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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Harvey Rosenkrantz who wrote (15580)	9/26/1998 7:37:00 PM
From: SKIP PAUL	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

PCS show looks at how to package the data Loring Wirbel Orlando, Fla. - Broadband data capabilities remain one of the few selling points of third-generation cellular, particularly in the absence of a unified air interface. Yet handset vendors and cellular carriers have been unable to promote the concept of transitional wideband (64- to 256-kbit) services, let alone the multimegabit service promised for 3G. At the Personal Communications Showcase '98 here last week, Qualcomm Inc. chairman Irwin Jacobs said customers still have not shown interest in using the 1.5-Mbit burst rates promised for CDMA high-data-rate chips, though applications like Internet access seem a natural fit. "Data will be very interesting, but must be introduced on an evolutionary path," Jacobs said. "We are certain that our development path will show burst rates greater than 2 Mbits for high-data-rate [CDMA], long before any 3G technology is available. But there is some question in our minds as to how the data applications will develop." Handset and component manufacturers are experimenting with new architectures. Qualcomm rolled out its pdQ phone with embedded PalmPilot capabilities, Nokia was showing off additions to its 9000I Communicator line and Sierra Wireless Inc. (Richmond, B.C.) demoed a Type 2 PCMCIA card for Cellular Digital Packet Data, embedded in a Hewlett-Packard LX handheld computer. Qualcomm is initiating market trials of pdQ for both dual-mode 800/1,900 CDMA phones and single-mode 1,900-MHz phones, with an extended version of PalmPilot features allowing for real-time messaging, new application programming interfaces for use in telephony and special options like "tap-and-dial" for the PalmPilot phone book. Paul Jacobs, president of Qualcomm's consumer division, said that Windows CE was not a real development environment at the time pdQ development began, leaving Palm OS as the only PDA-like operating environment worth considering. Nokia also opted for an open operating environment, though it will use GeoWorks' GEOS 4.0 only in the first two generations of Communicator 9000i and 9000il. These GSM 1900 phones resemble a normal digital cellular phone when closed, but open along the side to reveal a keyboard with backlit screen displaying a Geos application screen. Future versions will be based on the Symbian Epoch-32 environment, said Tapio Hedman, vice president of communications for Nokia Mobile Phones. That environment makes it possible for the 9000 to embed images and photos in wireless e-mail, he said. Transition to 3G will mean adding even low-bit-rate video to wireless services. Partnering with HP, Sierra bundled the AirCard CE with 620 and 640 LX systems. "We are marketing this card as a CE card for any CE environment," Harris said, "though HP has provided a lot of development help for this."