3GWeek - Asia’s Mobile News

Nokia is planning for connecting laptops, taking on current market leader, Huawei Technologies. The largest mobile manufacturer will start shipping its first Internet modem stick in early 2009, using its experience and how-know in 3G technologies.

Tapio Markki, vice president for hardware platform components at Nokia, told that their side is going to win the battle for Internet stick modem as the market grows rapidly.

Leveraging these capabilities, we believe we are well-positioned to become one of the winning providers for HSPA modem solutions. The market for HSPA modems is expected to grow very rapidly during the coming years

Nokia declined to comment on the price of the device — which uses HSPA, a super-fast 3G technology — saying it would be sold mostly through operators and bundled with services.

Strategy Analytics said it expects the global market for so-called “dongles” — external USB modems and PC cards — to grow to 26 million units next year from 20 million this year.

Nokia first wanted to enter the business in the late 2006 as Intel agreed to sell as part of its next-generation Centrino Duo mobile technology platform. But in early 2007, the agreement is cancelled.

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