Its like the boy who cried wolf. For the nth time Intel has outlined its WiMAX roadmap. Sean Maloney, head of Intel’s mobility group, told VNU Net that 802.16d WiMax chipsets are now shipping, and that enhanced 802.16e equipment will arrive shortly. (Its a really long shortly!) Maloney added that WiMAX capable laptops are going to be available next year, and by 2008/2009 the company would combine Wi-Fi and WiMax into a single chip, and volume productions would bring the prices down to $25. Maloney dissed 3G technologies saying it has a future, but its a fragmented technology. You gotta be kidding me – maybe this lack of even the basics is the reason Intel struggles in mobility chips.

“3G has a future but it’s a fragmented technology with no global standard,” he claimed. “It’s not designed for high bandwidth applications but there’ll always be a market for voice and medium speed data services.”

Just to set the record straight, 3G networks are operational, and WiMAX is still a roadmap. (Fixed Wireless is a different story!) The WiMAX Ready networks of Intel investments like Clearwire are no faster than some flavors of 3G.