As elmat suggested, the Q core patents are the heart and soul of CDMA.
There are actually four of them: spread spectrum, power control, soft handoff, and rake receiver. They have been tested worldwide both in court and in administrative offices. The Q has never lost a case.
Surely the agreements do not cover patents not yet but soon to be issued, after the signing of the initial deal?
I'm unclear about your meaning. I think that once a customer gets a license from Q, it generally gets access to all of its patents. Some distinction as to use, ie, CDMAOne or 3G. Nokia just paid a very hefty, multi-million fee to be able to use Q's patents in 3G, though it had an old license for CDMA One.
Because the Q's patent portfolio is so strong in other areas, it can jam this kind of deal down others' throats. Moreover, once the heart and soul patents expire (latest, I think is 2011), it should be able to still jam.
Why do you think the Q is so hated in some quarters? It's the tollbooth to 3G. Gotta pay to play.
Value of income stream? Who knows. Speculation is that royalties are about 5% of handset sale price so if you can accurately forecast number of 3G sets to be sold in next decade, you can get a more or less figure. It's huge, though, and mostly profit.
Create a new 'global/regional' standard anchored by weight of potential customers already aggregated, and start shearing away at QCOM
This is what WCDMA was all about. Didn't work in two ways: First, the Q's patents were used, they cannot be avoided for 3G, so sorry. The biggies, Nokia and Ericsson, have capitulated. Second, it created a mess because it doesn't work technologically, either. Read Vodaphone's latest news-UMTSucks. Lots and lots of problems. Not so with QCOM's proprietary 3G standard, CDMA2000. Working nicely in Korea.
WCDMA/UMTS was a political game to sidestep Q. Didn't work and, boy, did it hurt development of 3G. Total screwup. |
