Labrador,
<< AT&T is trying to spin the discussion as not being a win for QCOM >>
It is kind of a matter of whose spin is the best spin, or the more effective spin.
We are, after all, dealing with press releases.
QUALCOMM hopped right on the AWS decision, and placed positive spin on it. It was a smooth move by QUALCOMM.
In the article, Better Not Invite AT&T, Qualcomm To Same Party
Bill Plummer, Washington-based vice president of cell-phone maker Nokia Corp. got to the heart of the matter from a Gorilla Game perspective when he stated:
"Wideband CDMA is not about Qualcomm," Plummer said. "It’s not a proprietary standard. Wideband CDMA is the product of an open process of standardization with a large number of contributors. It is an entirely different system."
He is correct. QUALCOMM has had absolutely nothing to do with the development of the UMTS standard developed by 3GPP or of the UTRA DS (WCDMA) component contained within.
Bill Plummer does go on to state that:
"But Qualcomm does have a claim, to the extent that Qualcomm contributed to the development of that technology."
He is correct on this as well. QUALCOMM commercialized CDMA, and holds (not all but) the essential patents therein, and it is very clear that QUALCOMM will get paid for its essential IP.
The article stated, In the PR biz, timing is everything.
QUALCOMM had good timing, and put a very appropriate "spin' on the situation. IMO.
Proponents of cdma2000 might be clenching their teeth, but bottom line is that AWS, will be contributing to the value of QCOM shares, quicker than earlier anticipated by implementing an evolved GSM network, to base a migration to GPRS (maybe GSM EDGE) and then on to CDMA, bypassing the TDMA-EDGE migration.
Spin or no spin, looks to me like a win-win.
- Eric - |
