Lenovo embeds Verizon Wireless gear
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-09-22 14:15

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's third-largest personal computer maker, will sell laptop computers equipped with Verizon Wireless Internet access technology beginning Oct. 11.

Lenovo will be the first computer maker to integrate Verizon Wireless's mobile broadband technology into laptops, the companies said in a statement Wednesday. Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., the two largest computer makers, said yesterday they plan similar moves next year.

Beijing-based Lenovo, which bought International Business Machine Corp.'s money-losing PC business in May for US$1.25 billion, plans to include connections to Verizon Wireless's updated network in new ThinkPad Z60m machines as part of a plan to boost U.S. notebook sales. Verizon Wireless aims to use its 400 to 700 kilobits per second broadband service, available in 61 U.S. markets, to attract businesses looking for wireless devices for employees who work from home or in field locations.

Users must activate the service through Bedminster, New Jersey- based Verizon Wireless and pay a monthly fee of US$60-US$80. The second-largest U.S. mobile-phone services company is driving sales at Verizon Communications Inc., providing 42 percent of Verizon's second-quarter revenue. New York-based Verizon shares ownership of Verizon Wireless with U.K.-based Vodafone Group Plc.

Verizon Wireless has spent about US$1 billion to extend its so-called third-generation wireless network across the United States to support a technology called Evolution-Data optimized, or EV-DO. Verizon Wireless plans to make the technology, which transmits data at speeds 10 times faster than its older system, available to 150 million people in the United States by the end of 2005.

Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, has spent $1 billion to expand its EV-DO network. Sprint began selling its high-speed service in 34 markets in July.

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