Ericsson Mini-MeEricsson Mini-Me

6:00 PM -- I was talking yesterday with Haakan Eriksson, the CTO of Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), about how the company is approaching the challenge of fixed/mobile convergence.

He says that the company is taking a number of different paths to FMC. He did, however, suggest that one route that the company could take to ensure that users can get the same menu of services over one device anytime, anyhow, is to put base stations in people's homes.

"We are looking into developing small, small base stations that you can connect to your DSL line," says Eriksson. "The beauty of that is it would work with any [cellular] terminal."

Tiny base stations to improve urban coverage aren't a new idea. Companies like Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and the now-defunct Little Feet have been pursuing that concept for a while.

I'm not sure, however, how willing people will be to install such devices in their home. After all, residents don't typically like living near cellsites. I'm not sure they would be happy putting a base station in the house even if it is tiny.

Still, one of my colleagues over at Light Reading suggested that there may be a way around this. Ericsson should take the Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) route and get a good designer to whip up a cool case in pretty colors.

It just might work.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung