Qualcomm has released a number of specifications for a chipset developed for femotcells. Femtocells (or picocells for business users) have a number of benefits, including better mobile network coverage indoors, where the majority of voice and data traffic occurs; and offloading traffic to a fixed broadband connection, helping to boost mobile network capacity for other users (see our research brief 'Femtocell essential for indoor mobile broadband').
The technical specifications include a number of other, notable features, such as a GPS receiver and the powerful Snapdragon processor, as well as the remark "Potential platform for future applications such as multimedia gateway, routing, etc".
Box or no box - the issue is a subject of debate for a long time in the TV world, where products such as CI+ and CableCard have been integrated with TV sets in an attempt to free the consumer from the need for a set-top box. At the same time a flood of media players have hit the market recently, where a 'connected STB' merges the features of a STB and media player and also gives access to online, over-the-top content (see our research brief 'OTT: distribution as a scenario for operators'). And to make it all the more difficult, this technology also can be built into TVs, as the likes of Philips, LG, Samsung and others have shown.
Still, a 'stand-alone' box seens justified, especially when viewed as a 'media gateway' or 'media hub' for access to all the user's audiovisual content. Whether its on a PC or a iPhone, or somewhere in the 'cloud', a media gateway and a suitable user interface gives access to all the content available for consumption on the screen or device of choice. Building this into the TV suggests that the TV is the only device where content can be consumed. And if the TV doesn't work, then the consumer has a bigger problem them just no picture.
Back to Qualcomm. The remark cited above could lead to a strategic choice by Qualcomm to have such a media gateway work not only as a STB and OTT box, but also as a modem, router and even a femtocell. This takes convergence beyond just fixed and mobile, to also voice and video. Concrete applications still have to be worked out, but the addition of mobile telephony on the input side (alongside all the other content sources) suggests that telephony and video could be further integrated. Time for the developers to get to work.
The question is whether the market is waiting for such as box where 'everything' is converged. To be honest, if there's a market for simple phones, iPods and navigation devices, then there's also a market for smartphones that brings all these functions together like a Swiss Army knife. The only question is whether such a box is more than the sum of its parts.
