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

To: slacker711 who wrote (58082)	1/2/2007 3:23:33 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197466

They dont say which technology Avis will use but DO seems likely (especially since it has substantially better coverage than HSDPA right now). nytimes.com Wi-Fi Is Hitting the Road in Cars From Avis, but Technical and Legal Bumps Lie Ahead By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT Published: January 2, 2007 Try connecting to a high-speed wireless network from a car, and you are pretty much limited to one method: rigging your laptop computer with a special modem and subscribing to a costly, and sometimes temperamental, wireless service. But Autonet Mobile, a start-up wireless technology company based in San Francisco, is expected to announce this week that it has reached an agreement with Avis Rent A Car System to provide a rolling Wi-Fi hotspot to Avis customers by March. For $10.95 a day, Avis will issue motorists a notebook-size portable device that plugs into a car’s power supply and delivers a high-speed Internet connection. For the moment, the service is intended for business travelers. But Autonet sees its service appealing to families traveling with their children, although its unit is expected to cost $399, about twice as much as current cellular card technology, plus $49 a month for service. A mobile Wi-Fi hotspot that lets laptops and personal digital assistants link to the Internet without the benefit of wires represents an important step toward what technology experts call the “connected car.” “This shows us a glimpse of where we will be in the future,” said Roger Entner, a wireless telecommunications analyst at Ovum, a consulting firm based in London. Users of these new Wi-Fi hotspots still must contend with technological limitations, like bandwidth restrictions and, for vehicles with too few auxiliary power outlets for all passengers who want to be online at the same time, battery consumption. Avis said it planned to make a formal announcement on the technology within a week but declined to comment for this article. Sterling Pratz, the president and chief executive of Autonet, said the device uses the 3G cellular network and will work in all major metropolitan areas and in about 95 percent of the country. Mr. Pratz said his technology minimized dropped connections but did not eliminate them, and noted that the In-Car-Router had been modified to reduce battery consumption. “In our testing, customers have told us that battery life isn’t an issue because people have been able to plug their devices into the car’s power supply,” he said. Questions about the legality of operating a vehicle with a Wi-Fi hotspot onboard are also likely to be raised, according to analysts. Thomas Dickerson, the author of “Travel Law” (Law Journal Press, 2007) said it would be “easy to see that a technology like this could change the way people drive, because this could take people’s attention off the road.” Autonet saidthe service was for passengers and that Avis would require renters to agree not to hold it liable for accidents resulting from irresponsible use.

To: slacker711 who wrote (58082)	1/3/2007 8:24:39 AM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 197466

Antitrust complaints are task force's focus signonsandiego.com By Kathryn Balint UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER January 3, 2007 South Korea's antitrust agency has formed a task force to investigate complaints against San Diego-based Qualcomm, according to The New York Times. The investigation into Qualcomm was prompted by complaints filed in June by Nextreaming and Thin Multimedia, two South Korean high-tech companies that accused the San Diego wireless technology giant of using its market dominance to demand excessive royalties. Advertisement The complaints filed in South Korea are similar to others filed in Europe, Japan and the United States accusing Qualcomm of trying to stifle competition. Qualcomm argues that its licensing agreements are lawful and actually foster competition. The company said it makes its technology available even to small companies that are trying to break into the wireless market and that otherwise might not have been able to succeed. “We know nothing about it,” Qualcomm spokeswoman Bertha Agia said of yesterday's move by South Korea's antitrust watchdog agency, the Fair Trade Commission. The $7.5 billion-a-year company developed wireless technology known as code-division multiple access, or CDMA. The company's patented technology is on its way to being used in virtually every cell phone in the world. Qualcomm makes money by collecting royalty fees from cell phone makers that use its technology and by selling chips that power cell phones. More than 130 companies worldwide – including the largest players in the telecommunications industry – have licensing agreements with Qualcomm. The creation of a task force, which is modeled after the one investigating antitrust complaints against Microsoft, means that the case in question merits a full-blown investigation, said Na Yang-ju, a spokesman for the Fair Trade Commission. But commission officials also acknowledged that the case against Qualcomm was more complicated than they had expected. A year ago, the commission ruled that Microsoft was guilty of breaching fair-trade rules, a decision the company is appealing. “We have been investigating Qualcomm's case since last April, but we have found it to be a complicated case where facts are difficult to establish,” said Lee Seung-kyu, an investigator for the commission. South Korea is home to several leading mobile phone makers as well as smaller companies that provide technology and components. More than 80 percent of the country's population of 48 million carry cell phones, all based on Qualcomm technology. “Companies here have constantly complained about Qualcomm demanding too much royalty,” said Kevin Lee, an industry analyst at Woori Investment and Securities in Seoul. “The investigation can be seen as political pressure on Qualcomm to be more friendly toward South Korean companies which use its technology.”