BANGALORE, INDIA: This week, the GSMA announced a new mobile broadband service mark which, like 'Intel Inside', will be placed on devices to help customers identify laptops and other devices which are mobile broadband (essentially HSPA) ready.

Additionally, the initial sixteen companies involved have earmarked global marketing spend of more than $1 billion to promote the service mark.

Is a mobile broadband awareness campaign necessary?
The GSMA has launched what is essentially an awareness campaign to help drive take-up and use of mobile broadband on laptops and other non-handset type devices.

Yet mobile broadband uptake is already growing rapidly without it. It could be argued that any promotion is better than nothing, but it looks a lot like the initiative is designed as a defensive move against WiMAX branding.

The 'mobile broadband' badge is designed to help make it easier for buyers to identify devices which can connect to mobile data networks as easily as handsets do for voice. But surely it is already in the best interests of device vendors and operators to do this anyway?

Of the sixteen companies involved in the initiative's launch all are already working together on embedded products. How does a sticker help?

Who will the service mark help? How will we know?
For a sticker to drive user buying decisions it needs industry wide support. The GSMA will need to quickly get other laptop manufactures such as HP, Apple, Sony, Panasonic, NEC, and Fujitsu on board.

Additionally the largest barriers to embedded laptop connectivity for OEMs are complexity in the solution and the costs to embed. According to the GSMA, the current cost to build-in HSPA connectivity is ~$70 and it expects that to get to as low as ~$40 by next year. The only way this service mark will keep this number heading south is to increase volumes.