Picochip’s VP of marketing explains more about the importance of USB basestation tech at CES 2011…

One of the most innovative British mobile tech companies at CES 2011 was Picochip, demonstrating its latest femtocell-powered USB basestation. But what does this actually mean for the end-user? And what impact might it have on the future development of mobile consumer technologies over the next few years?

We spoke with Rupert Baines, the VP of Marketing at Picochip, who explained a little more about the development of the technology.

“Over the last year the femtocell has moved from a simple residential device to one that will provide coverage and capacity at our offices, in dense urban areas such as stations and shopping centres and in rural areas where coverage is non-existent,” said Baines.

In Baines’ learned opinion, femtocell tech is quickly evolving in terms of what it can deliver to the consumer and how, and the Picochip rep thinks that his company’s recent announcement about a USB basestation is a prime example of this.

Smaller, cheaper, better femtocell tech

“All technology is constantly getting smaller and cheaper and femtocells are no exception. Last year we announced a chip that will bring the Bill of Materials (BoM) cost of a femtocell down to below $50 and the USB announcement is the next step, making the technology smaller and allowing users to do more with it.

“Potentially this could allow users and operators to easily add  home-basestation capabilities to appliances such as residential gateways, cable modems and set-top boxes, simply by plugging in a USB key. A “private cellsite” solution like this will solve consumer problems of ‘not-spots’ or coverage holes, deliver far faster data services than on a conventional cell, improve battery life and enable a variety of innovative “home zone” services.”

These ‘home zone’ services are an area that femtocells will be moving into over the next few years, adds the Picochip director, which will allow services such as “changing the advertising on an IPTV depending on who is watching, allowing users to control other technology in the home via the femtocell and allowing parents to check up on their children.”

You can see more information on Picochip’s announcement at CES 2011 right here.