DJ Qualcomm/Microsoft Alliance To Help Smart-Phone Makers
Dow Jones News Service ~ February 28, 2000 ~ 5:24 pm EST
By Tom Locke
DENVER (Dow Jones)--Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) announcement Monday of a strategic alliance to develop wireless devices is "very significant" because makers of smart-phone handsets will be able to get their products to market more quickly, said a Microsoft executive.
That's because smart-phone manufacturers won't have to deal with the research and development necessary to ensure compatibility of Microsoft Mobile Explorer software with Qualcomm's chip set and system software, said Perry Lee, product manager of the Mobile Devices Division of Microsoft.
A "smart phone" is a high-end wireless phone with much more computing capacity than a current "feature phone," said Lee. It's like a virtual personal digital assistant integrated into the phone, he said, with up to 12 to 16 megabytes of RAM, or random-access memory.
Lee said the companies' strategic alliance is "purely from a people-resources perspective, so there's really no financial commitment."
The timing to produce a reference design for the handset manufacturers is unknown at this point, Lee said. "It all depends on how the research goes between the development teams."
He noted that Microsoft has been working on a smart-phone platform for a long time, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates demonstrated one at a convention last October. Microsoft has been working with handset manufacturers in Europe to develop a smart phone using the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless standard that is prevalent in Europe, he said. And he anticipates a GSM smart phone with Microsoft Mobile Explorer going to trial by the end of this year.
Qualcomm, of San Diego, is the leader in the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) standard that is prevalent in the U.S., Lee said, and that makes the alliance attractive to Microsoft.
Much of the R&D the companies accomplish for smart phones will also be applicable to wireless pocket PCs, he said.
There is nothing exclusive about the strategic alliance the companies announced Monday, Lee said.
Shares of Qualcomm, which made a number of other announcements Monday at the CTIA Wireless 2000 trade show in New Orleans, closed up Monday 9 11/16, or 7.3%, at 143 1/4 on volume of 18.2 million shares compared with average daily volume of 22.4 million.
Shares of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft closed up 1/4, or 0.3%, at 91 9/16 on volume of 38 million shares compared with average daily volume of 30.4 million. -Tom Locke; Dow Jones Newswires; 303-293-9294
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 02-28-00
05:24 PM
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