Although Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW application download system commands a smaller market than that of rival Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Java, the company continues to rack up new BREW handsets, applications and carrier customers-and Qualcomm and its partners continue to offer new innovations for the platform.
“The secret is out-there’s money to be made on BREW right now,” said Aaron Bernstein, Qualcomm’s product manager for BREW games. “The BREW marketplace is very healthy.”
Indeed, Qualcomm is gearing up for its fourth annual BREW Developer’s Conference June 7-9 in the company’s hometown of San Diego. The event in past years has run as a sort of technology pep rally, and this year again likely will be the scene of new technologies, applications and enthusiasm. Qualcomm said it expects 1,400 attendees at the conference-a significant showing for a platform devoted solely to the wireless industry.
The fourth annual conference represents another major milestone in the evolution of Qualcomm’s technology, first launched in January 2001. What is now BREW initially was developed as part of Qualcomm’s handset manufacturing process. The technology was used to push software updates remotely to new phones without physically requiring technicians to do the installations. After Qualcomm sold its handset business to Kyocera Wireless Corp., the company soon discovered a new use for BREW as a standalone application distribution system.
BREW technology allows users to open their phones and shop from among various applications, such as games, instant-messaging programs and information services, and then download their chosen applications over the air to their phones. The applications are installed directly on users’ phones and run natively on the devices. This changes the server-based WAP paradigm, which requires devices to connect to a server to display new information, a process that can take up to several seconds for each new screen. Charges for BREW applications show on users’ monthly wireless service bills, and the resulting revenues are split among the carrier, Qualcomm and the application developer.
The entire system comprises several key moving parts. First, a carrier like Verizon Wireless connects to Qualcomm’s BREW distribution system. The carrier must sell BREW-capable devices like LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s VX6000, which include software that can access the BREW system and then download and run BREW applications. Once a potential customer base is established, application developers step in and develop and sell BREW applications. Developers first must submit their applications to Qualcomm and the carrier for testing and certification, and if they are approved, the developers can then insert their applications into a carrier’s “deck.” The deck is the listing of available applications that users see when shopping on their phones. Both the carrier and the application developer plug into Qualcomm’s billing and settlement system, and when a user purchases an application, about 70 percent to 80 percent of the resulting revenues go to the application developer, with Qualcomm and the carrier divvying up the rest.
Interestingly, application developers sell their applications to the carrier at wholesale prices, and the carrier can bump up the price if it so chooses. The carrier then can keep all of the resulting profit from the markup.
Developed as an end-to-end, secure, painless system for application distribution, the BREW platform has plenty of proponents. Verizon Wireless boasted of 19 million BREW downloads in the first quarter of this year. Application developer Jamdat Mobile Inc. has said it generates $1 million in revenues per month from sales of BREW applications. And Qualcomm said it has recorded more than 100 million BREW downloads worldwide since launching the service more than two years ago.
Such numbers “make it a really easy sell for us,” said Qualcomm’s Bernstein.
Just like Java, BREW has generated most of its revenues from sales of games. Arcade classics like “Tetris” and “Frogger” and unique games like Jamdat’s “Bowling” have given users something to do in their spare time. Consequently, most of the new technologies for BREW are developed with gaming in mind.
The two most-discussed gaming technologies are three-dimensional graphics and multiplayer support. Bernstein said 3D games will soon become a reality on BREW devices thanks to BREW technology extensions from Superscape Group plc and HI Corp. Both companies have developed 3D engines for sale to application developers and handset makers and have created versions of their technology for the BREW platform. Called “extensions,” the technologies are available to application developers, which must pay to use them.
Qualcomm has also announced plans to include 3D technology directly on its CDMA chipsets. The company said it will use 3D technology from ATI on its future CDMA chips.
On the multiplayer side, Bernstein said Qualcomm has largely left the issue up to individual application developers. He said some of the major games developers have already launched multiplayer offerings and are hosting the multiplayer technologies themselves.
But 3D and multiplayer aren’t the only technologies Qualcomm is considering for its BREW platform. Following on the industry’s interest in push-to-talk services, Qualcomm developed its BREWChat application, which allows users to download a PTT app and run it on specially designed handsets. Qualcomm said BREWchat features a latency of 2.5 seconds and will work on handsets from Kyocera, Audiovox Communications Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Even more interesting are Qualcomm’s plans for a customizable user interface based on the BREW platform. Dubbed UI on BREW, Qualcomm said the technology will allow carriers to brand “all areas and depths” of a mobile-phone’s user interface. And Qualcomm said the technology would allow handset makers to modify their devices quickly and easily to meet carrier branding requests. Qualcomm declined to provide further information on the new UI on BREW technology, but said it would offer additional details at its upcoming BREW developer’s conference.
Since launching BREW in 2001, Qualcomm has constantly fought rival Sun and its Java platform, which enjoys a greater number of carrier and handset supporters. Indeed, the two companies continue to nip at each others’ heels.
Qualcomm’s approach to BREW “is fairly static. You can take the BREW way or you can take the highway,” said David Rivas, chief technology officer of Sun’s consumer and mobile systems group.
Qualcomm two years ago sought to quell fears of a Java-vs.-BREW battle with the release of a Java virtual machine that would run over BREW. The technology would allow applications written in Java to run on BREW-capable mobile phones. However, to date no carrier has offered the technology, which Qualcomm said is because there is basically no need.
“Most publishers have dedicated teams to BREW,” Bernstein said. “The major publishers are supporting BREW. There has not been a carrier that has deployed Java over BREW.”
Indeed, gaming company Thumbworks Inc. offers a variety of games in both Java and BREW. Craig Holland, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said Thumbworks develops games with both technologies in mind-to target the largest possible customer market. Holland said development costs for BREW can be more expensive due to testing fees, but the business dealings for Java applications are sometimes more complicated due to the lack of a central contact point like Qualcomm.
“We don’t consider them an apples-to-apple comparison,” he said.
Bernstein said the future is wide open for BREW. Besides 3D, multiplayer, customizable UIs and PTT, BREW will also support location-based services, text notifications and-eventually-larger applications.
