There’s something in the air: Apple and WiMax?

“Our sources tell us that Apple may include WiMax, the high-speed, long-range wireless broadband technology, in an ultraportable 13″ notebook computer, and possibly across the entire MacBook Pro line,” Jordan Golson reports for Valleywag. “…Our source gives it a ’60 percent chance.'”

“This would be a huge win for WiMax, which suffered a blow when Sprint and Clearwire abandoned plans for a WiMax joint venture. But Apple has proven it can popularize technologies — think USB in the original iMac, and Wi-Fi in the iBook,” Golson reports.

Full article here.

David Morgenstern blogs for ZDNet, “My guess is that the article meant to say was that Apple might add support for WiMax Mobile, or 802.16e, to its notebooks. This makes a lot of sense.”

“Intel announced its intent to ship a combo WiMax Mobile chipset in 2006, which would support current 802.11 Wi-Fi networks as well as the faster WiMac Mobile connections. At the fall Intel Developers Forum, the company said that a number of major system vendors would support for this multiband chipset, including Lenovo and Toshiba,” Morgenstern writes. “Of course, Apple wasn’t among them. It never pre-announces products or technology adoptions. But Apple might want to get a bit of a jump on the competition and ship such a product, as it did with the first Core Duo machines. So, the ‘something’ in the Macworld banners could be WiMax.”

Morgenstern writes, “According to analysts, Intel has poured something north of $1 billion to develop and promote WiMax technology. So, the company has good reasons to encourage Apple to adopt the chipset.”

Full article here.

Charles Jade writes for Ars Technica, “More likely it’s about sending content wirelessly. Our own Jon Stokes puts money on purchasing songs over the AT&T network when you are not browsing the iTunes Store at Starbucks. Or perhaps it’s streaming content to Macs in your home or away from home.”

Full article, with more “There’s something in the air” banner photos, here.