Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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India To BREW Mobile Apps

ASHU KUMAR

NEW DELHI: US-based $3.9 billion Qualcomm Inc — a code division multiple access (CDMA) technology provider for mobile communication — will use India as a major source of wireless software applications for its new platform, BREW (binary runtime environment for wireless).

BREW is a software platform — developed by Qualcomm — for mobile devices. The platform provides an interface between the software applications that run on mobile phones, and mobile hardware and infrastructure systems at the back end. This helps software engineers to develop standardised applications for mobile phones. Qualcomm has launched BREW as an answer to Java, which is also a popular platform for developing mobile applications.

Qualcomm has already hooked around 30 independent software vendors in India to work on BREW platform and develop applications. The two Mumbai based multimedia and gaming firms : Indiagames and Paradox Studios have even started developing and exporting game applications in the global market.

Besides, Qualcomm will also be launching evangelism programs in India to promote BREW among the software developer community apart from organising developer conferences in India.

...Game For Glabal Market
In what may open doors of a new business opportunity for Indian software companies, two small Indian software firms have broken into a fast growing global mobile gaming market. Mumbai-based Indiagames and Paradox Studios have adopted Qualcomm’s BREW platform to develop applications, and have already started supplying mobile phones games to the global clients.
According to Indiagames chief executive Vishal Gondal, the company has developed games that have been quite popular with Verizon (a US based telecom operator) wireless customers. Indiagames has also bagged an order to develop the wireless version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a popular series in the US.
Paradox Studios has also developed around 50 game titles, some of them with multi-player capability games. The company has recently received an order from Hutch Thailand, claimed Paradox Studios senior marketing manager Salil Bhargava.



“I am quite optimistic that Indian developers will make an important contribution and a big impact on BREW application development in the global market. Qualcomm will step up its efforts to promote BREW in India,” Qualcomm group president-wireless and Internet group Paul E Jacobs said.

The global technology giants like Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are already making substantial efforts and investments to woo Indian software developers to work on their platforms. This helps these companies to keep the flow of skilled resources (on their platforms) in the software job market, making it easier and cheaper for the software companies to develop applications on their platforms.

Qualcomm’s BREW is also spreading its wings in the Indian mobile service market. Tata Teleservices that offers CDMA based services, has announced that the company will be offering BREW applications to its customers. Reliance Infocomm, another CDMA operator, is also expected to announce the launch of BREW applications soon, according to Qualcomm officials.

Tata Teleservices’ launch of BREW-based products and services will enable its mobile customers to use BREW phones to download games wirelessly, ring tones, communication, e-mail and business-focused applications, virtually anytime, or anywhere. The flexibility of the BREW solution also gives Tata Teleservices the ability to differentiate its service from multimedia messaging services, Web browsers and customised user interfaces.

Tata Teleservices will offer BREW-based services to its wireless users in Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In the coming months, it plans to extend its BREW-based offering to 12 additional circles.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=61320