Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[phill]

Zeev, the short answer to your question about IDCC royalty bearing universe is that, however large that universe may become, IDCC will most likely remain a bit player in it.

The lead role in CDMA (all forms, including wCDMA) belongs to QCOM. Other major players in GSM and anything which evolves from the GSM side of the fence (and, to a lesser extent, wCDMA) include MOT, NOK, ERICY and Siemens.

The 3rd "standard" to which GreedAintBad refers (TD-CDMA) as likely to be employed in China is very possibly a non-starter. The technology badly lags QCOM's CDMA, which is presently the fastest growing wireless technolgy in China.

It appears that TD-CDMA's principal uses to date have been 1) as a point of Chinese national pride (to demonstrate the Chinese can provide a competitive technology - not just import the whole wireless thing from the West), and 2) as a bargaining tool to obtain better deals with the big western & wireless companies (MOT, QCOM, NOK, etc) who own the competing standards.

I really can't say why Siemens has invested in it; perhaps just as a long shot since Siemens has very little other CDMA IP.

regards,

phill