Qualcomm's BREW Gains Ground
wirelessweek.com
BY SUE MAREK
JUNE 5, 2002
NEWS@2 DIRECT
The battle for supremacy between competing wireless application platforms Sun Microsystems Java
2 Micro Edition and Qualcomm s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless became a bit more
heated this week as two U.S. carriers revealed more details about plans for BREW.
Verizon Wireless, which last March announced its intention to use the BREW platform, now says it will
launch BREW nationwide on June 17. The carrier first debuted BREW in its San Diego market in
March, offering about 13 applications. At that time, the company said it anticipated making BREW
available nationwide in late May.
The service, which initially will run over Verizon's current-generation IS-95 network, will offer users a
suite of applications such as games from JAMDAT Mobile Inc., ring tones from Moviso LLC, and
entertainment from Mattel Inc. Subscribers will be able to purchase the applications using a variety of
pricing options including either paying a per-application fee or buying a monthly subscription. The fees
will appear on the customer's monthly Verizon Wireless bill.
The BREW applications will be accessible to subscribers using BREW-enabled phones, which will be
available in mid-June at Verizon Wireless retail stores and participating RadioShack locations
nationwide. Verizon initially will sell two BREW handsets the high-end Z-800 (a Sharp device that
Verizon is self-branding) for $399.99 and the Kyocera 3035e for $49.99.
According to Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson, the company is debuting BREW on its
IS-95 network because there are no 1XRTT-compatible BREW handsets available that have
completed the 1XRTT network testing. However, the company does plan to deploy BREW over its
1XRTT network in the future.
This revelation came as expected to Ken Hyers, analyst, wireless carrier services at In-Stat MDR,
which has the same parent company as Wireless Week. It s not surprising that they are launching
BREW over IS-95 because IS-95 is what s available right now. Their 1X geographic coverage isn't that
strong, Hyers says. And you don t need a high-speed data network to download applications. It
makes sense to launch on the network that gives you the most reach and access to the most
customers.
Joining Verizon Wireless on the BREW bandwagon is regional carrier Alltel. The company announced
June 3 that it will launch BREW in some markets by third-quarter this year. And like Verizon, Alltel
says that the initial launch will be over the company s IS-95 network, although it also will offer BREW
over its 1XRTT network when the handsets and the network are available.
According to Roger Woziwodzki, Alltel s director of wireless data services, the carrier liked the BREW
business model, which does an 80-10-10 breakdown of the revenue. In other words, the BREW
model allows for developers to get 80 percent of the application revenue with 10 percent going to the
carrier and remaining 10 percent going to Qualcomm. The guidelines are understood and very well
communicated, Woziwodzki says.
However, Alltel says that its BREW selection isn't exclusive. We are very interested in Java and
J2ME, Woziwodzki says. We are working on plans in that area. Alltel s decision to explore both
platforms is in line with Verizon Wireless, which recently confirmed that it wouldn't exclusively use
BREW technology and would likely begin offering Java-based applications sometime in early 2003.
Qualcomm this week hosts its BREW 2002 Developers Conference in San Diego, and today also
announces that it will work with Oracle Corp. to integrate BREW into its 9i Lite platform, enabling
corporations to develop and deploy mobile BREW applications. FunMail announces during the event it
will begin shipping a BREW-enabled version of its FunMail Client, enabling use of the platform to trade
multimedia messages. Also during the conference, Sony Online Entertainment says it will develop
games and other entertainment applications for mobile devices using BREW.
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