SAN DIEGO-Nokia Corp. will build a mobile phone for Verizon Wireless that will include BREW application download technology from Nokia’s archrival Qualcomm Inc.
Verizon executives confirmed the move during Qualcomm’s annual BREW developer’s conference. Verizon and Nokia couldn’t immediately provide details on the phone, including what model it will be.
That Nokia will include BREW technology on one of its handsets is notable for a number of reasons. Nokia has made a major commitment to Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Java technology for mobile phones and has included the technology in its Series 60 software platform for high-end handsets. Java and BREW are competing technologies but are not mutually exclusive, and Java applications can run over the BREW platform.
Further, Nokia has gone to great lengths to set itself against Qualcomm and has promised it will not use Qualcomm chips in its CDMA phones. But at the same time, Nokia has promised to improve its CDMA mobile-phone portfolio in order to boost its market share. Verizon has made a strong commitment to BREW and has been pushing its handset partners to include the technology on their handsets.
Qualcomm offers its BREW technology for free to handset makers.
In other Verizon handset news, the carrier has begun selling the advanced Kyocera 7135 smart phone using the Palm Inc. operating system and the voice-capable BlackBerry 6750 from Research In Motion Ltd.
