SAN DIEGO-The BREW 2007 conference opened last week with a rock-concert feel as a large instrumental band spread out on the conference floor-some musicians wheeled around the audience in a modified golf cart and one drummer played suspended from the ceiling.
Following the kickoff, the conference audience gave a raucous welcome to Qualcomm Inc. CEO Paul Jacobs, who focused on Qualcomm’s latest developments and touched on numerous technologies and applications during his hour-long keynote.
“Here we are now and we have all these possibilities of 3G and beyond,” he said.
Jacobs said Qualcomm is excited about the possibilities the future holds for mobile, but the company doesn’t believe consumers want a Swiss Army knife-like device for all things mobile, but rather numerous devices that perform specific tasks and functions, Jacobs said.
“We believe the device of the future is compatible with multiple networks. There’s going to be a lot of people that want to choose the device they use based on what they want to do with it,” he said.
“Together we’re in a unique position to deliver what they want,” Jacobs said, adding that Qualcomm will continue to provide the “enabling technology” for richer services and applications.
“None of us would be here today if we believe that all people want to do with their phones is make phone calls,” he said. “It’s really the content and wireless applications that are going to make wireless data compelling.”
Like devices, there will be numerous applications delivering media-rich services and information.
“There’s no one killer app. It’s really about having a portfolio of services and content,” he said.
MediaFLO opportunities
During his keynote, Jacobs also discussed Qualcomm’s MediaFLO effort, noting the company has been working to further expand services to fully harness the technology’s potential.
“We believe that this mobile TV opportunity is huge,” he said, but, “MediaFLO really is about much more than TV. If we only deliver TV to the phone I think we really fail at what we want to do with MediaFLO.”
Datacasting is a very cost effective delivery mechanism for information services that Qualcomm views as the next frontier for MediaFLO technology.
“Datacasting really broadens that use of MediaFLO,” he said. “And we think it’s going to provide new revenue opportunities for all of us.”
Service trials are currently being conducted in Taiwan and a new trial is getting underway in Hong Kong, Jacobs said.
Sticky issues
Shortly before closing, Jacobs commented on the recent ITC decision that charges Qualcomm with infringing on a Broadcom Corp. patent for power management-a ruling that threatens to ban the sale of certain Qualcomm’s chips, effectively keeping handset makers from selling phones that use those chips.
“Frankly, I think this ITC decision and remedy are both unreasonable and wrong,” he said.
He again reiterated Qualcomm’s two-pronged goal of asking President Bush to veto the ITC decision or convincing a judge to immediately issue an emergency stay of execution.
