What do WiFi hotspots and phone booths have in common? According to Ericsson (News - Alert), they both represent technologies doomed to obscurity as newer, better technologies take over. Phone booths are already largely obsolete, thanks to the advent of cell phones. WiFi (News - Alert) hotspots may soon follow suit.

 

That’s what Ericsson’s chief marketing officer Johan Bergandahl, said at a Monday event in Stockholm, according to a Monday post by CNet news blogger Marguerite Reardon. What will take the place of WiFi hotspots, then? Wireless broadband.

 

“Hotspots at places like Starbucks are becoming the telephone boxes of the broadband era,” Bergandahl was quoted as saying in an InfoWorld report.

 

Given that the industry event he spoke at was in Europe (European Audit, Control and Security Conference), Bergandahl’s specific predictions regarding wireless broadband had a decidedly old-world perspective. For example, he pointed out that mobile broadband subscriptions in Austria, Denmark and Sweden cost about $31 on average.

 

The InfoWorld report pointed out that Ericsson as an equipment manufacturer now favors High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) over WiFi. The company recently signed a deal for its HSPA technology to be included in Lenovo laptops.

 

All this, of course, raises the question: if wireless broadband is so great, why is its adoption not more widespread? Three things: availability, price and coverage. Such challenges are always inherent for a period of time with any new technology, until its benefits tip the scales.

 

“[The] industry will have to solve the international roaming issue,” Bergendahl admitted in the InfoWorld report. “Carriers need to work together. It can be as simple as paying €10 per day when you are abroad.”

 

Cost might be the biggest barrier to adoption of wireless broadband, at least in the U.S. By way of example, the CNet report pointed out that a 5GB per month download subscription from Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless costs $60. WiFi, on the other hand, is free (or is charged by the hour)—no wonder people cluster at hotspots!

 

Standards are also a problem. CNet noted that different carriers use different access technologies, so that a card from one provider may not work on another provider’s network. Consumers may be accustomed to being locked into the cell phone provider they pick, but feel differently about buying a laptop with embedded wireless broadband that only works with a particular carrier’s network.

 

Qualcomm (News - Alert), however, is tackling the standards problem its Gobi chipset that works with both CDMA2000 EV-DO and UMTS HSPA networks, CNet said. These chipsets are slated to begin appearing in laptops during the second quarter of 2008.

 

In terms of coverage, because wireless broadband is harder to deliver effectively indoors, CNet suggested, carriers may need to adopt a hybrid approach: wireless broadband outdoors with handoff to WiFi indoors. That’s probably the most compelling argument in favor of WiFi not dying out completely.