Nice one Maurice!
Why on earth should Nokia race to the table to satisfy Q shareholders lusts? They only need to sign (if they haven't already done so) when they go commercial. If Q threatens higher rates for the latecomers they will get their little hands slapped as that would not be "on fair and reasonable terms". Nokia are getting its 3G gadgets lined up, they don't need a license from Q to do that.
Of course GSM is not universal as there are not yet, to my knowledge, any networks on any of the other planets. Groupe Special Mobile was the working group's name formed by manufacturers to promote a digital standard first at ETSI and then the rest of the world (I believe Alcatel own that name and maybe the acronym pertaining to mobile telephony). The acronym's meaning did not change 'now' as your message intoned, it changed something like 7 to 8 years ago.
3GSM is a very good way to describe the future for the majority market...a third generation system based on GSM...both correct I may add. Air interface, although essential (naturally) is only a fraction of the overall system.
My own view is that we should dump the term WCDMA and just use UMTS, as it describes a service and not a technology...pretty important to the mass market. It would also stop the over intense hype for a particular company in San Diego and its seemingly ridiculous market valuation earlier this year (it seems now corrected). The royalties are based on ex-works prices and the values you see vendors are getting for supplying UMTS kit has little correlation to the money Q will earn...in other words you can not simply deduct a 5% from the value announced.
It seems some people are getting impatient for the market to take off, maybe it is partly due to the Qcom/CDG vision not exactly taking the course predicted. Certain people at the CDG alienated the industry (as did Q). The war is over, more of a scuffle really. The CDG still do not embrace UMTS, even though they tout the "cdma" part. The CDG are still focusing more on IS-95 operators and market fragmentation rather than whooping for joy and embracing UMTS licensees...I wonder why? (Don't bother I already said why, its is a few lines above).
Right, I fell better now. Got the cobwebs out for the new year.
Cheers... |
