Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

O2 confirms Qualcomm tie up, but it's not BREW per se

Tony Cripps

http://www.ovum.com/news/euronews.asp?id=2872

O2 UK has confirmed recent stories that it is working with Qualcomm for mobile data service infrastructure components. However, the deal does not involve the BREW Distribution System, but rather Qualcomm's uiOne handset user interface customisation software, which it plans to use on its own-branded handsets. Comment: This lays to rest stories that O2 was planning to deploy the "BREW platform", which we would have taken to mean the full BREW infrastructure and handset platform. O2 says this is not the case and would anyway have conflicted with its plans to launch i-Mode services later this year.

But O2's admission is no less interesting for that. For one thing, from Qualcomm's point of view, this is a bona fide deal with a significant European mobile operator. It is not simply an extension of an existing relationship that Qualcomm inherited when it purchased uiOne's original creators, Trigenix, last year.

That has to be seen as a success for Qualcomm, which has been trying to gain a foothold in Europe, where mobile operators are traditionally none too keen on its proprietary take on mobile technology.

European operators that are not already committed to a combined mobile data service infrastructure and business model - such as i-Mode - could yet opt for something nearer to the full BREW experience. Qualcomm's recently announced tie up with mobile content management and delivery server vendor Elata certainly gives BREW a less proprietary feel than it is usually credited with.

Another interesting aspect of its deal with Qualcomm, according to O2, is that it will not affect the operator's existing relationship with uiOne's chief rival, SurfKitchen. SurfKitchen will continue to work on customised user interfaces for some of O2's smart phones, while Qualcomm's software is intended to find its way into future models in O2 UK's X-range phones.

These are OEM'd from manufacturers in South East Asia to O2's specifications, and are therefore prime candidates for inclusion of the uiOne technology at source. Whether O2 continues with these two parallel relationships in future is anyone's guess. Adopting two very similar technologies seems like overkill to us, and we doubt that both will continue indefinitely.


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