with the service mark globally, including in Australia.”

According to Burley, when consumers go to buy a laptop (or other supported device), it may now have a sticker on it, which shows if it supports mobile broadband or not.

“For local resellers and managed service providers it is designed to clearly show users which products support mobile broadband. This is meant to drive buying decisions and also potential demand,” he said.

“It means consumers do not need to understand what HSPA, HSPA+, LTE, and potentially evolved EDGE means but instead know the device will provide an anywhere mobile broadband experience.”

However, Burley said for a sticker to drive user buying decisions it needs industry wide support. The GSMA will need to quickly get other laptop manufactures such as HP, Apple, Sony, Panasonic, NEC, and Fujitsu on board.

“The largest barriers to embedded laptop connectivity for OEMs are complexity in the solution and the costs to embed it,” he claimed.

“According to the GSMA, the current cost to build-in HSPA connectivity is $70 and it expects that to get to as low as $40 by next year. The only way this service mark will keep this number heading south is to increase volumes.”

Burley questioned whether or not the initiative brings more co-ordinated promotional activity.

“If additional spend applies, then could the money have been better spent? The GSMA could have co-ordinated subsidies to drive volumes and lowered embedding costs by $100 for 10 million laptops,” he said.

“There is also a question as to how the GSMA is going to measure the initiative’s effectiveness.

“If mobile broadband is already growing and operators and vendors are already spending on marketing, how will the GSMA know the initiative has been successful?”

According to Burley, one thing that the announcement does highlight is the growing availability of embedded laptops.

“To date, laptops have predominantly been connected by USB modems (or ‘dongles’). However, the GSMA’s vision is to eventually build in connectivity into as many laptops as possible,” he said.

“Nonetheless, migration to embedded laptops will not occur overnight. First and foremost, the replacement cycle of a laptop is longer than that of a mobile phone, slowing uptake.”

“Embedded laptops are also more expensive and less flexible than a USB modem. A modem can be pooled for enterprise use, but a laptop is per person.”

However he wondered if this meant that a laptop was redundant if the service provider changed.

“An operator involved in the initiative told us last week that it believed that two thirds of mobile broadband access will still be via modem in two years time,” said Burley.

“That means over 30 percent for embedded laptops, a major increase compared to today, but they will remain in the minority. They’ll have a nice sticker on, though.”

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