Putting broadband radio modules in laptops and notebooks to make them mobile could be the new killer application for the PC industry.
 

Mats Norin, head of Ericsson's product area Mobile Broadband Modules, says this is how PC manufacturers can sell more devices, and how Ericsson could make the whole world of consumer electronics mobile.
 

Building on WiFi behavior, Ericsson believes there will be three waves of embedding mobile broadband based on HSPA in consumer electronics. The first is HSPA in notebooks for business users; the second is HSPA in notebooks for consumers; and the third is HSPA in other consumer electronics, such as navigation, car entertainment, gaming, cameras and so on.
 

"This is a clear trend that was demonstrated at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in January this year," Norin says.
 

Wireless connectivity was there, but almost invisible to the hundreds of thousands visitors to CES. Connectivity is becoming a natural and embedded part of many consumer electronics devices: home networking, in-vehicle technology, game consoles, cameras and much more.
 

The partnership with Lenovo is the first announced contract for Ericsson's broadband modules, which will be embedded in Lenovo's ThinkPad notebooks. However, Lenovo is not the only customer for these modules. Ericsson is now working with three of the top seven PC manufacturers worldwide, Lenovo included.
 

"Our goal is that 50 percent of all shipped notebooks in 2011 will include HSPA," Norin says. "And the development of the total ecosystem means much more; this is Ericsson's way of creating a mass market for mobile broadband."
 

Ericsson's embedded broadband modules are using HSPA technology (but also supporting GSM, GPRS and EDGE) offering top speeds of 7.2Mbps in the downlink and 2.0Mbps for the uplink.
 

For operators, more notebooks with mobile broadband modules mean more data traffic. Therefore, Ericsson is assisting the notebook makers in creating win-win business models with operators.