Cellphone service providers have made obscene profits. We've heard for a decade about the need for CDMA for capacity and how cheaply CDMA can produce minutes [as proven by Leap Wireless].
Now, it's time for the effectiveness of CDMA to be used in a huge price war, which will end up as a functionality/coverage war because minutes will be so cheap that nobody will care about minute prices but will care about features and functionality instead. Such as, "Can this gadget get cyberspace at high speed?" "Will there be busy signals?" "What's your coverage?" If the salesman can't show streaming PacketVideo images, [because it is GSM, Nextel, Analogue, GPRS, TDMA, EDGE or WCDMA] then the subscriber will buy something else. If coverage is rotten, they'll buy something else. If there are busy signals too often, they'll buy something else.
A price war is GOOD for QUALCOMM. That's because CDMA comes into its own in the event of price and functionality wars.
Fat, dumb and happy service providers who are used to wallowing in mountains of cash are going to have to get out there and struggle for survival.
Good!
Cheap services with high functionality means lots and lots and lots of QUALCOMM ASICs being bought to satisfy ever more demanding customers.
Yay for the price, coverage and functionality wars - CDMA will win them. QUALCOMM will supply the ammunition.
Mqurice |
