The Femto Forum’s Femtozone at CES 2010 effectively marked femtocells’ “coming out” to a mass market audience. The Femtozone returned for CES 2011 and as a member company representative I had the chance to work in the booth. At CES you meet a wide variety of people, mostly from outside the mobile communications industry, so it’s a good barometer of the wider perceptions of femtocells and where they fit.
A year ago, the overwhelmingly most asked question was “what is a femtocell?” This year, we still hear that, but markedly less. Many people entering the booth already know about femtocells, and a not insignificant number already have them. They came to the booth to find out what is new, or when a 4G model will available. And yes, even a few complained of femtocell problems – to be expected with over 350,000 now installed in the U.S. alone.
Femto Forum Chairman Simon Saunders instructs a skeptical but willing apprentice Andy Germano (FF Vice-Chair) on the benefits of the five bar lifestyle.
The Femto vs. Wi-Fi religious wars seem to have ended peacefully. More people are more aware of the fact that while these two technologies overlap, they are not perfect substitutes for each other.
In a move reminiscent of last year’s femtoJack announcement, Picochip announced a reference design for a femtocell in a USB form factor, to take advantage of the USB slots that are becoming more and more prevalent in home routers and gateways. However unlike the femtoJack, Picochip’s module stands a chance of actually coming to market, as it would use a standard service bought through one’s mobile operator.
Commercial femtocells on display in the FemtoZone. At lower right is the Sprint AIRAVE unit made by Airvana.
Speaking of business models, there is a lot of talk of that as well. I spoke with people in the booth exploring MVNO models, use in office buildings, and legalities of deploying outside the operator’s geography.
The underlying implication is that femtocells are now an accepted product category and the discourse has moved on to normal business: market strategies and what will the next product releases have in store.
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