India may not feel the Centrino effect

BANGALORE: Intel may have launched its groundbreaking Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) enabled chip, Centrino this week globally but it appears unenthusiastic about the prospects in India. The company did make an India announcement but the market statistics are not working in its favor.

Statistically it is not. Last year the number of notebooks sold in the country was estimated to be 60,000. This is roughly two percent of the global market size. This is "pretty pathetic" according to Intel Corporation, South Asia, general manager for Internet Solutions Group, GB Kumar. "We are not doing as well as we should be(in India)," he said.

Analysts said action on the Centrino front in India can be expected only after nine to ten months. "Even globally the WiFi is not presenting a rosy picture for any market expansion in the immediate future. Although that’s the direction that technology paths are leading, no clear picture is derived or presented," said an analyst.

The silver lining in the clouds is that policy wise India is ready to embrace the technology. Probably for the first time, a policy is in place before the technology is introduced. "The policy in India for WiFi is as good as any other country. The 802.11b are de-licensed and talks are also on to de-license the 802.11a frequency. This is very encouraging," commented Kumar.

Infrastructure-wise, the WiFi does not need a godfather. Kumar said, "It is like the Internet. No one particular company needs to promote it. Once the experience is presented across to the user, it will slowly but steadily catch upon."

To give that experience to the user, Intel has made its Bangalore office WiFi enabled and also plans to provide hotspots during its technology events. It is learnt that Microsoft offices across the country are also WiFi enabled. These are not the only to evangelize the technology. Major hotel chains such as The Taj, Oberoi and certain outlets of Café Coffee Day are also being WiFi enabled according to Kumar.

The momentous task ahead is to accelerate the number of hotspots in the country. No particular count is estimated so far in the country. However, private companies like Sixth Sense Informatics are engaged in setting up hotspots across the country.

The saving grace is that Centrino notebooks will have a negligible price increase. A technological revolution without paying (too much) the price. Now its up to the WiFi chips to leverage the mobile computing market. By the end of 2003, 50 percent of the mobile processor powered computing device is expected to be WiFi enabled. A recent report indicates that Microsoft’s much hyped Tablet PC shipments touched 72,000 globally in the last quarter of 2002 and is expected to grow according to IDC.

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