News
BREW 08: Qualcomm's multi-platform play
Stuart O'Brien in San Diego May 29 2008, 7:23pm
Media players, cameras, laptops and cars all ripe for 'mobile' content, says Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs.
Qualcomm is embarking on a major initiative to bring wireless connectivity to a whole swathe of consumer electronic products.
The project is manifest in several areas, including the Gobi wireless laptop programme and the proposed evolution of the MediaFLO and BREW content delivery channels to new devices.
The most high-profile example of this thinking to date is Amazon's Kindle eBook reader, which uses the EV-DO 3G network and the BREW content management platform to allow people to download books over-the-air.
All that back-end stuff is kept out of sight of the user, with the cost of data etc included in the price of the book.
Now Qualcomm wants to extend the model to all kinds of consumer electronics products, from media players and cameras to laptops and cars.
Rallying delegates at BREW 2008 this morning, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said: "Our vision goes beyond phones and modems.
All kinds of devices can have networking capabilities. When you think of DVD players or TVs some really interesting possibilities open up."
Laptops will soon be on the market based on Qualcomm's Gobi technology, which essentially embeds all 3G technologies (WCDMA/EV DO etc) on a single chip. To get connected all a user would have to do is buy airtime from a partner service provider in the same way wi-fi hotspots work today. Dell, Lenovo and HP are among Gobi's partners.
Jacobs added: "This kind of thinking will enable new business models. Putting unified 3G technology in consumer electronics devices means consumers will no longer have to worry about the underlying radio technology, just the content and apps they want to access and download."
Meanwhile, Qualcomm's MediaFLO mobile TV technology is being prepped for deployment to traditionally non-cellular devices like portal media players and in-car entertainment.
