Wireless data cards: A giveaway strategy


To lift sales of its high-speed wireless data cards, T-Mobile, Europe's second-largest cellphone operator after Vodafone, is planning to package the cards in a sleek, new wrapper: a laptop computer made by Fujitsu Siemens.


To lift sales of its high-speed wireless data cards, T-Mobile, Europe’s second-largest cellphone operator after Vodafone, is planning to package the cards in a sleek, new wrapper: a laptop computer made by Fujitsu Siemens.

T-Mobile will sell the laptops, equipped with built-in data cards that will get subscribers access to T-Mobile’s third-generation wireless network, at T-Punkt retail shops in Germany. With such a 3G data card plugged in, a computer can use the mobile phone airwaves to link to the Internet wherever there is a cell signal.

Ramona Stahl, a T-Mobile spokeswoman, would not confirm a report in the German business magazine Capital that the computers would sell for just E100, or $120, compared with a standard retail price of E1,000 to E3,000. She said T-Mobile had not yet determined the price. But as with most mobile phones sold in Europe, the price of the laptops will be subsidized by the carrier, she said.

Where do I have to stand to get in line?

Posted: Tue - January 17, 2006 at 07:07 AM