Japanese Wireless Carrier To Serve BREW
RELATED SYMBOLS: (QCOM)
Mar 11, 2002 (NewsFactor.com via COMTEX) -- Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) has gained
a significant foothold in the critical Japanese next-generation wireless market
by inking an agreement with carrier KDDI , Japan's second largest wireless
carrier, to deliver its BREW platform.
KDDI will offer handsets pre-loaded with applications on Qualcomm's BREW (binary
runtime environment for wireless) platform later this month.
"KDDI has been the only Japanese carrier to go with CDMA (code division multiple
access), and they are launching a CDMA2000 1X system in the fall, so this
provides another value center for us," Qualcomm senior vice president Gina
Lombardi told Wireless NewsFactor.
According to Lombardi, Japan is the market leader in applications development,
delivering compelling products for all CDMA markets, including Korea and soon
the U.S.
"We already have agreements with Sega for gaming and with Navitime for GPS
applications. We anticipate that many of the handset makers will be adding BREW
to their products," she said.
Delivering BREW also allows KDDI to differentiate itself from Japanese largest
wireless carrier, DoCoMo, Lombardi said, by adding a new platform to its
WAP-based (wireless application protocol) EZWeb service.
Game Plan
The Panasonic phones contain software such as Navitime's Map Viewer, which uses
Qualcomm's gpsOne location-based technology, and the K Laboratory's "Kyara
Komyu" short message service with 3D animation, the companies said.
BREW is touted as the platform of the future for Qualcomm's cdmaOne networks,
enabling users to customize their phones by downloading software for interactive
gaming, messaging and data services, location-based services and high-speed data
transmission.
KDDI recently announced that it has 10 million cdmaOne subscribers, out of a
base of 15.9 million cellular customers, and it uses the technology as the basis
for its standard "au" wireless system. The company also is preparing to launch a
comprehensive set of next-generation services on its networks.
Second Fiddle
"KDDI is playing second-fiddle to DoCoMo and it has to respond to i-mode in
Japan," Aberdeen Group analyst Isaac Ro told Wireless NewsFactor. "They are
facing an uphill battle, but BREW will appeal to a lot of customers, and
especially to the corporate market," he said, because it offers wireless
database access.
Upgrades for KDDI's EZweb wireless packet data service will enable transmission
speeds reaching 144 kbps for multimedia capability, the company said. KDDI will
offer CDMA2000 1x services first in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and other large cities
throughout the country, the company said.
Set on Asia
Qualcomm has its sights set on Asia. Last fall, Korea Telecom Freetel (KTF), a
Korean CDMA carrier, was the first operator to launch data application services
based on BREW using handsets from LG Electronics and Samsung.
This week, Qualcomm held its first All-China BREW Developers Conference in
Beijing, which drew some 200 wireless application developers, carrier
representatives and other industry reps from throughout that country, the
company said.
Agreements also have been established in Europe and North America -- with
Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, preparing to serve BREW
throughout its nationwide CDMA network.
All Roads Lead to CDMA
"BREW and J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) are the two most important wireless
application platforms, and I think they will be widely adopted soon," Ro said.
"Interoperability is a key factor, and they both are designed for that. They
also offer solutions for the enterprise demand for mobility."
Ro contends that Qualcomm holds the edge in the migration to third-generation
(3G) wireless technology, "because all paths for 3G lead to CDMA."
By Kimberly Hill
URL: kddi.com |
