Lenovo Mobile Access service will come to Australia
Lenovo is "certain" that the Lenovo Mobile Access service will come to Australia, as part of its ongoing process of adding countries to its built-in, contract-free mobile data service offering.
Lenovo revealed that it is "quite certain" the Lenovo Mobile Access program will come to Australia as part of its ongoing process of adding countries to its built-in contract-free mobile data service offering.
Lenovo has told CNET Australia that it is working toward introducing its Lenovo Mobile Access (LMA) service to the Australian market as part of an ongoing effort to expand the service as widely as possible.
Locating local internet providers
"We are quite certain it will move to Australia at some point," said Keith Liu, Lenovo's business development director for the Mobile Internet Digital Home Division. "There is a plan [to launch in Australia], but right now, we are looking at Western Europe and the Middle East."
LMA is a feature of mobile broadband enabled ThinkPad notebooks — including the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon — which lets users buy contract-free 'Time Pass' units of mobile broadband access. As 3G access is built into the relevant notebooks, no dongles are required. Most significantly, the service is available to ThinkPad users anywhere LMA is offered around the world, making it an incredibly effective global roaming service for regular travellers.
Locating local internet providers
The LMA service launched in June, and currently operates in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Rate plan pricing varies, depending on region, but US service pricing currently includes $1.95 for 30 minutes / 30MB; $8.95 for 1 day / 200MB; $39.95 for 1 month / 2GB; and $69.95 for 1 month / 6GB.
3G enabled ThinkPads can, of course, still connect to services from other providers.
Liu could not speak to any specific timings for the Australian launch.
Seamus Byrne attended a facility tour in Japan as a guest of Lenovo.