In preparation for its developer’s conference this week in San Diego, Qualcomm Inc. today announced it has broadened the scope of its BREW technology far beyond the confines of games, ring tones and other simple applications. Under the company’s new offering, BREW carriers and handset makers will be able to develop an entire mobile-phone user interface using BREW technology.
“BREW can do many things,” said Gina Lombardi, senior vice president of Qualcomm Internet Services’ marketing and product management. “Each operator can have their own UI, and each manufacturer can port (the UI) to a different device.”
Lombardi said Qualcomm’s new BREW user interface technology greatly expands sales and marketing opportunities for BREW carriers, handset makers and developers. Jason Kenagy, senior director of product management for Qualcomm Internet Services, described the offering as “BREW on steroids.”
The new BREW user interface technology works through Qualcomm’s new BREW 3.1 client software and UI Toolkit 1.0 for handset makers. The technology allows handset manufacturers to use BREW to develop all of the software in a mobile-phone user interface-from the features of the address book to the functions of the messaging software to the color of the menu lists. The offering greatly expands BREW’s current role as the application runtime environment in a mobile phone-a piece of software that stores and runs downloaded applications like games and ring tones.
The benefits of a BREW-based user interface are both complex and diverse. For carriers, a BREW UI can be quickly and easily modified to display a carrier’s brand and logo. For handset makers, the UI can be quickly modified depending on which carrier is selling the phone. And for developers, the UI can potentially open a vast new category of applications.
Because the BREW UI is based on Qualcomm’s BREW application distribution system, users could potentially download modifications and enhancements to their user interfaces. For example, Qualcomm’s Kenagy said users could download new UI “skins” based on their favorite sports team or musician. Much like desktop computer themes, the UI skins would replace standard menu icons and colors with those of the Denver Broncos or Britney Spears, for example. But that’s just the beginning.
Users could also potentially download an entirely new user interface or update key aspects of the UI-a new, expanded address book, for example. The BREW UI could also potentially be updated over the air with new carrier services. If a carrier were promoting a new game based on an upcoming movie, for example, it could potentially add an icon for the game directly onto the main menu screen of subscribers’ mobile phones. The BREW UI could even support dynamically updated content-news headlines could be updated every hour, for example.
“BREW can go very far and very deep,” Kenagy said.
However, such features and functions raise a host of issues. Most importantly, the BREW UI could diminish the role of the handset maker by commoditizing mobile phones-much like Microsoft Corp. has done to the personal computer market. Since carriers could potentially standardize on one BREW UI-requiring all their handset providers to use the same user interface-handset makers could lose some of their clout with consumers. Kenagy acknowledged that this is a concern-especially because Qualcomm sells CDMA chips to handset vendors-but explained that “carrier customization and consumer personalization are inevitable.” However, Kenagy said such a situation is largely contingent on the buying power of a carrier.
Further, carriers and handset makers will have tight control over the features and functions of the BREW UI. Carriers could, for example, allow users to download only new UI skins rather than an entirely new user interface.
“There are so many different possibilities with this,” Kenagy said. “We’re not trying to be too rigid.”
Qualcomm is by no means the first company to introduce a user interface that can be modified and dynamically updated. Macromedia, SavaJe Technologies, Opera Software, SurfKitchen, Trigenix, Microsoft Corp., Openwave Systems Inc. and others offer operating systems and user interfaces that feature much of the same capabilities as Qualcomm’s BREW UI. Indeed, Danger Inc. has been selling its Hiptop device software, which features full over-the-air customization capabilities, for several years through T-Mobile USA Inc. and others. Other companies like Bitfone Corp. and DoOnGo Technologies Inc. offer over-the-air updating technology that can repair mobile-phone software glitches. Even the Open Mobile Alliance has dallied in the area.
However, Qualcomm said several handset manufacturers are already using the BREW UI, and at least one wireless carrier is looking to standardize on the technology across all of its mobile phones. Qualcomm repeatedly declined to name the companies.
Qualcomm’s new BREW user interface will likely be at the head of a rush of BREW-related announcements at Qualcomm’s developer’s conference this week. Other companies making noise include Networks In Motion, WireJack, Access Systems and others. Indeed, Qualcomm just last week announced the BREW community grew by one more carrier with regional operator Ntelos Inc. launching BREW services in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
