Netbooks are small. That’s part of what makes them netbooks. But it also means that there’s not a whole heck of a lot of room inside the case for doohickeys like WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G modules. I mean, don’t get me wrong, plenty of laptops come with all three, or at least two of the three. But cramming multiple cards in there can take up a lot of space.
One solution is to combine the functionality of multiple wireless dongles onto a single chip. That’s what Atheros is doing with its new combo 802.11n/Bluetooth mini-card. But you might still end up using multiple antennae, one for WiFi, and another for Blueooth. SkyCross has a solution: a combination antenna called the iMAT that can handle 802.11b/g/n Wifi and Bluetooth. The antenna isolates the signals, allowing you to use both Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time.
Of course, you’ll still need to look elsewhere if you want to get a 3G module as well.
There are a few combined WIFI/BT modules on the market now, such as the TI BRF6300 which is used in the HTC Dream and OpenPandora. Nice to see Atheros doing one, since Atheros has a track record of producing drivers that actually work.
It makes sense to have just one antenna for two usages. With so little space to work with, combining them is a great solution.