It's like an internal VC fund for good ideas.
Qualcomm describes the unit as a 'wholly owned subsidiary created to develop and introduce new services and applications that tap into the advantages of mobile technology'.
The idea is to nurture concepts that can drive the adoption of Qualcomm’s technologies, but also stand alone as commercial services.
The first four services have already been launched to consumers. They are:
* Neer
A geo-fence based location sharing service pitched primarily at 25 to 50 year old women. It's designed to solve communication and coordination problems by sharing location with the user's inner circle. Available today on the Android Market, and coming soon to Brew MP and Apple’s App Store.
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* Qilroy
Introduces a concept called peer-to-place communication, which enables location-based conversations to take place anywhere in the world. Qilroy users can find people around them or at any interesting place in the world and then chat, post questions, share thoughts, reply to people or just get the vibe of an area. Available today on Apple’s App Store, on the web and coming soon to Brew MP and Android Market.
* Tapioca
It's like a bit.ly link for rich media. Tapioca’s Magic Link is an intelligent URL shortening service that allows content providers to run multimedia (video, Web/WAP) across multiple device types (smartphones, feature phones, PC, smartbooks).
* Vive
A free, friends-based social recommendation service that allows users to share recommendations, ratings, purchases and other activities with friends and other users in the Vive community. Available today on Facebook, and coming soon to Brew MP and Apple’s App Store.
The launch of QSL increases Qualcomm's commitment to innovation, which has always been strong, and can be seen in concepts such as Mirasol (display tech), various mobile healthcare ideas, in-car, Xiam (personalisation) and more.
What's a little different here is that these services are being launched direct to consumer rather than developed and then made available to partners.
This new strategy has been made possible by the emergence of the app, giving Qualcomm a channel through which to disseminate its products.
Isaac Babbs, general manager of QSL, said: “When we consider any new project we ask ourselves two questions: is the market big enough for us, and can we bring differentiation to it? In all cases we're looking at participating in markets that can be worth over $3bn a year in three to five years."
Babbs told ME it has three more concepts in development in addition to those already announced.
He confirmed its five areas of focus as: communication, information/entertainment, discovery , life automation, digital to physical.
