To: Uncle Frank who wrote (2641 ) 6/15/1999 3:47:00 PM From: mauser96 Read Replies (3) | Respond to
Uncle Frank... You're right, non insiders don't know the details of the QCOM - Ericsson deal, so none of us should have 100% confidence in our information, or the conclusions we draw from it. However, we do know that at least in the US there is a standard (IS-95) for CDMA, meaning anybody can make phones to fit this standard even though they will pay royalties. In Europe what QCOM wanted, and eventually got, was not control of standards, but rather assurance that the standards already being developed over there were compatible with what QCOM had developed. I have seen e-mails with qcom.com addresses confirming the above. QCOM doesn't have the Ericsson or Nokia's political pull in Europe and was in danger of being shut out of a market as big and rich as the US. QCOM realized that it's better to be a medium size fish in a huge pond than a big fish in a tiny pond. Standards in cell phones must insure compatibility, that's what they are for, so that a caller with brand X phone can talk to somebody on the same standard with phone Y. Would you buy a QCOM phone in the states if you couldn't talk to people who own Nokia or Motorola phones?
