In the mobile game, it’s all about getting to market – even better if you can get to market before your competitors. Novatel has just announced that Telefonica Spain will be the first wireless carrier in the world to bring the highly-acclaimed Novatel MiFi Intelligent Mobile HotSpot to its GSM market.
The Novatel MiFi 2352 Mobile HotSpot is the GSM variant of the CDMA-based Novatel MiFi 2300 that we first saw late last year. The Novatel MiFi platform provides more than just a mobile hotspot, although, even if it were just a mobile hotspot, we’d be lining up to buy one anyway. The Novatel MiFi Intelligent Mobile HotSpot is a fully self-contained mobile hotspot that not only broadcasts a WiFi umbrella from which your mobile devices can pull down wireless data, it also runs a Linux-based operating system capable of delivering mobile software applications and media. Packed with an integrated GPS receiver and a microSD card slot capable of supporting 16GB microSDHC cards, the Novatel MiFi 2352 proves itself as a portable connectivity hub with true enterprise aspirations.
Novatel’s people tell us that the GSM-based Novatel MiFi 2352 Portable HotSpot uses a tri-band GSM radio to serve up wireless data at up to HSPA data speeds.
Telefonica Spain is on board as the first wireless carrier to offer the Novatel MiFi 2352, nay any MiFi product in general. Unfortunately, pricing is still not available. But, word to the wise, we’d expect to see the MiFi 2352 launching in the $150-$200 price range before carrier subsidies. Does that mean we’ll see the MiFi family of Intelligent Mobile HotSpots hitting market for under $100? We can only hope…