The first products from Intel and Compaq, which will be compatible with third generation (3G) mobile technology, will appear towards the end of 2003 and 2004. But this technology would initially be far too expensive for consumers, according to the firms.
Senior Compaq and Intel executives told a conference at Intel's Leixlip headquarters this week that customers were beginning to ask when 3G devices would become available, although no firm orders had been placed yet.
Mr Antoine Barre, director of mobile computing at Compaq, said it would make 3G products when customers asked for them. "I don't see that happening until the second half of 2003 and then more broadly in 2004."
Compaq's iPaq range of personal digital assistants has proved extremely popular and is considered to be a major driver of mobile computing services. Some analysts have predicted that a shortage of 3G devices could inhibit the uptake of the technology.
But Mr Barre said the $23 billion question was whether people would pay for 3G. Eighty per cent of people use devices in restricted areas such as trains or hotels and could use other wireless technologies for access, he added.
Local area networks using unlicensed spectrum such as 802.11 could be used to supply high-speed internet services to laptops and devices at shorter ranges than 3G. The issue was whether the traffic generated from 3G users would be enough to justify the spend on networks, he said.
Mr Barre said the price of early 3G services was likely to be too expensive for consumers. "I think that as general packet radio service spreads out these costs will go down, but 3G will be at quite a premium at the beginning," he added. "What will make it happen is commercial customers who will see the value in paying for these services."
The type of 3G services which will be attractive to corporate customers include video conferencing and streaming powerpoint presentations, he added.
Mr Mike Bonello, European mobile marketing director at Intel, said the firm had no timescale yet to develop silicon for 3G products and was focusing on other technologies which were currently available such as 802.11.
Intel is also working on chips that would make mobile computing simpler by enabling seamless roaming on different technologies, he said.
Intel, which recently launched a new communications chip architecture called Xscale, is aggressively targeting the mobile sector and hopes to have its chips embedded in mobile phones later this year. Mr Bonello would not disclose when this would happen.
The first third generation mobile services are unlikely to appear in the Republic until 2005, according to analysts.
