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Posts Tagged ‘qualcomm’

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Qualcomm helps Android get bigger

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Qualcomm has ported Android to its Snapdragon chipset (well actually Wind River Systems have for Qualcomm) which is used in devices that go beyond phones such as notebooks and other Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs).

Wind River will give the (optimised) code back to the Open Handset Alliance in the near future. Much of the porting effort was to ensure Android worked on devices with large screen real-estate.

Qualcomm also ported other variants of Linux and Windows Mobile to its Snapdragon chipset, which is going to be used in various Netbooks being launched this year (especially in the Taiwanese markets).

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Posted in Mobile | Comments

Qualcomm healthcare MVNO on the way

Monday, August 11th, 2008

It looks like Qualcomm is finally getting its MVNO off the ground, according to Wireless Week, which reports that the company has picked a CEO for the operator who will start work next month.

The MVNO, which will go by the name of LifeComm and offer healthcare based services (although no word on specifics) as well as the usual mobile goodies, is set to begin life after it appears Qualcomm found some investors to join it in financing the new operator.

MVNOs haven’t exactly flourished in the US of late but none of them have gone after quite such a niche market as LifeComm. Qualcomm has also got a slightly different buyer in mind – rather than selling to individual users, the company hopes LifeComm phones will be bought by health insurers for their customers. If those insurers promise to knock a few dollars off plans for customers in return for carrying the LifeComm mobile, Qualcomm shouldn’t have too many problems building up a user base.

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Posted in Operators | Comments

Moto phones’ future in Qualcomm man’s hands

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

So who’s getting the poison chalice of the top job at Motorola’s handset division (well on its way to be being rechristened Motorola’s ailing handset division by practically everyone in the media)? Step up to the plate, Sanjay Jha, former COO of Qualcomm.

Jha, as well as being head of the devices business, will become the co-CEO of the company from this week.

I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Jha speak a few times – on initial impressions he’s a whip-smart, energetic and good-humoured individual and he’s well used to talking up all manner of yet-to-go-mainstream applications. That said, Qualcomm is very obviously not a handset company and gets all its device needs serviced by OEMs and for that reason Jha is an interesting appointment.

Qualcomm’s interests are diverse – like Motorola’s – so you can see Jha’s attraction for the board as the co-CEO of the company. As for finding Motorola’s next Razr or iPhone killer, though, his Qualcomm background will either be kill or cure for the handset division.

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Posted in Devices | Comments

Nokia and Qualcomm stop bickering like children

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

You have to love it when two companies fight like children and then suddenly grow up. For as long as I can remember Nokia and Qualcomm have been squabbling over patents.

To paraphrase Monty Python the two companies have decided, ‘lets not bicker and argue over who created CDMA.

There are extra points if you can name the actor as well as the film by the way.

Anyway, back to the story. Nokia and Qualcomm’s German lawsuit was thrown out of court yesterday. The companies still had lawsuits in five other countries, however. So it came as a surprise that following the German ruling the two countries have agreed to end their legal disputes.

There is now a 15 year agreement which allows Nokia to use Qualcomm’s technology in its handsets and networks. Qualcomm can also use Nokia technology in its chips.

Now isn’t that better. It’s like being made to meet the bully at school and end up having cake and lemonade round his because it works so much better that way.

The full release is here.

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Posted in Mobile | Comments

Qualcomm brings Adobe’s Flash to BREW

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

It looks like Flash has got itself a little bit more territory in its quest for mobile domination – it’s struck up a partnership with mobile giant Qualcomm. Late last week, Qualcomm announced that its BREW platform, used by some US operators, will now come with Adobe’s Flash.

The partnership will see both companies create new development tools for programmers to make Flash-based applications using BREW, with a release scheduled for later this year.

So what does it all mean? In short, it looks like Adobe will be able to expand Flash capabilities further into lower end devices, while BREW devices will look spiffier with the ability to play Flash videos or enjoy other rich content applications. While everyone has one eye on the latest and greatest high end devices coming around the corner, it’s a sound move for Qualcomm and Adobe to work on keeping those with less feature-rich mobiles happy.

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Posted in Mobile Development | Comments

Qualcomm takes stake in femtocell firm ip.access

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Femotcells have been given another boost this week with the news that mobile chipmaker and IP giant Qualcomm has decided to invest an undisclosed sum in UK femotcell maker ip.access. It’s not the first to take such a step – T-Mobile put its money into fellow femtocell company Ubiquisys earlier this year, joining Google in its list of investors.

Ip.access, for its part, already has a number of big names among its roster of backers – Cisco, Intel Capital, Motorola Ventures – but adding the likes of Qualcomm certainly won’t hurt and the company has talked up Qualcomm’s usefulness in terms of providing “knowledge and industry experience” (presumably not to mention a fair whack of cash).

The announcement comes at the same time as industry body Femto Forum is conducting work into standardisation and adding a raft of new members. While there’s the usual accusations of hype being thrown in femtocells’ direction, it certainly looks like the big names in mobile think it’s time to put their money where their mouth is.

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Posted in Mobile | Comments

Qualcomm to launch UK mobile telly?

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Could Qualcomm be thinking of bringing its MediaFLO mobile TV service to the UK? It’s shaping up to be a possibility after the company bought a slice of spectrum in the recent Ofcom auction.

According to Qualcomm, it’s now got its hands on the 40 MHz (1452-1492 MHz) of L-Band radio spectrum, for the princely sum of £8.3 million. It hasn’t given any definitive word on what the spectrum will be used for, except to say it will “bring a variety of innovative wireless technologies to the UK market”, along with its partners.

Needless to say, it’s keeping quiet on the partners and the services in question, but it’s worth noting that the press release the company’s put out about the spectrum quotes an exec with the clunky job title of “president of Qualcomm Internet Services, MediaFLO Technologies and Qualcomm Europe” – could that be a hint on what we’re about to see? After all, it’s got a bit of history over here with mobile TV, following a trial of MediaFLO in conjunction with Sky not so long ago.

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Posted in Mobile TV | Comments

AT&T turns on mobile TV this week

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

And after all the talk, it looks like AT&T has stuck to its deadline and it’s going to be launching its broadcast mobile TV service – under the unsurprising brand name AT&T TV – from May 4, with two compatible devices, the LG Vu and the Samsung Access.

The service, based on Qualcomm’s MediaFLO, will go live in 58 cities, with the usual mix of broadcasters from the likes of CNN, Comedy Central, MTV and Fox, with the usual mix of movies, news, comedy, and music content being promised.

At least now we get a chance to see the pricing: and it’s $15 a month, which seems rather ambitious on AT&T’s part. How long before it switches to an advertising (free content in return for ads) or bundled (all the data you can eat and mobile TV thrown in for good measure) model?

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Posted in Mobile TV | Comments

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