Yesterday in this blog, I wrote about the differences and similarities between established wireless standard Bluetooth and new-kid-on-the-block Wibree. Talk about good timing—guess what landed in my mailbox today? A report from ABI Research regarding the future of, you guessed it, Wibree.

Specifically, ABI is predicting that the market for Wibree products could be worth $513 million by 2011—if certain things happen.

So much news has been generated lately about WiFi that sometimes it seems as if the world has forgotten that technology’s younger, more powerful sibling, WiMAX.

But, market research firm In-Stat hasn’t forgotten. In a recent report, the firm predicted some significant growth in worldwide subscribers to WiMAX-based broadband.

In-Stat said it expects 2006 to yield 222,000 WiMAX subscribers, and that number should grow to 19.7 million by the end of 2010.

Well, Thanksgiving is over. You know what that means. If you’re someone who celebrates Christmas, it’s time to get started on your holiday shopping in earnest. And, if you’re a tech geek like me, you probably have at least a few gadgets on your list—to buy for friends and family, or that you are hoping they’ll buy for you.

If you’re planning to fly to Dubai next year on an Emirates Airline flight, keep your eyes and ears peeled for details about a new on-flight mobile phone service offered by AeroMobile (a joint venture between communications vendor Arinc and Norway-based telecom service providers Telenor).

A ComputerWorld.com report (http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1267221105;fp;4194304;fpid;1)earlier this month noted an announcement from Emirates Airline regarding plans to deploy the mobile phone service on one of its Boeing 777 planes early in 2007, assuming it can get necessary approval.

On-board phone service hasn’t been that successful to date. Boeing previously tried to get  an Internet access service called Connexion off the ground, but phased it out in August after failing to find a buyer.

Well, the Apple iPhone rumors are back. This time, word has it that Taiwan-based manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry (also known as Foxconn Electronics) received an order from Apple for 12 million iPhones. That’s the same company, InfoWorld says, that builds Apple’s iPod.

According to AppleInsider, the new iPhone rumors started with a report published Thursday in China Times.

Yesterday, a spokesperson from wireless mesh technology manufacturer Firetide called to let me know that the company has been selected to build part of Singapore’s nationwide WiFi network.

I thought the story was rather interesting, since most WiFi projects involve a particular city, not an entire country. (Granted, it’s not a very big country; CIA World Factbook describes the island nation as being “slightly more than 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC.”) Here are the details.

In partnership with iCell Network, Firetide will be building the eastern portion of Singapore’s WiFi network.

A couple of items caught my eye this morning, both of which relate to the ways in which mobile technology is changing the way we live, work, and play. One is a study commissioned by Nokia, the other is a news story citing Samsung’s predictions about the future of mobile phones.

I take these news items, by the way, with a grain of salt, since in both cases the info is being provided by companies that make the technology in question—and thus have an obvious stake in the matter.

First up is a study Nokia commissioned from London School of Economics, about the impact of mobile television, specifically on the broadcasting and advertising industries.

In a recent blog entry, I wrote about T-Mobile’s dual-mode (WiFi/Cellular) service being rolled out in Seattle. In the entry, I posed the question: “are consumers actually interested in dual-mode services?”

A definite “yes” answer came from a reader who asked to be identified as Levi from Nairobi, Kenya, who is attending graduate school in the U.S. and wants a cheaper way to communicate with friends and family back home.

It often seems to be the case that the latest and coolest wireless devices become available first in Asia, and eventually make their way to Europe and the U.S. Hopefully for us geeks, that will be the case with Samsung’s latest gadget, the WiMAX-enabled SPH-P9000 (or more affectionately referred to by Samsung as “MIT” for “Mobile Intelligent Terminal), which is a combination cell phone, MP3 player, and PDA with built-in QWERTY keyboard.

The device was unveiled today at Mobile WiMAX Summit in Seoul, South Korea.

India’s telecommunications and electrical infrastructures, two arguably key elements necessary for technological advancements, leave something to be desired. By some estimates, for example, annual investment of $20 billion is needed to bring the country’s electrical grid up to snuff to meet yearly demand increases of about seven percent.

But, the country is pushing ahead into the twenty-first century despite the obstacles. Red Herring reported in its Oct. 30 edition that Aircel Business Solutions has committed as much as $100 million to build a WiMAX network in the southern city of Chennai.

Symbol Technologies, a company that specializes in enterprise mobility solutions, announced today what it says is the first ever radio frequency (RF) wireless switch (RFS7000) capable of bridging all RF technologies—including RFID, 802.11n, mesh, voice over wireless LAN (VoWLAN) and WiMAX.

In its announcement about RFS7000, Symbol said the switch “is designed to support and consolidate Wi-Fi and emerging RF technologies,” enabling businesses to “efficiently and cost-effectively deploy and centrally manage wireless voice, data and infrastructure devices throughout the RF spectrum.”

In an article today, Laptop Magazine reporter Jeffrey Wilson noted that the RFS7000 supports up to two-hundred and fifty-six 802.11a/b/g access port, and enables Layer 3 roaming, “which allows mobile users to maintain a connection to high-bandwidth applications as they roam.”

Here is an image of the unassuming-looking RFS7000, courtesy of newscom.com.