Verizon Wireless Offers First ExpressCard By Novatel Wireless To Take Advantage Of New Faster Wireless Broadband Network
V740 ExpressCard Features Superior Wireless Broadband Connectivity for Verizon Wireless Customers — Media Contact Info — Townsend Inc. for Novatel Wireless, Inc.
Context & Ripple Effects
The hardware cycle behind Verizon's faster wireless broadband network launch in February 2007 is starting to fill in: six weeks after the network upgrade went live, Novatel Wireless ships the V740, the first ExpressCard modem built to run on it. The move also extends a line Verizon drew a year earlier when it blessed phone-as-modem plans — laptops are now being served two ways, by tethered handsets and by dedicated data cards.
The pickup pattern around this announcement shows how far the story traveled beyond trade press, with consumer-electronics brands like TiVo running Verizon Wireless tie-ins on or about the same date. For Novatel, first-slot status on a freshly upgraded network is the classic modem-supplier prize: every early adopter of the new speeds buys your silicon.
First-order effects
- Verizon's early upgraders get their first native-ExpressCard path to the new network speeds, and business laptop users with ExpressCard slots — displacing older PC Card modems — become Novatel's immediate customer base.
Second-order effects
- Rival modem vendors must field their own ExpressCard-class devices for the upgraded network or cede the launch window to Novatel, while competing carriers face pressure to pair their own next-gen rollouts with exclusive launch hardware.
Third-order effects
- If each network upgrade keeps debuting with a flagship data card, mobile broadband hardens into a standard laptop feature and carriers' device-launch exclusives become a recurring lever in the PC-carrier relationship.
The trend: Carriers are monetizing each wireless network generation by anchoring it to an exclusive first modem from a single vendor, turning data-card launches into competitive events.