I don't understand why unbundled patents would be a problem for QUALCOMM. The price could be 1% per patent or $6 patent [or more]. That would add up to a LOT more than what Nokia used to pay in the bundled deal.
QUALCOMM could decline to use Nokia's patents and abandon the ASIC business involving Nokia patents.
Nokia would be able to use ONLY the essential patents agreed to under the ETSI rules. That would leave a lot of others which Samsung, Sony-Ericsson and the others could enjoy to which Nokia wouldn't have access. That would be bad for Nokia sales.
On the toll road, QUALCOMM has much more share of the pixelation processes than ever before. So, while there is Wi-Fi, WiMAX and GSM/GPRS/EDGE outside QUALCOMM's purview, ALL the CDMA transmissions fall within it. Have a look at the growth rate cdg.org and the totals = 431 million. There are 256 million W-CDMA/HSPA subscribers. umts-forum.org
That's 687 million various forms of CDMA air interface. That's a LOT and a higher proportion than ever, with great growth with increasing market share as GSM/GPRS/EDGE starts dying.
Nokia will NOT want to be cut off from the transition from the obsolete GSM/GPRS/EDGE realm to the CDMA realm. CDMA includes W-CDMA, HDPA, EV-DO etc as it's the air interface we are discussing, not the legacy hardware linking to the PSTN [public switched telephone network].
Nokia needs QUALCOMM a LOT more than QUALCOMM needs Nokia. More so than previously when CDMA was battling to become seriously commercial.
<Qualcomm used to own the toll-gate and the only road on the way between points A and B. So they could charge whatever they want. But since then, other paving companies have come along and built other roads, and sidewalks, busses, airplanes... and while more people than ever before are going between points A and B, Qualcomm's toll road only carries a fraction of the traffic, even though more traffic than ever is flowing.
Furthermore, unlike before, Qualcomm now wants to travel between points C and D, some of which is paved by Nokia. So they owe some tolls to Nokia just like Nokia owes some tolls to them. It's no longer a one street way. >
All roads lead to Rome. Give or take a few back alleys going nowhere. Yes, Nokia owns some of the back streets. QUALCOMM can ignore those.
The point is that Nokia needs QUALCOMM a LOT more than QUALCOMM needs Nokia.
QUALCOMM couldn't charge what they liked previously. In the early 1990s, to gain acceptance, they gave a royalty free deal to Motorola and Nokia got a very good deal. In Y2K for W-CDMA, Nokia also got a very good deal and forced QUALCOMM to compromise on the chip rate etc.
Now the gumboot is on the other foot, so to speak.
<Qualcomm used to own the toll-gate and the only road on the way between points A and B. So they could charge whatever they want. > In fact, GSM, TDMA, PHS were options and CDMA was struggling against them. CDMA was NOT the only road. It was a narrow cobbled byway around the local village.
Now it's the international superhighway and QUALCOMM has got some serious leverage to collect a more reasonable rate.
Royalties should be on a bit per second per hertz basis, reflecting the huge savings achieved by CDMA/OFDM by QUALCOMM compared with the old TDMA technologies such as GSM.
The idea of "counting patents" to determine price is like "counting cars" to determine their price. A Model A is different from a Rolls Royce is different from a Lamborghini is different from a Corolla is different from a Lexus.... Patents vary in value just as cars do. Cars and patents are NOT fungible.
Mqurice |
