Back on April 11th I wrote about the future of WiMAX and how I see it changing the way we view the Internet.  Since then we have seen some significant movement in the WiMAX space.  Sprint’s XOHM and Clearwire combined their networks to create a mobile broadband company with an investment of $3.2 Billion  from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.  While Sprint still owns the controlling percentage with 51%, it is clear that the other players are taking a interest in furthering this standard.

XOHM has announced that in September 2008 Baltimore will be the company’s first city-wide hot spot.  This means that XOHMers will be able to stay connected to the Internet, at broadband speeds, no matter where there are.  So pick up your laptop and walk out of the office, sit on the couch or drive down to the park, it won’t matter, because even driving across the city you will have access via the XOHM 4G network.  (The 4G means ‘fourth generation’.)  A seed change is about to happen in America, not over night, but slowly we will see major metropolitan cites joining the rank of the gifted with these city wide 4G networks.

Some very interesting things were mentioned in the press release that Sprint put out:

1. Intel will work with manufacturers to embed WiMAX chips into Intel(R) Centrino(R) 2 processor technology-based laptops and other Intel-based mobile Internet devices, and will market the new company’s service in association with Intel’s performance notebook PC brand.

So this means that Intel will work to expand the number of devices that can connect out of the box to the WiMAX 4G networks.   Cameras, phones, laptop, mobile internet devices and even the ones we have yet to realize we need.

2. Google will partner with the new Clearwire in the development of Internet services, advertising services and applications for mobile WiMAX devices. In addition, Google will be the search provider and a preferred provider of other applications for the new Clearwire’s retail product.

Google, by buying in to this new venture, has made sure that they are in the thick of any advertising agreements with the WiMAX carrier.  I imagine Google is hungry to be the advertiser that has reach to the street level, not just the home PC or the office when it comes to online advertising.

3. Google will partner with the new Clearwire on an open Internet business protocol for mobile broadband devices. The new Clearwire will support Google’s Android operating system software in its future voice and data devices that it provides to its retail customers.

We will have to see how this plays out for Google’s Android, but it doesn’t hurt anything either.

4. Sprint and Google have also entered into an agreement related to Sprint’s mobile services, whereby Google will become the default provider of web and local search services, both of which will be enabled with location information, for Sprint. Sprint will also preload several Google services – including Google Maps for mobile, Gmail and YouTube – on select mobile phones and provide easier access to other Google services.

I think this one is huge for Google, and likewise, for Sprint too.  Sprint has had to sit back and watch the flock of people walk in to AT&T to grab up the iPhones, perhaps this will offer them some more compelling reasons to shop the Sprint network once the Android phones hit the market.  Imagine your Android Google phone being on the 4G network at all times. Your company will not send your a page that the report is done, rather they will email you the entire report and you will have it on your phone.  Perhaps you won’t even have to burn your cell phone minutes to talk, but instead just use some VoIP application to talk.

Add to this the recent announcement that Sprint, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel Corporation, and Samsung Electronics have joined forces to create the Open Patent Alliance to aid in accelerating the adoption of WiMAX standards, and we can see the industry starting to coalesce around a real standard.  The OPA will pool the patents related to the WiMAX technology, act as an education platform for the WiMAX ecosystem and also offer accounting schedules for the memebers.

Hopefully all of this means that we will have devices, from phones and cameras to computers, sitting on the same wireless broadband network.  In fact, I spoke with Susan Johnston at Clearwire and she told me that they have plans to deploy mobile WiMAX service later this year in the following markets: Portland, Oregon; Las Vegas, Nevada; Atlanta, Georgia; and Grand Rapids, Michigan.  While I do not see Oklahoma City on this list, I am still excited.

Matt

p.s. Hey Susan, Oklahoma City is really cool too!