Breakthrough Ideas (continued)
BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless).
The dynamic path to the enormous opportunity for wireless profit is an addictive, but operationally and spectrally efficient, data service with mass-market appeal that kick-starts ever-present acceptance of advanced voice/data connections, always on, always with you.
Qualcomm believes the addictive candidates include: (a) news, entertainment, interactive games, and productivity enhancing tools; (b) applications that allow operators to conveniently update network features and retain customers by enabling them to customize a personalized user interface, and (c) emerging voice-based applications, such as Pure-Voice recognition, or, my favorite, QChat’s push-to-talk capabilities.
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Customers will discover what they cannot live without if, and only if, the wireless industry delivers a solution that: (1) “is open, globally standardized, hardware independent and consistently deployable on any network and on any mobile device,” (2) “provides an end-to-end solution, encompassing both an open technology platform and a well developed business model for revenue sharing along the entire value chain,” and (3) “includes a method for discovering, buying, downloading, and managing applications on client devices” (Qualcomm Internet Services White Paper, p. 1).
The only commercial technology and business system that can meet these three essential requirements and, thereby, fulfill the promise of addictively useful data services is the BREW technology platform and the BREW Distribution System (BDS). Even though Qualcomm already has shaped the global future of wireless, the yoked BREW platform and turnkey business system must fuel the acceleration of exponential growth by providing practical or enchanting applications.
The star-node of a value web must continually create new value. It does so by facilitating and enlarging the value web’s opportunities to add value to the web’s expanded business proposition. Platforms provide the general-purpose means, but applications and services provide the desired ends. Taken together, they provide a whole product.
The diverse unmet, undetected, undeveloped, and unfulfilled needs of the global consumer require a total solution. BREW’s value proposition is based on its ability to provide unique advantages. The unique advantages result from meeting the three market and technology requirements.
Thus, the dynamic path to success required integrating three essential elements to form a whole solution: (a) an open, RF technology-independent, globally standardized and deployable, end-to-end solution, (b) the sharing of revenues along the entire value chain, and (c) a distribution system that permitted the user to discover, download, buy, and manage applications. Taken together, this BREW solution gives Qualcomm’s value web a unique opportunity to drive average revenue per user (ARPU) by enabling higher value applications and by providing a revenue-generating marketplace that extends into a promising and impending future filled with ever-advancing applications.
BREW’s unique, open, agnostic, seamlessly deployable technology and BREW’s distribution system operate across all wireless devices, modes, and networks. Only such an open and agnostic technology solution can generate the demand-side and supply-side economies of worldwide scale that create an ever-growing web of ever-increasing value. And, the BREW solution can do so only if the business model fairly rewards all partners in the value web, but also only if BREW offers not just a CDMA opportunity, but instead, proffers a standardized worldwide wireless solution that drives profits for all.
Qualcomm strives for global applicability in all of its wireless solutions. According to Qualcomm (p. 8, my emphasis): “To be competitive in the worldwide wireless market, a technology must provide economies of scale and a consistent user experience across networks. This is the difference between standardized and standards-based approaches. ‘Standards-based’ generally implies custom integration or integration according to loose specifications. … Solutions that integrate a collection of off-the-shelf technologies in custom configurations leave room for inconsistencies between networks, which make interoperability, roaming, and a consistent customer experience virtually impossible.
…To be effective across real-world network deployments around the world, technology solutions must be standardized, consistently deployable on any wireless technology and on virtually any mobile device – from mass-market phones to high-end PDAs – while providing the customer with a uniformly excellent experience.”
When I read this, I became deeply excited by Dr. Jacob’s insight into what is required to leverage strategic architectural control into strategic predominance worldwide. Qualcomm must offer customers what they most need from high technology: complete standardized solutions.
Client-side Applications. Mass-market phones must be small, light, inexpensive, and consume little power. Yet, these constraints restrict processing power and memory storage in a handset. The earliest approach to this conundrum was to use a thin browser client/server model. Its limitations were high latency and limited interactivity, making the most exciting and desirable graphic-rich interactive games impossible to play.
Decreases in size, cost, and power consumption, together with increases in processing power, allowed Qualcomm to offer a local platform for a startling array of new data services.
Advantages of BREW’s client-side processing include: (1) True real-time processing. By downloading and running applications locally on the phone, a new range of application, including real-time interaction, becomes possible; (2) Fast interactivity with information. Downloaded, locally stored information permits searching or interacting as often as needed, giving all customers fast application response times regardless of network bandwidth. Because client-side execution is tightly integrated with basic telephony functions in BREW, developers can write applications that can be automatically suspended in case of an incoming call or SMS message; (3) A more personalized experience – over the air. Customers select and change the applications and information they desire, customizing and personalizing their phone’s user interface over the air. Network operators use the BREW platform to install, update, or recall applications over the air, even telephony-specific services; and (4) Minimal hardware and software requirements. The BREW platform is thin, only about 150k, but efficient and powerful. And, BREW naturally and elegantly supports client/server apps like multiplayer gaming.
How does BREW work? Before the sale of handset manufacturing to Kyocera, the origin of BREW was the management software for basic telephony functions. BREW is neither an operating system nor a programming language. Instead, it is a run-time wireless telephony management and an application execution environment that fully exploits a handset’s local processing power, as that power is further is magnified by the converging powers of wireless connection, downloading, and communication.
According to Qualcomm, BREW answers technology requirements by: (1) providing a uniform and interoperable method for discovering, buying, downloading and managing applications on client devices – including Java devices and applications; (2) serving all wireless technology standards; and (3) enabling diverse mass market devices. BREW tightly integrates its functions with the device chipset to efficiently support real-time applications.
A Complete Solution. A total platform is more than an execution environment; it also must meet the marketing criteria for a whole product. No matter how great the applications are, it is critical to have an open, flexible set of procedures for discovering, buying, downloading, managing, and billing that are located on the client device.
Consider what a customer wants beyond, say, the entertainment application itself. In a way that is easy, quick, and self-explanatory, the customer needs to be able to check for a new application, verify that if it runs on his phone, and check that sufficient memory for it is available. Next, the customer must be able to try or buy the applications. This means the software must be designed to: (a) determine the time-limited offer or price; (b) offer the choice to download; and (c) create a billing record that seamlessly integrates with the operator’s existing billing system. Once downloaded, the customer must be able to easily, quickly, and intuitively install, execute, manage, and remove old applications and to download new ones. These abilities and many more, including testing, provisioning, and a virtual marketplace, make BREW a complete end-to-end solution without functional gaps. Only BREW combines a simple, effective technology with a complete business model to meet all these requirements seamlessly, without additional integration or third-party software.
Once again, the whole product is not only the technology, but also a complete solution. The whole product not only satisfies the consumer’s needs, but also adds exponential value beyond the sum of its parts. We grope to express the meaning of that extra value by saying, “it works effortlessly,” or “the technology disappears.”
A Win-Win Value Chain. Although an increased ARPU is key to maintaining the integrity of a complete value chain, it is only the beginning. To be effective, the BREW platform must fully support network operators, device manufacturers, application developers, and users.
Network operators win because BREW is agnostic to network infrastructure, deploying equally well on any 2G or later network, whether circuit-switched or packet-based, and still providing a uniformly excellent customer experience. More important, the perceived value of BREW grows as networks increase throughputs and devices improve performance at ever-lower costs. Obsolescent applications are not an issue because more sophisticated applications can be downloaded to replace them. Thus, BREW continues to become more valuable over time.
For instance, massive multiplayer games become feasible by combining BREW’s local client functionality with input from a packet network. Players enjoy the real-time collaborative and interactive experience on their mobile devices. Operators profit because, after the game is downloaded to the device, the interactive play itself requires little bandwidth but rakes in access fees from many players.
Best yet, the low risk and cost of implementing BREW is completely under the control of operators. Their investment in infrastructure can begin under $100,000 to support 4 million users. Because the BREW platform provides the basics, from application discovery and downloading to integrated billing, the costs of using a wide range of services, from J2ME applets to a game or ring tone, are reduced. Because BREW is such a versatile platform, it eliminates the needs for any proprietary platforms to offer new services. Instead, everything runs atop the BREW abstraction layer.
Given the BREW business model, which is discussed below, developers reduce their search and transaction costs, and operators reduce their risk of selecting a service or application that won’t pay for itself. Application developers are paid for the success of their applications when subscribers purchase them. Because BREW has a small memory footprint, young price-sensitive customers, the same demographic that made SMS such a success, can purchase BREW to select exciting applications for their low-end, often pre-paid, phones.
The manufacturers of devices profit from BREW’s tight integration with the chipset software. This speeds application and device development and gives more execution bang for the buck. According to Qualcomm (pp.12-13), “Ideally, applications should be scaled perfectly with the various tiers of phone models and make efficient use of the phone’s resources and provide a consistent user experience. To succeed at this task requires a complete solution that addresses the need of all devices – not just the high end.”
BREW is tightly integrated with the processors, Flash memory, and RAM in the chipset. Its run-time environment provides a software connection between the chip’s telephony functions and the higher-level applications written by third parties. Developers are freed to focus on the design and creation on the application because BREW serves as an abstraction layer that handles the telephony hardware and everything else through its distribution and business models. Rapidly advancing applications using ever-improving chipsets reduce churn and drive increased average sales price and replacement sales.
BREW is readily available to all manufacturers because of its easy software porting and agnosticism to air interface. Because BREW has the lowest hardware requirements for any phone design, it is the easiest and least expensive to implement. Moreover, it is ideally suited to low-cost mass-market phones because of its simplicity and low cost. The Shosteck Group estimates that low-cost phones will comprise up to 90% of future markets.
For application developers to succeed, bringing applications quickly to market is crucial. BREW speeds this process in two ways. First, its basic platform serves as an abstraction layer that simplifies writing universally seamless software by letting developers focus on the application rather than telephony functions and hardware-integration. Second, it allows developers to easily market their applications through the BREW BDS, which also helps ensure that developers receive the payment they deserve. No other platform offers this benefit.
Although the BREW platform is based on the widely used programming language C/C++, which has a base of 7 million application developers, the 3 million JAVA programmers writing in J2ME can also benefit from the combined BREW platform and business model. Qualcomm chose C/C++ not because it is the best programming language, that honor may belong to JAVA, but because it permits a globally standardized solution now. What C/C++ does offer is fast processing speeds, which are important on small devices with relatively limited processing power and memory, and many developers in Asia who are familiar with the language.
Carriers who wish to have both J2ME and BREW on a mobile device can easily do so by running J2ME atop BREW, permitting JAVA programmers to benefit from its chip-level integration. BREW is a complement to JAVA. At present, JAVA does not offer a complete solution. According to Qualcomm (p. 14),
“JAVA applications normally require a JAVA Virtual Machine (JVM) that is specifically designed for each device to handle chipset-level functions. For example, any application running on a phone needs to access basic telephony functions such as the arrival of an SMS message or access to a phone’s built-in GPS capability. Because access to those functions varies from phone to phone, a special JVM would be required for nearly every model. Every network operator defines its own specification for JAVA implementation (over and above the MIDP specification). Therefore, each manufacturer builds custom APIs to get better performance out of the MIDP 1.0 specification. The result is that each handset may require different JVMs and MIDP interpretations from each manufacturer. Because BREW includes a complete solution for the distribution, download, and purchase of applications, it eliminates the need for third party integration to perform these functions for JAVA applications.”
According to Rick Merrit, in EE Times, April 2, 2002:
eetimes.com
”Unique implementations and extensions of Java for emerging voice and data cellular devices are threatening…the best hope for integrating this market. Indeed, …at JavaOne…many privately worried that a true unified Java platform for cellular might not arrive for a year or longer. …The problem is that the current version of the standard Java environment for cell phones – the Mobile Information Device (MIDP) 1.0 – does not address many key multimedia, security and other functions that carriers and OEMs are adding to the platform in devices and services now marching to market. …Though some 24 million Java handset shipped last year, the current MIDP 1.0.3 devices were ‘a world of one-offs’ that may not see commonality until MIDP 2.0 arrives in systems in late 2003.”
First-generation Java phones proliferated proprietary Java APIs. So far, Java devices remain standards-based, lacking compatibility across devices and networks because a loosely defined standard was implemented, not as a single stable platform, but as a fragmented set of unique and proprietary products. Thus, not only is it not a standardized solution, but also, Java does not yet provide a complete solution
However, Qualcomm provides a seamless and agnostic platform solution today that is uniquely integrated with an inclusive distribution system, all operators’ present billing systems, and a profit-producing business model. Additionally, BREW solves many of the difficulties of getting J2ME uniformly into handsets, and it enables installing, upgrading, or recalling JVM’s over the air. Qualcomm believes that JAVA will run on more phones, more easily, with BREW. It seeks a win-win solution that enlarges the market by ensuring maximum compatibility among applications regardless of developers’ preferences for programming languages. Everyone is advantaged when customers experience uniformly excellent quality of service that can be provided only by a complete standardized solution across applications, devices, and networks. JAVA is a complement to BREW.
Both IBM and Hewlett-Packard ported WebSphere ME or MicroChai, respectively, to BREW, and Qualcomm remains open to ports of other JVMs, recently adding one from Insignia. Sharp recently demonstrated that JVM performance was as fast atop BREW (which uses ARM’s Jazelle) as when run independently.
For users, the BREW platform enables useful and compelling applications that are dramatically better than WAP- and SMS-based services. Lower cost phones are critical to recruiting a pre-paid youth market, which will appreciate the excellent graphics, fast-paced action, and real-time interactivity that BREW enables.
Integrated Business Model. Qualcomm (p. 17) is proud that “BREW is free to handset manufacturer, free to developers, low cost for operators and includes both a complete technology solution and a business model.” Best of all for customers, BREW just “works” easily and intuitively to give them new services that are worth paying for.
The core of the business model is the distribution, management, and sale of BREW applications. This makes the model convenient and remunerative for developers. Qualcomm plans to split revenues based on wholesale prices among developers, about 80%, operators, about 10%, and eventually, to retain about 10% for its innovative contributions to the platform technology and distribution and billing system. But, Qualcomm gives primacy to extending its value web over taking any early profits.
There is a virtual marketplace for developers and operators to buy and sell applications that are tested and digitally signed to ensure a uniformly good experience for customers. Operators select the applications that they want and negotiate directly with developers to set a wholesale price. The operator may set a retail price and collect airtime fees as well. The price is paid to developers when each user purchases the application, which means payment is triggered by success. This means that the three parties share revenues only when an application actually earns revenues. The operator is free to design the best set of offerings to meet users’ needs.
Qualcomm supports each operator with the BDS and back-end software that includes a download server, transaction manager, application manager, and an extranet for carriers and developers, which includes the virtual market. Best of all, the BDS is integrated with the network operator’s existing billing system. Thus, the BREW Distribution System is a seamless, flexible, inexpensive, and complete solution for both network operators and developers. Developers not only decrease their time to market using the BREW platform, but also use the virtual market to sell, distribute, and bill for the applications.
Ensuring Reliable, High Quality, Safe-Applications. Qualcomm realized the importance of addressing and eliminating the frustration created for users by viruses, hackers, and poor quality software that reduce usability and cause software and handset crashes. NTT DoCoMo faced this problem soon after it introduced its JAVA-based phones when hackers discovered a weakness that let them send viruses to other phones users that lost data, dialed emergency services, or turned the phone’s power off. This both disenchanted customers and required operators to screen for and patch the virus-related problems.
Pragmatic customers expect services to work. BREW makes sure that they do provide quality performance. Qualcomm’s partner, National Software Test Lab tests BREW applications for operators who request this service. Although manufacturers of JAVA phones are launching certification programs, they are not standardized across manufacturers so they cannot duplicate BREW’s seamless uniformity of quality or its universality across phones and networks.
Moreover, only BREW applications are digitally signed by developer, Qualcomm, and the network operator using a VeriSign Internet certificate that identifies the author, verifies testing, and shows users that the operator has approved them for use in this network.
The pundit, and former editor-in-chief at InfoWorld, Stewart Alsop saw Qualcomm’s business model, distribution system, control of quality, and prevention of misuse as overlooked advantages that will make BREW a long-term winner.
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Alsop indicated, that despite some developers’ and manufacturer’s preferences for using JAVA, all carriers must care about controlling the devices and application that they sell for use on their network. According to Alsop,
“With Java, in principle any customer can download Java apps to their phone by linking to their computer, or dialing into some random Java service. The carrier would have no idea this was going on, which is bad for two reasons. One, the carrier can’t get a piece of the action. Two, just as serious: Who approves the apps being downloaded? Who tests them? Who makes sure the apps don’t interfere with the phone’s operations? What’s to stop someone from downloading an application that ends up crashing the cell phone? When that happens, customers will start calling up the carrier for tech support – and that is Not Good. With BREW, on the other hand, the carrier is protected from all that. The carrier gets a BREW server through which all its customer’s access, download, and pay for apps. Customers from Carrier A can’t get apps from another server somewhere else, because everything is keyed to the carrier’s own server and own handsets. The apps delivered through the BREW systems delivery system are certified to work with those handsets, and the BREW delivery system can check the handset for proper configuration – so BREW delivered apps are unlikely to crash the phone. And the BREW billing system gives the carrier a share of the commerce going through their system.”
Once again, Qualcomm has uniquely positioned BREW. According to Qualcomm (p. 20): “only the BREW platform forms a complete, open solution that encompasses the full range of market requirements, including:
· The ability to provision, download, sell and manage applications without custom systems integration.
· High value applications that increase ARPU, including real-time applications.
· A good customer experience on any network, and in any payment mode.
· The ability to work well on lower-priced, mass-market handsets in addition to high-end, feature-rich phones.
· Minimal barriers to entry, including a low learning curve for developers, no cost to manufacturers, minimal cost to operators and easy implementation.
· No need to re-write code to access core functions of different mobile devices.
· An integrated method to ensure the quality, security, and reliability of applications.
· A guaranteed revenue model for network operators and application developers.”
Alsop believed these distribution and service advantages of BREW would prove to be irresistible to carriers. Alsop continued by noting that this is not a competition between BREW and JAVA because both BREW and JAVA win when “JAVA apps can be certified, delivered, managed, updated, and billed using the BREW delivery systems just like BREW apps.”
The ability to support billing for data, whether for 10 plays of Tiger Woods Golf, air access charge while playing a group-interactive game, or a monthly fixed charge, is a huge development for carriers. Neither billing nor revenue sharing is available presently for J2ME developers. Because of these complete and decisive solution advantages, BREW functions as the best system solution for both J2ME and BREW application developers, as well as for network operators, mobile terminal OEMs, and customers.
The Chasm Crossing Elevator Message: For JAVA developers who are dissatisfied with having to integrate their JAVA applications with basic telephony functions and diverse multimedia functions whose hardware-specific requirements can be different for each phone and OEM, and, equally important, who are frustrated by spending additional time and money to market their applications to several carriers, unlike the JAVA consortium currently, the BREW Platform serves as a JAVA-compatible abstraction layer that not only eliminates the plague of integration problems, but also supplies Qualcomm’s BREW Distribution System, which provides a complete business solution that produces sales using a virtual marketplace, distributes and deploys applications, bills the carrier, and fairly financially rewards your success. |
