Thursday, May 22,2008 @ 3:50pm
Apple to explore WiMAX, other wireless techs?
Apple may be exploring known wireless technologies which are nevertheless outside of its current roadmap, a job listing suggests. The company is hunting for a senior RF system engineer to staff its offices in Santa Clara, California, who will help build products currently planned with wireless, and additionally investigate new technologies as they present themselves. Critically, the ideal canadidate would not only know 802.11 Wi-Fi, but "Bluetooth, 3G, UWB, WiMAX, GPS, Mobile TV and similar wireless technologies."
WiMAX is a Wi-Fi-like standard backed primarily by Intel, but with greater range, allowing use at cellular-level distances. UWB refers to "Ultra Wideband," a technology most commonly associated with wireless USB; mobile TV, meanwhile, suggests that Apple could eventually support cellular TV streaming, such as the MediaFLO technology used by AT&T. The iPhone does not currently support MediaFLO.
Apple has expressed comparatively limited interest in wireless outside of a few core technologies, namely 3G and several forms of Wi-Fi. The company does not use cellular modems in its notebooks, nor has it made any mention of LTE, a future "4G" technology.