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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (30759)	1/6/2003 12:08:37 AM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 196668

Microsoft Prepares CDMA Products Fri Jan 3, 7:12 PM ET John Foley, InformationWeek story.news.yahoo.com Microsoft's push into mobile computing fills a gap this week when it releases its Smartphone and Pocket PC software for CDMA (news - web sites)-compliant handheld devices. Code Division Multiple Access opens an important market for Microsoft, which to date has focused on GSM and GPRS mobile services. In the United States, for example, both Sprint and Verizon offer voice and data services over CDMA networks. "Verizon is the largest mobile operator in North America, and until now, we have not had software that would run on their network," Microsoft product manager Ed Suwanjindar says. Audiovox Communications Corp. last year revealed "ra," a CDMA-compliant Pocket PC that's made by Toshiba Mobile Communications Co. and incorporates Sierra Wireless software that lets the ra run over Verizon's network. Hitachi and Samsung are among the first palmtop makers to back Microsoft's CDMA software. Hitachi will use the code in its Multimedia Communicator NC1 Pocket PC, which has a phone, a browser, a speaker, a camera, a color screen, and a miniature keyboard. "The integrated keyboard has been missing from our portfolio," Suwanjindar says. Samsung's i700 is a voice-and-data device that also sports a camera and a color screen. Both Hitachi and Samsung are aiming the CDMA devices at consumers and businesspeople, though neither gave delivery dates for their products. At least 30 manufacturers are building mobile devices based on Smartphone and Pocket PC technologies, according to Microsoft, and 21 network operators reportedly have committed to distributing them.

To: John Biddle who wrote (30759)	1/6/2003 10:05:32 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 196668

Re: Sendo v. Microsoft sounds very much like an earlier civil action between Stac Electronics and Microsoft, back in the early 1990's. In that action, MSFT committed to using Stacker compression software in its Windows OS (to facilitate use of Windows on computers that were a bit shy of DRAM for the humongous requirements of Windows). Then MSFT changed the Stacker program code very slightly and dissolved its agreement to use Stacker software on the notion that MSFT had developed something on its own that worked just as well. This brought on a patent infringement suit, in which Stac defeated Microsoft. While the cause of action in Sendo's suit is different, the pattern of behavior of MSFT remains the same. Some things never change, particularly when a large company gets the blessing of a federal appellate court, which it can then interpret as a message to do whatever you want to whomever you choose. To lump MSFT and QCOM together in a single theory of management, as the article does, couldn't be farther from the truth. The MSFT pattern is to expropriate original technology for its own benefit, hoping that brawn will more than compensate for a minimal brain. QCOM, on the other hand, has purposely encouraged others to use its original technology, for a price that few can afford to resist. QCOM and MSFT are really at opposite ends of the management spectrum. Let's hope the QCOM strategy prevails. Art Bechhoefer