June in Taipei is always the best time to spot the latest IT trend and to bump into some big heads of IT industry while Computex is taking place. This year’s ritual has been even more flavored with the publicity from the WiMax Expo held at the same time. The public attention is focusing on “WiMax on the move”. The new gen mobile internet, provided by the local WiMax connectivity provider “VMAX”, is now accessible for free on one of the metro lines.
Since the issuing of 6 licenses, WiMax has been a hot topic in Taiwan. The new gen mobile connectivity, aiming to fuse the internet and mobile communication, proposes to redefine the communication industry and to challenge the territory of the traditional operators. Non of the services is officially launched yet but it has lured enough curiosity as the big local operators were hesitating in the license acquisition while a lot of foreign capitals were injected to the new rivals.
4G or WiMax? It is still a question. Will WiMax be a killer application in the market? Or they will just repeat the route of the independent internet service provider to be merged by the operators. As all WiMax providers will roll out their services gradually this year, people in Taiwan will find out soon. For now as the battle horn is blown, the spectators can find a better seat and enjoy viewing the sparks.
