Your Pinkness, the argument has been around since people more closely resembled chimpanzees. A clever chimp figures out something or learns how to pick the best apples from the top of a tree using a long piece of bamboo. In a flash, the others copy the smart chimp or simply steal his bamboo pole.
Humans have contrived to move a little beyond kleptocracy, having learned that simply stealing the producer's efforts leads to little being produced.
Sure enough, the dumb thugs get all frustrated because they are too stupid to do anything themselves, so gang up and beat up on the creative ones, stealing the goods. You are suggesting that there are so many of them, that Qualcomm should simply say, "Oh gee, okay boys, you sure are looking angry and unhappy and geopolitically tough. I guess we better go for appeasement. Let's get Neville Chamberlain's piece of paper and see how to fill it in. That should get peace in our time". Well, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Why should Qualcomm care at all how annoyed the spoilt SETI crowd get? There is nothing SETI can do. Of course it is in the interests of cdma users to not pay Qualcomm any more royalty than they have to. Like spoiled brats, they'll kick and scream and moan about usury, and any other rot to get their political mates to steal from Qualcomm.
Well, Qualcomm can just go right ahead and produce the goods all by themselves. The rest can stick with GSM or try to produce their own CDMA which they don't have a hope in hell of doing according to everyone who knows anything about the patent portfolio. Qualcomm is producing a cellular system which Sprint can sell at cheaper than landline costs. So, leave Europe to their GSM. They can put a political fence around it and rot for 1000 years, using only GSM.
They have signed some free trade agreements though, so they'll have to watch those go up in smoke. As well as that, there are intellectual property laws and the USA doesn't take kindly to seeing USA companies having their IP stolen. The USA has a very powerful trading and military system to back it up. If Europe really wants to go down the keptocracy route, they will find it very, very expensive. They would be best to pay up. And be grateful to Qualcomm. If a licencee doesn't show due appreciation of Qualcomm's efforts and instead moans and grizzles, they should be invited to get lost and invent their own system.
Let them adopt anything but Qualcomm. Let them be pissed off. Let them try to sell GSM at 40cents per minute with Tero's amazing handsets against Qualcomm's 10 cents per minute, with Q-Phones.
The pressure is much more on SETI than Qualcomm. Every day, Qualcomm suffers opportunity cost by not selling into Europe. Every day, L M Ericsson and those not licensed for cdma2000 suffer a much much greater opportunity cost. L M Ericsson needs to get their big, fat, cheque book out and fork out the billions it is going to cost them for a cdma licence. The Koreans can learn what a contract means.
L M Ericsson adopted ABQ for years and look at their position now. Heading the Motorola way, but without the cdmaOne licence. Nokia has a position in all technology and will be twice as big as that reprobate organization L M Ericsson. Let others join ABQ as well. They can wander in the GSM wilderness for as long as suckers go on ordering new systems. Which won't be long.
If the USA joins Europe in a confiscatory judicial and political approach to Qualcomm's rights, some will cheer. Others will think it a bleak day for the future of human development. Back in the USSR. We don't know how lucky we are now.
Just what do you think Qualcomm should do? Just be grateful for whatever L M Ericsson offers?
Don't worry, the pressure is on the Kleptocracy. The USA is strong and has been in favour of capitalism, free enterprise and private property for a long time. Americans might think OJ didn't do it, but they aren't totally stupid, so won't want to just surrender to the ignorant aliens who shout "Stand and Deliver".
Mqurice
PS: Actually, Qualcomm can't go ahead and produce cdma all by itself because they have licensed many companies already and those companies have the right to go right ahead and produce. That includes cdmaOne and cdma2000 systems. Philips being a cdma2000 licencee and I suppose Lucent and Nortel. Not sure about Motorola. Maybe others too. cdma2000 is well underway. Size is nothing. Brains are everything. |
