BREW Targets Europe

RCR Wireless News
September 8, 2003
Article by Mike Dano

Following the hype generated by Vodafone's Live! wireless data service, CDMA pioneer Qualcomm Inc. is building a European sales force to sell its BREW application download service to European carriers looking to compete in the advancing data field.

"There's this need for carriers to make revenues on value-added services," said Johan Lodenius, who recently received a new title within Qualcomm's Internet Services division-vice president of European business relations. "Now there's a whole new game."

Lodenius has worked for Qualcomm's chip division since 1996, promoting the company's products and formulating its marketing strategies. Now, Lodenius is moving to Qualcomm's Internet Services division, which sells the BREW service and will head up the company's European sales push. Lodenius said he and his family plan to move to Stockholm, Sweden, and that he will be joined by a half-dozen or so other Qualcomm executives relocating to various European countries.

"We're trying to put leadership locally in Europe," he said.

Prior to the new effort, Qualcomm's BREW business had no executives stationed in Europe. Lodenius said the company has been working to offer BREW services to its CDMA customers first, with plans to expand into other markets later. Further, Lodenius said, Europe's wireless industry in previous years had been focused on brand names and handset styles rather than applications and services. With the launch of Vodafone Live! and other data offerings, however, Lodenius said the European market has shifted focus-thus paving the way for potential BREW sales.

For the most part, Qualcomm has been locked out of GSM-centric Europe. Only a smattering of wireless carriers in Eastern Europe are using CDMA-based technology, and those carriers operate at the less-popular 450 MHz frequencies.

Qualcomm currently counts nine BREW carriers throughout the world, including Verizon Wireless in the United States. The service allows users to download applications over the air and ensures the resulting revenues are distributed among the carrier, the application developer and Qualcomm itself.

Indeed, Qualcomm's BREW executives explain that the application download service does not compete directly with Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java 2 Micro Edition technology for carrier customers. Instead, Qualcomm said the choice between Java or BREW is more accurately described as a choice between an outsourced service or one built in-house. Qualcomm said carriers looking to offer Java-based application download services-like Vodafone under its Live! offering-must build many of the components themselves, while under BREW Qualcomm largely handles the implementation chores. As an example, Qualcomm said U.S. operator Alltel Communications Inc. launched its BREW service in less than two months.

Thus, Lodenius said, Qualcomm's BREW service is well positioned to sell into the European market. Carriers looking to compete with the likes of Vodafone's Live! service can quickly catch up using Qualcomm's BREW technology. Further, Lodenius said, European carriers will be able to use BREW to distribute Java applications, new user interfaces and other software programs, as well as BREW-based applications.

"Our goal is to sign up several (European) carriers in the near timeframe," Lodenius said. "We have some doors that are opened. We're working on opening more."

Lodenius wouldn't say whether Qualcomm has signed BREW deals with any European carriers, and he wouldn't provide a specific timeframe for potential agreements.

And BREW is just a part of Qualcomm's renewed efforts in Europe. With the introduction of W-CDMA networks, Qualcomm is looking to use its CDMA expertise to push sales of its chipsets and technologies. However, the company would not disclose current overall staffing numbers in Europe, nor would it say whether those numbers were increasing.