Monday, February 15, 2010

Qualcomm in bed with everyone, including the Borg

Qualcomm has committed itself to supporting all possible smartphone platforms: Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and someday it hopes the iPhone.

At Mobile World Congress on Monday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the latest Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7 (née Windows Mobile). Perhaps inspired by the iPhone — or perhaps Windows PCs — Microsoft will be dictating all aspects of the new devices, including the Zune-inspired user interface. (Right now, I’m watching the first “Star Trek” episode involving the Borg — an eerie coincidence?)

In conjunction with the Microsoft announcement, Quacomm announced it will be the first to support WP7 with its Snapdragon chips in the first batch of WP7 devices, in time for the Christmas selling season. The 1 GHz Snapdragon — used in the Nexus One — was welcomed as the fastest CPU available today for the new Microsoft platform.

Of its supported platforms, in the short term clearly Android and BlackBerry will be the highest volume for Qualcomm. But perhaps Qualcomm will someday displace TI and ST Micro as the main chip suppliers for Symbian handsets from Nokia, which are still the world’s market leader.

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