Clearwire
CEO Bill Morrow took the stage for a keynote at the CTIA wireless association trade show and ended up giving me that impression. In response to questions from the show floor, Morrow noted that he can see the rivaling LTE and WiMAX solutions merging into one technology down the road, and that his network was built to accommodate installing LTE equipment alongside the WiMAX stuff if need be.
These admissions smell like desperation to me. Clearwire is the current leader in 4G technology after getting a leg up on the competition with early installations. Still, Clearwire aims for 120 million potential customers served by the end of the year, while Verizon
AT&T
The fact that the two largest networks in North America are going with LTE should make Clearwire nervous. Since the two 4G technologies are incompatible with each other today, don’t look for many consumer-ready gadgets that can connect to both of them. And since LTE has a much bigger footprint in the not-too-far future, it stands to reason that Clearwire's WiMAX could be the odd technology out in many cases.
Clearwire has the blessing and financial backing of several very smart partners, including Google
The technical feasibility of making LTE and WiMAX sing the same song escapes me, but the fact that Morrow is asking for it makes me nervous for his sake. Will WiMAX make it big or fizzle out, dear Fool? Share your insights in the comment box below, please.