Wi-Fi can give smartphone users extended coverage and lower costs
iPass, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAS), a long-time leader in providing mobility services to some of the world’s largest companies, today announced service availability for Windows Mobile 6 devices. Users of the iPass Mobile Office service for enterprises and iPassConnect™ mobility service for individuals can now connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi using their Windows Mobile 6 smartphone and handheld devices. iPass plans to support the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch later this year and intends to support Wi-Fi-enabled Blackberry devices as well.
“The popularity of consumer-driven handheld devices changes the paradigm for enterprise IT by allowing people to be productive using Web-based applications through their own smartphone,” said Joel Wachtler, VP of marketing and strategy at iPass. “IT cannot ignore these devices, and instead must ensure that workers can be productive using them and that they don’t create an unreasonable burden for the business through expensive connectivity, poor security, or high support costs. iPass’ mission is to simplify the growing complexity of enterprise mobility, and expanding support to these platforms is a key element of our strategy.”
With more than 100,000 business-class hotspots worldwide, (also announced today), iPass Wi-Fi connectivity gives smart phone users a high performance, inexpensive alternative to 2.5G and 3G access provided by cellular providers. For international business travelers, the cost savings can be especially significant when they use Wi-Fi to avoid the high roaming fees mobile operators charge for out-of-country usage. In one recent, well-publicized incident*, a UK-based smartphone user was billed more than $22 thousand dollars by their cellular provider for downloading large data files in Germany.
In addition, the iPass Wi-Fi network can deliver broadband access in places where 3G doesn’t reach. Because 3G networks are normally rolled out first in metropolitan areas, those outside the city must often rely on modem-like 2.5G technology, or may have no cellular data coverage at all. Even in large cities, high-speed coverage isn’t ubiquitous. Tests conducted by industry analyst and wireless benchmarking firm Novarum show that true 3G connections are available only 60-70% of the time in major U.S. urban centers, due to hills, trees and other obstacles to reception. Lastly, 3G performance can degrade rapidly when in-building, and in these cases it may be the local Wi-Fi hotspot or WLAN that provides the only viable Internet access option.
