carranza,
<< The Q's coup is made even sweeter when one considers that all the necessary IPR for a GSM air interface is contained in the TI and Nokia stack. This latter point via JGoren, who knows what he is talking about and is reliable. >>
I am most hopeful that you are not talking about this statement by John:
"the MSM multi-mode chip uses the exact same GSM core that NOK uses (TI core); with this, i think you get full roaming capabilities anywhere in the world. between TI deal and NOK deal Qcom seems to have gotten what it needed for worldwide chipsets"
... or this one on this thread:
"MSM multi-mode chipset uses the exact same GSM core as NOK uses; that answers the question!"
To which I responded here:
Message 16027760
Now if you have something more accurate, and authoritative from John perhaps you could link it here.
With all due respect for my long time thread mate John Goren, I do not consider him reliable on this subject and I would not expect anyone to consider me reliable on this subject either.
If someone from Qualcomm states this (and something more definitive than what Julie sent to mightylakers) publicly or in writing, I'll take their word for it.
In the meantime, I think even John would say Caveat Emptor, and I certainly would, it is sort of a matter of getting what you pay for.
As you know, and due to the wording of the joint press release, I reserved judgment on whether or not cross-licensing of Nokia's GSM IP was included in the recent extension of agreements with Qualcomm, either on a royalty bearing or non-royalty bearing basis.
Unless I see something to the contrary, I will take Mark Roberts (specific) words on this matter as accurate:
QUALCOMM management confirmed to us that as part of the agreement Nokia has provided Qualcomm royalty free access to Nokia’s GSM and GPRS IP for incorporation into future QUALCOMM multi-mode 3G CDMA chipsets.
cnet.com
Mark also stated:
We believe this announcement could cause the postponement or cancellation of Qualcomm’s spin-off of its chipset business (Spinco).
I don't necessarily agree with Mark on this.
He does say:
However, we currently have no hard evidence of this.
I have assumed for some time that Qualcomm has been amassing vendor specific GSM IP from the major vendors that control it, as they create new agreements or extend others. I am not sure - particularly in the case of Ericsson - whether the cross-licensing of essential GSM IP (or even essential WCDMA IP) is royalty free. I have reason to believe (but am not sure) that at least some of Ericsson's cross-liscensed IP is royalty bearing.
In addition Nokia can only cross-license its own IP, not that of others. I have not done a cross check of GSM vendors with essential GSM IP, but all are not (and will not be) cdma2000 licensees. Bull immediately comes to mind, and it is not clear to me whether or not Bull's GSM IP transferred to Schlumberger with the sale of Bull's smart card division.
I remain pleased that the agreement has been reached with both my Qualcomm & my Nokia hat on.
Nokia got what they publicly stated they wanted, and extension of the current license, rather than a new second one. the infra license that they needed, and for lack of other detail, will assume a win/win.
If there was anything less than a win/win, from the perspective of either party, that is unfortunate, because it reduces the chances of the development of more synergy going forward.
- Eric - |
