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[3G Congress] Three Asian Mobile Operators to Launch Qualcomm's Applications Platform
June 18, 2001 (HONG KONG) -- Three mobile service operators will be launching Qualcomm Corp.'s platform for development of applications for mobile handheld devices during the year, according to Ravinder Chandhok, senior director for business development at Qualcomm.
KDDI Corp. in Japan, KT Freetel in Korea and Verizon Wireless in the United States plan to launch BREW (binary runtime environment for wireless) platform before December, Chandhok said.
Addressing the 3G World Congress here in the afternoon on June 14, Chandhok said the company was in agreement with a number of handset manufacturers to integrate BREW into their devices.
BREW allows device makers to quickly respond to carrier requirements and deliver new applications in a development model that lowers OEM integration cost, and allows third party developers to create applications.
Developers can create applications on BREW in C and C++, in a programming environment that is similar to a Windows-based one. BREW helps the mobile device to connect to multimedia, positioning system, and other applications.
Chandhok said the platform creates new market opportunities for operators and new revenue streams that are shareable between applications developers and carriers. It allows for a billing mechanism that trails both the developer and the carrier footprints, making the sharing a transparent model.
Device manufacturers would benefit from a shorter development cycle, he said.
The design and architecture of BREW simplifies the process of application integration to a handset. Although the BREW platform available today is specific to CDMA chipsets, it would be opened up to other technologies in due course.
BREW is designed to sit between the chip system software and the application, making the phone's functionality available to the application without requiring the developer to have the chip system source code or even a direct relationship with a device manufacturer.
Qualcomm is licensing BREW to handset manufacturers and applications developers free of charge and provides developers with a Windows-based Software Development Kit that includes an emulator and several other development tools.
BREW has already received the commendation of early users. For Bo Hedfors, executive vice president and president global telecom solutions sector of Motorola Inc, BREW is a good platform for third party developers to innovate applications.
Paul Jacobs, executive vice president, Qualcomm, said the platform offers deep access into the functionality of the handset. "BREW ... converts the mobile phone into a retail store in the hand of the user," Jacobs said.
J-Phone Communications Ltd. of Japan plans to integrate applications such as GPS (global positioning system), ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) for automobiles, and entertainment applications such as melody downloads on the phone using BREW. The company plans to integrate Java on top of BREW to enhance its applications-handling capabilities.
According to Dr Won Pyo Hong, executive vice president of KT Freetel of Korea, BREW will enable the download of necessary software by users themselves but this would imply the need for consumer education.
(M. K. Shankar, Special to Asia BizTech)
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