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

To: scratchmyback who wrote (53071)	7/2/2006 4:55:03 PM
From: matherandlowell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197009

"But please don't ask me what kind of royalties Qualcomm is going to collect from 2015 version of WCDMA, I have no idea of that. Except that it probably won't be very high." It sounds like you are assuming that QCOM will somehow be required to accept a lower royalty rate. What international body will mandate that a company should not be able to negotiate a royalty rate for use of its property? I'm just curious. Is there a court in Europe which would simply proclaim that the foundation patents for WCDMA are not worth the 5% royalty due QCOM? Which court has that power? I'm wondering what kind of royalty QCOM will accept next year for GSM units sold with EDGE technology. I have trouble looking out ten years. What about one year? Do you think QCOM would accept a 5% royalty rate on the IP now pirated by the GSM standard? I think they should charge their usual 5% and then tack on another 5% because the IP was incorporated into the GSM standard without their consent. I think that would send the message that stealing other people's property really doesn't pay in the long run. // jay

To: scratchmyback who wrote (53071)	7/2/2006 7:10:06 PM
From: carranza2	Respond to of 197009

When it comes to mobile, I am currently using GSM & WCDMA, and will probably start using also WLAN (and VoIP) by next summer. I have no idea what it will be in 2015, but I would guess that here in Euroland we might be using some upgraded version of WCDMA for truly mobile stuff, and whenever in a stationary mode, maybe some evolutionary versions of WLAN, Wimax, Bluetooth or something else. But please don't ask me what kind of royalties Qualcomm is going to collect from 2015 version of WCDMA, I have no idea of that. Except that it probably won't be very high. One thing I do know is that you or your carrier will eventually be using an IP based system which will be technology-agnostic as respects the air interface. I think that's a given. It won't care if you are using a fixed line or a cell. And that IMO is where the investment opportunities presently lie. As far as royalties into 2015 are concerned, who knows. It seems relatively certain, as certain as things can be in such a distant time frame, that some form of OFDM and CDMA will be the basis of 4G. If that should be the case, perhaps Q has found a way to extend its royalty regime a lot longer than anyone thought possible. This is of course rank speculation, but no more speculative than the notion that Q's royalty income will be substantially diminished by then.