mjk, thanks for the explanation.
I think we're in agreement about everything except the issue of whether there is double "taxation", that is to say, whether a mfgr would be obliged to pay QCOM's royalties on both the IC (eg from QCOM) and also the (entire) finished product (eg a Samsung phone).
My understanding has been that QCOM only collects its royalty once, usually at point of sale of the finished product. Thus, while there's a QCOM royalty applied to all CDMA ASICs, it doesn't reapply to the price at the point of sale of the phone including it, because it's already been charged once.
Thus, while TXN has a great advantage over, say, LSI, in selling CDMA ASICs because it cross licenses with QCOM, NOK has no advantage at all over Samsung on (CDMA) phone royalties, because both pay the QCOM royalty only once on the ASIC, regardless of mfgr, and subsequently pay QCOM a royalty on the rest of the wholesale phone price, as well.
I could be wrong <g>
regards,
phill
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