The Hindu Business Line : Laptops no longer sole flagbearer for wireless Internet

The Wi-Fi Alliance reports that 90 per cent of laptops are Wi-Fi certified, even in India. However, not all owners access the Internet wirelessly over them, due to various factors: bandwidth availability, quality and cost.

Wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) basically lets you connect to the Internet without needing to plug in a broadband cable. Step into a hotel or café that is a hotspot zone (means a wireless connection has been set up indoors) and you could log into the Internet in a few simple steps. Wi-Fi has a range of 30 metres and offers speeds of about 11 MBps.

Smaller devices such as mobiles and digicams could be more effective at getting users to adopt wireless broadband in the country, observed Mr Frank Hanzlik, Managing Director, Wi-Fi Alliance, who was in the city recently.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is an international body that primarily certifies products for Wi-Fi compatibility.

"The consumer electronics and mobile market will definitely eclipse the PC market. Early signs of this trend are already being seen," said Mr Hanzlik.

Still in infancy

India's wireless broadband scene is still in infancy with only around 400 Wi-Fi hotspots. On the other hand, the Indian consumer electronics market is rising fast. By 2010, analysts say, sales of consumer electronics in India will cross $5.8 billion.

Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying mobiles for Wi-Fi (around 15 mobiles are now Wi-Fi certified, but none are in India), and it is in talks with the GSM Association to certify more. The alliance believes convergence of the Internet and the mobile medium would bring about a radical change for the layperson. The alliance is taking steps to tighten its relationship with Indian carriers, and has begun speaking to operators here via Wipro.

In 2005, 125 million Wi-Fi certified units were shipped, and in 2009-10, 400 million units will be shipped across the world, said Mr Hanzlik. He said with the city going wireless (Bangalore is set to offer wireless Internet to all denizens by 2008), citizens would begin to adopt more gadgets that are capable of connecting to the Internet (such as latest media players and portable printers).

With greater proliferation of such devices, the laptop would be eclipsed as the sole Wi-Fi flagbearer.

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