Mobile broadband penny drops for PC firms

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Well it had to happen some time soon. It was rather inevitable that the PC industry would cotton on to the fact that telcos were using their products in order to get first mover advantage in the mobile broadband space.

 

Well one PC vendor who looks like it wants to a bit more of a master of its own destiny is HP who has signed a deal with Orange whereby the two firms will co-distribute and market a range of notebooks and other mobile computing devices each of which will be packaged with mobile and/or fixed broadband access.

 

The penny -or rather more- has finally dropped.

The two firms say that they will define new ways to bring services to customers, from co-marketing activities through to distribution, supply chain and care.

 

As an indications of why HP may want a bigger share of the action, rather than be just another PC supplier in the Orange mobile broadband portfolio of notebooks and netbooks, is the simple fact that demand for mobile broadband has been huge over the last twelve months.

 

Orange's mobile broadband customer base, including smartphone customers, has undergone an 81% increase over the last 12 months, resulting in a total of 23.2 million shipments.

 

For PC firms who probably are kept awake at night at the prospects of factories full of unwanted products thanks to swingeing cuts in corporate PC purchasing such opportunities are manna from heaven. Bank on this type of deal being the first of its kind - maybe even of this week.

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