"Sprint will offer a Mobile WiMAX-enabled version of Nokia's N800 Internet Tablet to North American customers next year, LinuxDevices has learned. The new device will support Sprint's grand scheme of making WiMAX-based 4G wireless services available to over 100 million people during 2008."

"At the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco this week, LinuxDevices spoke with Dr. Ari Jaaksi (photo at right), Nokia's director of open source. Asked if the combination of VoIP and Mobile WiMAX might cannibalize Nokia's mobile phone business, Jaaksi replied, "WiMAX could change the cellular landscape; however, it's a question of the maturity of the technology, and how it will be priced."

He added that he thought it important for Nokia to investigate new technologies, noting that "Linux is ideal for that."

Jaaksi said the WiMAX-enabled N800 would "most probably" include WiFi and Bluetooth as well. He felt that interference problems could be minimized, noting, "We had the same interference with Bluetooth and WiFi initially, but we solved that."

Labels: nokia, sprint