Swinging through the Microsoft booth on the last day of Mobile World Congress, I happened to catch sight of their display promoting the Mobile Broadband PC concept. The concept is pretty simple: take an ordinary laptop and sell it equipped with a 3G modem. Who wouldn’t want always on connectivity plus mobility, right?
Give Microsoft credit for this one, though. They’ve done a ton of research into consumer demand, built programs to allow the software to be leased on a monthly basis like cell phone service and more. And the vendors are sitting up and taking notice. At the booth they showed two PC’s – one shipping from Dell and one a prototype. A half dozen more were also being shown at the GSMA pavilion.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Microsoft is doing some impressive work in this area. Hope people take notice.