The number of mobile broadband subscribers is expected to surpass 1.5 billion by 2015. Although the majority of the folks will connect to the Internet using their smartphones, a number of them will do so via their tablet, netbook and laptop computers.
The mentioned non-phone products sport cellular modems that allow users to connect to the operator’s mobile data networks. These modems come in variety of form-factors, including PC Cards, USB modems, internal mini-cards and mobile hotspot routers. USB dongles are obviously leading the way, as they are easy to carry around and convenient to use.
ABI also points out to new products with somewhat innovative form factors. One example is Huawei’s E583C, which works both as a USB modem and portable hotspot, providing download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5.76 Mbps. Furthermore, there are Sierra Wireless’s Aircard 250U and Franklin Wireless’s U600 USB modems that support 4G data access using mobile WiMAX.
LTE-based modems are still not widely available, but we do know every major vendor will have a compatible product in time for the LTE network rollouts…
And you can get additional information from ABI Research’s “Cellular Modem Product Tracker” service.