Mobile WiMAX will compete with HSDPA and EV-DO Rev A/B in the mobile broadband market, but will suffer even more than those technologies due to the slow arrival of compelling notebooks and handsets, says a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media.

"Mobile WiMAX will play a relatively minor role in the mobile broadband market through 2011, largely because Mobile WiMAX notebooks and tablets will not arrive in volume until 2008-09.

Compelling Mobile WiMAX handsets won't arrive until 2010," says Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and co-author of the Future Mobile Broadband report.

"By comparison HSDPA notebooks and handsets are already shipping, which means that the HSDPA device market is one to two years ahead of the Mobile WiMAX device market," Roberts says.

However, WiMAX will gain significant momentum in the fixed, nomadic and portable broadband segments in 2006-11, although many WiMAX subscribers will be using fixed indoor modems rather than mobile devices, Roberts adds.

The strategic report identifies strengths and weaknesses in the emerging mobile broadband ecosystem with comprehensive analysis of key value chain segments including technologies, standards, systems, equipment, chipsets, components, devices, applications and services.

The number of 3.5G mobile broadband subscribers worldwide will boom more than ten-fold from 2.5 million in 2006 to more than 300 million in 2011, but market growth in 2006-07 will be restrained by a lack of compelling devices, according to Informa Telecoms & Media.

“A lack of compelling devices and content led to delayed launches and slow take-up of WCDMA and EV-DO services, and early HSDPA and EV-DO Revision A services are expected to suffer from the very same problems,” says Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and co-author of the Future Mobile Broadband Strategic Report.

Wireless consultant Andy Seybold thinks big city WiFi is a big mistake. In the end, he says, citywide Wi-Fi networks will cost more than projections, encounter more interference and suffer from lack of system reliability.

This week, Intel showed off their Mobile WiMAX Rosedale II chip, which the company hopes will soon be as standard in laptops and handheld devices as Wi-Fi is today. Meanwhile, here's a quick review of the new Nintendo DS Browser.

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