Gabey Goh

(From left) P1’s Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Wong with the Shuttle, Chief operating officer M.Idham Nawai holding the Tower and Michael Lai with the P1 WiMAX embedded netbook

Computing went mobile but connectivity didn’t.

That was the observation of chief executive officer of P1, Michael Lai during a recent briefing of the company’s overall strategy for 2010.

Lai revealed that on average, P1 subscribers downloaded 7GB a month, and that there were more challenges ahead for the company in dealing with site congestion and keeping up with consumer demands. However, he reported that P1 have managed a 78 per cent improvement in dealing with congestion (from 215 sites in Dec 2009 to 47 sites in Feb 2010) and promised more.

He revealed that the company hopes to expand its coverage this year to cover 45 per cent of Malaysians and that they will soon begin site installations in East Malaysia. The company hope to attain 65 per cent coverage of Malaysia by 2012.

However it was the unveiling of three new WiMAX devices which had the room buzzing.

“In 2009, we promised to bring into the market Malaysia’s first WiMAX embedded devices this year and we are keeping good to that promise,” said Lai, before unveiling the company’s new range of WiMAX devices to members of media in attendance.

LAI: WiMAX embedded netbook will be a game changer in the wireless broadband industry

For home use, there is the Shuttle, an Indoor VoIP modem which sports two voice ports and two LAN ports. While for those on the go, there is the Shuttle, a High Gain USB Modem with a handy suction CU at the back for easy placement on the back to laptops. An upgrade option for existing users with the DV modem is in the works.

The most interesting however, was the P1 WiMAX embedded netbook, manufactured in collaboration with Intel and Taiwanese ODM partners.

“P1’s WiMAX embedded netbook will be a game changer in the wireless broadband industry. It will be the key that opens the floodgate to a plethora of WiMAX embedded computers coming into Malaysia this year,” said Lai.

When asked if this signalled P1’s move into the hardware game, Lai said no, the product was merely a way to introduce the possibilities to the consumer market and that Intel will pick it up from there.

There is currently no official launch date nor were the specifications and pricing for the netbook released but P1 officials were adamant that consumers will be able to get it “sooner than you think”.

P1 also unveiled its new service - fixed line voice calls via WiMAX network - with no rental fees and fixed calls from as low as 10 cents a minute and to mobiles for as low as 13 cents a minute. Apart from the area prefix, the rest of the number can be chosen but on a first come first served basis.

During the presentation, Lai also commented on StreamXy’s response the P1 “Sudah potong?” ad campaign which featured a look-a-like of himself.

“The ad shows a guy who can’t get connected but if you looked closely,” he said wryly pointing at a slide featuring the ad, “the modem is not even plugged in, of course you can’t get a connection!”

For more information, head to www.p1.com.my