News
BREW 08: Qualcomm moves into widgets
Stuart O'Brien in San Diego May 29 2008, 10:21pm
Qualcomm unveils platform-neutral mobile widgets solution.
The open-standards theme of this week's BREW 08 event continued this morning with the launch of Qualcomm's new mobile widgets platform.
Plaza has been designed to work across any kind of device - not just BREW-based stuff - and is aimed squarely at operators that want to maintain some control over how their customers access the internet from their device.
In simple terms, a mobile widget enables quick access to internet services and web content without forcing the user to fire up their browser and enter URLs. Content is often displayed in a tile-based GUI.
Qualcomm is certainly not the first company to offer a mobile widgets solution (Nokia's Widsets has been around for a while now).
However, it claims Plaza's USP is that it reinforces the existing mobile value chain in the face of increasing competition operators face from web service providers like Google.
Andrew Gilbert, EVP and president of Qualcomm Internet Services, said: "I think it's true to say that there will only ever be one internet, but how people access it can be modifed for mobile users. Plaza will help to increase mobile web usage while building on existing relationships that operators have with their subscribers."
