Lenovo embeds Verizon Wireless gear (Shenzhen Daily/Agencies) Updated: 2005-09-22 14:15
Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's third-largest personal computer maker, will
sell laptop computers equipped with Verizon Wireless Internet access technology
beginning Oct. 11.
Lenovo will be the first computer maker to integrate Verizon Wireless's
mobile broadband technology into laptops, the companies said in a statement
Wednesday. Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., the two largest computer makers,
said yesterday they plan similar moves next year.
Beijing-based Lenovo, which bought International Business Machine Corp.'s
money-losing PC business in May for US$1.25 billion, plans to include
connections to Verizon Wireless's updated network in new ThinkPad Z60m machines
as part of a plan to boost U.S. notebook sales. Verizon Wireless aims to use its
400 to 700 kilobits per second broadband service, available in 61 U.S. markets,
to attract businesses looking for wireless devices for employees who work from
home or in field locations.
Users must activate the service through Bedminster, New Jersey- based Verizon
Wireless and pay a monthly fee of US$60-US$80. The second-largest U.S.
mobile-phone services company is driving sales at Verizon Communications Inc.,
providing 42 percent of Verizon's second-quarter revenue. New York-based Verizon
shares ownership of Verizon Wireless with U.K.-based Vodafone Group Plc.
Verizon Wireless has spent about US$1 billion to extend its so-called
third-generation wireless network across the United States to support a
technology called Evolution-Data optimized, or EV-DO. Verizon Wireless plans to
make the technology, which transmits data at speeds 10 times faster than its
older system, available to 150 million people in the United States by the end of
2005.
Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, has spent $1
billion to expand its EV-DO network. Sprint began selling its high-speed service
in 34 markets in July.
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