paul jacobs - mobileSQUARED

THE SMART CONCEPT OF THE MOBILE PHONE INDUSTRY
IS NOW BEING EXTENDED INTO THE COMPUTER WORLD
AUGMENTED REALITY:
VIRTUAL AND THE REAL WORLD
OMH TO DRIVE INDIA CDMA WIRELESS SPACE
FEMTOCELLS: TAKING MOBILE DATA INSIDE
THE APPLICATION ECOSYSTEM GOLD RUSH:
APP STORES HAVE SPARKED HEIGHTENED LEVELS OF INNOVATION
AND ATTRACTED SIGNIFICANT FUNDING INTO THE SECTOR
PAUL JACOBS:
OVERSEEING QUALCOMM’S POSITION AS AN
INNOVATIVE LEADER IS ITS CHAIRMAN AND
CEO, PAUL JACOBS. HE TELLS QMAG HOW
THE CONSUMER PROPOSITION CONTINUES TO
BE THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND QUALCOMM
A
QMag Issue No. 4 | November 2009
COMPUTING DEVICES GET SMARTER:
NOVEMBER 2009
IN THIS ISSUE
2
News Round-Up
4
Interview: Paul Jacobs
OVERSEEING QUALCOMM’S POSITION AS
AN INNOVATIVE LEADER IS ITS CHAIRMAN
AND CEO, PAUL JACOBS. HE TELLS
QMAG HOW THE CONSUMER
PROPOSITION CONTINUES TO BE THE
DRIVING FORCE BEHIND QUALCOMM.
7
Standardization
ONGOING STANDARDIZATION WORK
HAS ENSURED HIGH SPEED PACKET
ACCESS (HSPA) HAS DELIVERED MOBILE
BROADBAND TO 115 COUNTRIES.
9
Connected Devices
THE RANGE OF CONNECTED DEVICES
HAS ALREADY EXTENDED WELL BEYOND
COMMUNICATION AND DELIVERING A
COMPELLING CONSUMER SERVICE.
11 Femtocells: taking mobile data inside
OPERATORS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT OF
FEMTOCELL DEVELOPMENT TO ENSURE
MOBILE DATA USERS HAVE THE BEST
INDOOR CELL COVERAGE.
13 Smartbooks
THE “SMART” CONCEPT HAS ALREADY
SWEPT ACROSS THE MOBILE INDUSTRY
AND IS NOW BEING EXTENDED INTO THE
COMPUTER WORLD.
15 The application ecosystem gold rush
A WAVE OF APP STORES HAS SPARKED
HEIGHTENED LEVELS OF INNOVATION AND
ATTRACTED SIGNIFICANT FUNDING INTO
THE SECTOR. IT HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER
TIME TO BE A DEVELOPER.
17 Augmented Reality
BREAKTHROUGHS IN THIS TECHNOLOGY
ARE POISED TO SHAPE THE MOBILE USER
EXPERIENCE OF THE FUTURE.
19 OMH India
INDIA HAS A POPULATION EXCEEDING 1.2
BILLION AND IS EXPERIENCING THE FASTEST
EXPANSION OF ANY MOBILE MARKET IN
THE WORLD.
21 Empowering the consumers
DEVICE MANUFACTURERS ARE LOOKING
TOWARD ENABLING DIGITAL CONTENT
SHARING AMONG A WIDE VARIETY OF
COMMON HOME DIGITAL DEVICES IN A
PROCESS KNOWN AS MEDIA SHIFTING.
In October, the GSMA mobile
connections ticker eclipsed 4 billion;
the GSA benchmarked 7.2Mbps or
higher as the current data rate for
mobile broadband; and 40 operators
are now committed to rolling out LTE.
I think it is safe to say that mobile is
still accelerating.
While the mobile market has been
impacted by the global recession and voice
revenues continue to trend downwards,
there are indicators pointing to strong
opportunities for revenue growth in both
voice and data services. On the voice side,
there are still large numbers of people in
emerging markets who do not have access
to voice services of any kind. For these
previously “unconnected” people, the
mobile phone is emerging as the device of
choice. And in developing markets, there is
a growing trend of consumers abandoning
traditional wireline services in favor of their
mobile devices.
On the data side, revenues are trending
upwards at significant rates as operators
deploy economical and robust 3G networks
with the speed and capacity to deliver a
growing array of advanced applications
and services. The growing popularity of
OEM-driven app stores combined with
strong market demand for smartphones
that deliver rich user experiences is
contributing to an explosion in mobile data
traffic, which spells good news for mobile
operators seeking strategies for growing
their bottom lines. As an industry, we are clearly focused on
migrating users to 3G and a mobile data
tariff. Operators are heavily promoting
HSPA-capable devices and in many cases
are committing to HSPA+ and LTE network
deployments. Femtocells, as an opportunity
to off-load capacity from the macro
network, are also gaining acceptance in
many quarters.
In light of all this, costs and economies
of scale will dominate in the future.
Maintaining an acceptable margin on
mobile services will be key to ensuring
continued investments that will be required
to support a greater richness of mobile
services as we move into the mobile
2.0 arena.
Standards will play an increasing role,
especially in the software and content
delivery space. Developers and publishers
will look to companies that can help them
extend their reach to billions of users and
help them sell more.
The convergence of computing and
communications is already happening
with dongles, embedded connectivity and
smarter communications devices. This can
only accelerate exponentially as new device
categories, such as smartbooks and wireless
health products, come to market.
Services are also expanding to take
advantage of new smart devices that are
location aware, come with larger screens,
News Round-Up
Books going mobile
Personalization
to increase data users
Almost two-thirds of mobile data users
in the US and UK would spend more
time browsing or purchasing content on
their mobile device if it was easier to find
and personalize, according to research
commissioned by Xiam Technologies,
a Qualcomm company.
The research involved a sample of
2,666 mobile data users aged 16 years
and older in both the US and UK. The
results suggest that 43 percent of UK
mobile users and 40 percent of US mobile
users have downloaded content on their
mobile phones.
One of the key findings of the research
is that people are using search as the
primary method of accessing mobile
content, though with varying levels of
success. A number of users from both
markets said they could only find the
relevant content 50 percent of the time.
More than a quarter those sampled said
they could only find the relevant content
75 percent of the time.
“One of our key messages is that the
industry has to evolve beyond search
and move toward discovery to make
the user’s experience easier,” said Martin
Clancy, marketing manager at Xiam.
“We can address this by making content
more relevant to users, and by making
content recommendations based on
their preferences.”
While search remains a core content
discovery mechanism, it suggests
consumers are browsing away from the
mobile operator’s portal. Clancy believes
that allowing consumers to discover
content, as opposed to searching for it,
will provide a significant opportunity
for operators.
“Presently, the operator portal is not
the way consumers discover content
because they immediately think to use a
search engine,” said Clancy. “This means
operators need to roll out an exceptional
customer experience to create loyalty
and stickiness within their customer
base and provide a competitive solution
in the market.”
Literature is on the verge of a digital
facelift as the success of the eReader is
sparking a wave of interest in digital books
on mobile devices. The global book market
is worth US$101 billion and mobile books
(mbooks) represent an opportunity for
the mobile industry to capture some of
these revenues by serving customers over
connected devices such as netbooks
and smartbooks.
“Digital books are better because you
can include a hyperlink within the copy
to enhance the reader’s experience,”
Tony Lynch, CEO of Mobcast, told QMag.
“There are clear signs that the digital book
is coming to mobile in a big way.”
Qualcomm will be at the following events between November 2009 and March 2010
GHz processing capability, high-definition
cameras, and accelerometers. Augmented
Reality, the ability to layer information over
real live images, is one such application
that is already firing the imagination of the
mobile ecosystem.
So yes, mobile is still accelerating and we
consider this in detail in this issue of QMag.
We are just out of second gear and driving
through third as the revs start to build. To
quote an old Bachman Turner Overdrive
song, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Maybe
that shows my age!
Nothing in these materials is an offer to sell any of the components or devices referenced herein.
Certain components for use in the U.S. are available only through licensed suppliers. Some components are not available for use in the U.S.
* In the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the use of the term “Smartbook” in connection with portable computers is reserved exclusively to Smartbook AG, Germany.
Dates
Event
Location
Venue
Organizer
5th November
mobileSQUARED Roadshow – Taking Internet Mobile
London
76 Portland Plane
mobileSQUARED
6th November
SIME Breakfast Event
Stockholm
Rigoletto
SIME
9th – 10th November
Future TV
Paris
Espace Pierre Cardin, Champs-Elsees gardens
Future TV
9th – 12th November
Mobile Network Optimization
Prague
Marriott Hotel
IIR
16th – 19th November
IQ Innovation Qualcomm Showcase
London
Altitude 360
Qualcomm
23rd – 25th November
Mobile Services 2.0
Berlin
Kempinski Bristol Hotel
IIR
1st December
Mobile Mondays
Munich
HVB Forum
Mobile Monday
1st December
Business International Event AGCOM Roundtable
Rome
via delle Muratte, 25, Rome
AGCOM
8th December
Netbook World Summit
Paris
Salons Latecoere
Netbook World Summit
Jan/Feb 2010
Analyst roundtable MediaFLO
Munich
TBC
Qualcomm/MediaFLO
21st January
25th Year of Cellular in the UK
London
Science Museum
Cambridge Wireless
16th – 19th February
Mobile World Congress
Barcelona
Fira de Barcelona
GSM Association
2nd – 5th March
Telecoms World Russia
Moscow
Baltschug Kempinski Hotel
Terrapinn
Qualcomm QMag
Overview
Joe Barrett, Editor
November 2009
Accelerating Mobility
page 1
Accelerating Mobility
Social impact of innovation
MOBILE TOMORROW
November 2009
page 3
Qualcomm QMag
Social impact of innovation
Social impact
of innovation
OVERSEEING QUALCOMM’S POSITION AS AN INNOVATIVE
LEADER IS ITS CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PAUL JACOBS. HE TELLS
QMAG HOW THE CONSUMER PROPOSITION CONTINUES TO
BE THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND QUALCOMM.
The social impact of wireless innovation
looks set to enjoy far reaching implications
for mobile users around the world
on a personal, financial, global and
environmental scale. Such are the levels
of innovation emanating from the mobile
industry that the world and how mobile
users view their mobile devices will be
fundamentally changed forever.
Qualcomm has been driving innovation
in the mobile space for 25 years and has
played a central role in the evolution to
next-generation networks delivering highspeed broadband access wirelessly around
the world. Guaranteeing Qualcomm’s
position as an innovative leader falls to its
chairman and CEO, Paul Jacobs. He tells
QMag how the consumer proposition
continues to be the driving force
behind Qualcomm.
“No matter what the innovation is,
or how compelling it can be from a
technological or environmental standpoint,
if it does not appeal to consumers – or
consumers simply don’t get the product
or service – then it won’t fly,” Jacobs told
QMag. “For innovation to have a social
impact, consumers must get the concept.”
One of the ways in which Jacobs gauges
the progress made within the mobile
industry is around the dining table. It is
not chipsets or intellectual property that
captivates the Jacobs’ dining companions,
but the products and services that are
applicable to their daily lives.
“Smartbooks are one of the main
topics of my work that my friends want to
discuss with me around the dinner table,”
Jacobs said. “It is one of the big areas of
innovation in the mobile industry that is
clearly understood by people right now.
They get the concept of a smartphone
developed into a mobile computing
device with a full-size keyboard and
bigger screen. It’s an exciting
development for consumers.”
With global smartphone penetration
expected to surpass 30 percent within
five years, and netbooks outselling PCs in
2008, the demand for mobility has never
been more apparent. As Jacobs highlights,
“Users find it very frustrating when they
turn on their laptop, then have to connect
to the network, and on top of that they
then have to access their exchange server
to access emails. The whole process can
lead to an unproductive 10-15 minutes.
“People understand the concept of a
smartbook that is automatically connecting
to the Internet to synchronize email,
“Smartbooks are one of the main
topics of my work that my friends
want to discuss with me around
the dinner table”
contacts and calendar all the time,”
Jacobs said. “This is a permanently
connected device, so when the screen
is off the smartbook in effect becomes
a smartphone. Plus the associated low
power consumption means the battery
will last a really long time. Smartbooks
will change people’s perception towards
mobile computing.” Jacobs is confident
these new devices will accommodate the
emergence of cloud computing models,
allowing users to access applications
directly via the Internet. Google is one of
the leading protagonists pushing cloudbased applications, and the Googleinspired Android mobile operating systems
will be one OS running on smartbooks; it
is sparking considerable interest from the
application developer community.
“By running multiple OSes on
smartbooks, we are opening these
devices to the ecosystem of application
developers,” said Jacobs. “We already
have a lot of experience with the developer
community through the BREW and Plaza
Mobile Platforms. We have high-speed
networks and applications coming off
of the Web that are creating further
opportunities to expand the marketplace
and create new consumer experiences.”
While multiple operating systems will
cultivate a plethora of related revenues
models surrounding the smartbook
application marketplace, the OS will hold
a more defined role on mobile devices.
As today’s smartphones become
tomorrow’s mainstream featurephones –
for example the iPhone 3G is now available
sub US$100 – it will be the operating
system that will differentiate devices.
“There will be a strong pendulum swing
toward what we define as a high-end
OS today, rapidly becoming mainstream
tomorrow as boundaries continue to blur,”
Jacobs said. “Soon, almost everybody will
have some kind of data capability on their
phones, even if it is a low-end device.
We have sub-US$50 phones with an
Opera Mini browser, which delivers a
great Internet experience. That makes
it a smartphone.”
At price points below US$50, the mobile
device becomes a truly global channel and
that is a philosophy that will also extend
into smartbooks. Jacobs acknowledges
that the mobile phone will provide some
people with their first Internet experience
in developing markets, but by limiting
the size of the screen and keyboard, the
possibility of a low priced smartbook
dramatically increases. Costs can also be
reduced through cloud computing models
that remove additional associated OS costs.
Developing markets will also be an
ideal marketplace for eZone, one of the
latest areas of innovation coming out of
Qualcomm. eZone is a wireless recharger,
enabling consumers to place electrical
devices ranging from mobile phones to
MP3 players on a tray or shelf where they
will automatically recharge. EZone could
be expanded into a communal version
for the developing world, while in the
developed markets it is likely to be eZone’s
aesthetic and environmental impact that
will generate consumer appeal.
“People like the idea of not having to
plug in their electric devices all the time,
and they get that concept,” said Jacobs.
“We are getting rid of all but one wire.
There is no need to think about which
charger to use or take with you. You
can just toss it on the charger and pick it
up when charged. And while charging,
devices can all be synched up.”
Jacobs said that developed markets will
be the initial target for eZone, but adds
that successful global products become
cross-border concepts very quickly. “Before
3G networks were launched in China,
we were selling a lot of 3G devices,” he
said. “The same thing happened with the
iPhone. Technology that people want gets
around; eZone will be no different.”
Innovation in mobile is supporting the
demand for multiple devices, ranging
from smartphones to connected digital
camera. Although the mobile phone
has become a centralized device for a
number of consumer services such as
music, video and still photography using
incorporated cameras, consumers continue
to use specialized devices. The ability for
a consumer to upload their latest photos
from their digital camera is driving the
need for connectivity beyond mobile.
“You will always have your phone with
you, but now you will also have more
specialized devices to serve a particular
purpose, like an eBook to download the
latest novels” said Jacobs. “It is now
coming down to these devices all being
individually mobile capable and enhancing
the consumer experience.”
Perhaps no other service will enhance
the consumer experience more than
augmented reality. Like eZone, augmented
reality has been an exciting project in the
Qualcomm Innovation Lab and uses the
very latest in computer vision algorithms
on high-end touchscreen devices to
superimpose relevant information to
images and landscapes as they appear on
the mobile screen – utilising the device’s
camera and compass.
“Augmented reality is very cool but the
important thing now is trying to judge
peoples’ comfort with this concept,” said
Jacobs. “Everyone gets excited about the
idea of pointing the phone at something
and that experience is visually enhanced.
It seems natural to carry a phone around
with you at all times and it will become an
intermediary between the real world and
the digital world.”
However, the question remains as
to whether consumers will buy into
the concept of manipulating the real
world with virtual objects, content or
information. Around the Jacobs’ dining
table, the consumer reaction is very much
in favour. “It’s a touchscreen device with
an image of the world on it and so we’re
becoming a touch world,” Jacobs said.
“People get excited about that.”
So too does Qualcomm. Augmented
reality will utilize the high-speed networks
of HSPA+ and LTE. It will also require
considerable processing power to register
object recognition and graphics capability
to deposit that information, as well as
sensors to work out how the consumer is
holding the device. Not to mention good
camera and screen technology.
“Everything in the phone gets used or
stressed by augmented reality and that
gives Qualcomm opportunities to do
new things,” said Jacobs. “Critical to our
success now is driving innovation and
differentiation of our products.” It is this
innovation that is having a dramatic
social impact.
Qualcomm QMag
Social impact of innovation
November 2009
page 5
Social impact of innovation
MOBILE TOMORROW
“NO MATTER WHAT THE INNOVATION IS, OR HOW COMPELLING IT CAN BE
FROM A TECHNOLOGICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL STANDPOINT – IF IT DOES NOT
APPEAL TO CONSUMERS, AND CONSUMERS SIMPLY DON’T GET THE PRODUCT
OR SERVICE – THEN IT WON’T FLY,”
PAUL JACOBS, CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF QUALCOMM
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
ONGOING STANDARDIZATION WORK HAS ENSURED HIGH SPEED PACKET ACCESS (HSPA) HAS
DELIVERED MOBILE BROADBAND TO 115 COUNTRIES AND CAN NOW PROVIDE OPERATORS
WITH THE OPTION TO MIGRATE TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF MOBILE NETWORKS.
L
ong Term Evolution (LTE) is the latest
extension to 3G networking and was
ratified to provide a seamless migratory
path to 4G.
LTE is optimized to deliver data speeds of
100Mbps in the downlink by incorporating
Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) and
speeds of 50Mbps in the sefficiency and
significant improvements in capacity and
reductions in latency. What’s more, LTE
will support channel bandwidths from
1.25MHz to 20MHz and both FDD and
TDD operation.
“LTE is the next step in the user
experience and is essential to take mobile
broadband to the mass market,” said Alan
Hadden, president, Global mobile Suppliers
Association (GSA). “With 39 network
commitments worldwide, including the
leading players, it is clear that LTE is the
natural migration choice for GSM/HSPA
and CDMA network operators.”
The GSA anticipates 14 LTE commercial
networks by the end of 2010, and over
30 in service by the end of 2012. “With
TD-LTE positioned as the evolutionary path
for TD-SCDMA, it means with LTE we now
have one single global standard,” Hadden
added.
LTE standardization has been finalized
and approved by the Third Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP) within Release
8. The introduction of a new core network,
air interface and dual multicarrier on the
downlink guarantees Release 8 will deliver
enhanced data rates without a large
CAPEX investment. Release 8 builds on
Release 5 and 6 which introduced HSPA
and the addition of MIMO capability
in Release 7, while non-mission critical
features have been delayed until Release 9.
“Release 9 isn’t about putting Release 8
right,” Adrian Scrase, head of the mobile
confidence centre at the 3GPP, told QMag.
“Release 9 adds new functionality with
50 or so features included to make LTE a
richer experience.”
Release 9 will also include an update
to HSPA+, increasing the network’s
theoretical throughput to 84Mbps in the
LTE base station spending will be US$3.3
billion by 2011, according to ABI Research.
THE LATEST SURVEY BY THE GLOBAL MOBILE SUPPLIERS
ASSOCIATION (GSA) CONFIRMS THAT 25 HSPA EVOLUTION
(HSPA+) NETWORKS ARE IN COMMERCIAL SERVICE IN 19
COUNTRIES. TWENTY-FOUR OF THESE NETWORKS ARE CAPABLE
OF PEAK DOWNLINK DATA RATES OF 21 MBPS, USING 64QAM
MODULATION. TO DATE, 53 OPERATORS IN 33 COUNTRIES
HAVE COMMITTED TO DEPLOYING HSPA+ SYSTEMS.
downlink and 23Mbps in the uplink in
10MHz using dual carrier paths.
“We don’t see HSPA+ jeopardizing LTE
rollout,” said Rasmus Hellberg, technical
marketing at Qualcomm. “Nor do we
expect LTE to become a replacement to
3G. It doesn’t make sense to replace 3G
with LTE in the lower bandwidth, as LTE
will come into its own beyond 20MHz
whereas HSPA+ operates in 10MHz.”
Operators will run multiple networks
in parallel for years to come, as they
look to leverage and amortize their
network assets in response to the existing
economic climate. “So the standardization
philosophy is to run for as long as possible
and allow operators to upgrade when they
want,” Scrase said.
“Any deployment of LTE will be in
addition to what operators already have,”
said Ed Tiedemann, head of standards at
Qualcomm. “LTE focuses on the highspeed data solution and that is when the
worlds of 3GPP and 3GPP2 converge in
terms of WCDMA and CDMA2000.”
LTE is the final evolution of existing 3G
networks before making the jump to 4G,
OPERATOR COMMITMENTS TO LTE
Country
also known as LTE-Advanced, included
within 3GPP Release 10. “TeliaSonera is
expected to be one of the first operators to
launch LTE and will market the service as
4G because of the marked increase in user
experience,” said Scrase. “From a 3GPP
point of view, it makes no difference to us
how operators refer to the service. The
name to us is more of a taxonomy.”
The standardisation process now
underway within the 3GPP and 3GPP2
to develop LTE-Advanced and build on
the technological developments of LTE
will introduce 4x4 MIMO and the use of
multiple carriers to increase theoretical
data speeds to 1Gbps. Scrase confirmed
that LTE-Advanced will be 3GPP’s
technology candidate for the ITU-R IMTAdvanced process, and start the inevitable
search for 4G spectrum.
DID YOU KNOW?
The number of LTE-enabled
base stations will exceed 166,000
by 2013, according to industry
analyst firm Research and Markets.
LTE base station revenue in
Eastern Europe will be close to
US$700 million by 2013.
Operator
Anticipated LTE service launch
France
Orange
2011-12
Germany
T-Mobile
2011
Ireland
Hutchison 3
2011
Italy
Telecom Italia
Not known
Spain
Telefonica O2
2011
Sweden
TeliaSonera
2010
Sweden
Tele2 Sweden
2010
Sweden
Telenor Sweden
2010
Various
Vodafone
Not known
Australia
Telstra
Not known
Canada
Telus
2010
Canada
Bell Canada
2010
Canada
Rogers Wireless
2010-11
China
China Mobile
2011
China
China Telecom
2011-12
Hong Kong
SmarTone-Vodafone
Not known
Hong Kong
HK CSL Ltd
Not known
Hong Kong
PCCW
Not known
Japan
NTT DoCoMo
2010
Japan
KDDI
2010
New Zealand
Telecom NZ
2011-12
Norway
TeliaSonera
2010
Philippines
Piltel
Not known
South Korea
SK Telecom
Not known
South Korea
KTF
Not known
USA
Verizon
2010
USA
MetroPCS
2010
USA
CenturyTel
2010
USA
Aircell
2011
USA
Cox
2011
USA
AT&T Mobility
2011
Source: Global mobile Suppliers Association, April 2009.
Qualcomm QMag
3GPP driving the release of mobile broadband
November 2009
page 7
Standardization
Standardization
MOBILE TOMORROW
page 9
A vision
of the future
A fridge that can automatically indicate
and pre-order essential foods at the best
price from locally-sourced supermarkets
is a vision of the future that outlines how
technological advancements can enhance
consumer lives on a day-to-day basis.
he connected fridge relies on a fixedline Internet connection, but the
exciting element of connected devices
relies on the ubiquitous wireless network
to enhance consumer lives regardless of
their location.
With a global mobile population
already exceeding 4 billion, it is the
saturation of developed mobile markets
that has prompted the mobile industry to
explore new ways of further increasing
penetration using mobile data services.
Couple this with industries such as
the automotive sector examining how
connectivity can improve the on-road
experience for drivers, and the possibilities
for connected devices appear
almost boundless.
The Amazon Kindle is a portable
eReader seamlessly connecting to the
Kindle Store and a choice of over 300,000
publications. Such is the success of the
eReader that other leading manufacturers
have launched similar devices, such as
Sony releasing the PRS-500 Portable
Reader System.
Navigational devices, either in-car or
personal, can now deliver real-time data
to users based on data analytics such as
speed and location supplied anonymously
by mobile phones in cars. A GPS-enabled
sports watch with heart rate monitor can
wirelessly download data to the user’s
PC. Similarly, digital cameras will soon be
supplied with a SIM to allow consumers to
upload photos in real-time.
The potential for connected devices to
read RFID tags presents virtually limitless
opportunities. Smartphones can already
connect with RFID signals, which could
evolve into recommending goods and
services based on the consumer’s personal
profile when out shopping for example,
such as “low salt” or “organic” goods
only when in a supermarket.
The “smartly connected” world is
achieving heightened familiarity among
an increasingly growing tech-savvy mobile
user, driven by the underlying ubiquity
of wireless technology, which will soon
support speeds in excess of 100 Mbps.
Mobile devices and laptops are becoming
“smart,” and personal digital media files
can potentially be accessed from richmedia applicable devices irrelevant
of location.
Dongles have been one of the most
celebrated methods encouraging
consumers to possess a second SIM,
but the concept of machine-to-machine
wireless connectivity is viewed as the next
bastion of mobile growth.
“User penetration in a lot of the western
world is saturated so machine-to-machine
is the newest trend,” said Lorenzo
Casaccia, director of technical standards
at Qualcomm. “What if your car or your
digital camera were connected to the
network? Cellular connectivity will
become the fabric for this.”
While satellite navigation systems are
already providing in-car communicative
services, it will be the cars themselves
that will soon be communicating.
Beyond connecting cars via the cellular
network and satellites, vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)
networks using wireless connectivity will
provide what could potentially become
the ultimate driver’s assistant. V2V
communication between cars will
provide drivers with advanced warnings
of localized incidents, such as cars
breaking suddenly or even crashes,
before coming into the view of the driver.
V2V could extend this further to identify
dangerous road conditions or even
ensuring priority to emergency vehicles.
“The auto electronics market will
be a bright new application for mobile
data,” said Bruce Jackson, vice president,
Qualcomm Incubation labs. “We’re
already seeing connected GPS devices
in cars providing drivers with realtime traffic updates. Giving vehicles
the capabilityfor Internet access and
in-car communication provides a new
opportunity to extend the power
of mobile broadband.”
LATEST NEWS
Qualcomm is now offering
classes in Europe on HSPA+
and LTE. Courses are developed
and taught by the Qualcomm
Engineering Services Group
(ESG) experts.
“LTE Network Planning” and “LTE Air
Interface Operation” courses are now
scheduled in Paris, London and Munich;
new content (HSPA+ and LTE) and
other locations will be programmed
within the coming months.
From new technology overviews,
to Network Optimization workshops,
your teacher will be one of our
experienced Qualcomm engineers,
members of the ESG. From the early
days of UMTS deployment, ESG
has supported operators throughout
the world to understand, plan and
optimize the technology. ESG is staffed
by engineering experts who share
years of standards-based experience
and work in the field, optimizing 3G
network rollouts. ESG involvement is
designed to accompany the operator
in their deployment: from initial
technology training, to embedded
support during network planning and
optimization, to troubleshooting and
future technology evaluation
Qualcomm ESG can also organize
customized and on-site classes on
demand. We invite your inquiry.
For details on our schedule and our
complete Course Map, please contact
us at qu.esgeu@qualcomm.com.
Qualcomm QMag
T
November 2009
Connected devices
Connected Devices
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
taking mobile data inside
THE POPULARITY OF YOUTUBE AND BBC IPLAYER HAS MADE STREAMING
VIDEO ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR SERVICES ONLINE. IT IS A TREND THAT
IS NOW TRANSFERRING ONTO THE MOBILE PLATFORM AS SMARTPHONE
USERS CAPITALIZE ON THE DEVICE’S HIGH-END FUNCTIONALITY AND
DONGLES BRING FULL WEB CAPABILITIES TO LAPTOPS. SMARTPHONE USERS
ARE GENERATING IN EXCESS OF 10 TIMES MORE TRAFFIC THAN MOST
BASIC DEVICES, PLACING INCREASING PRESSURE ON WIRELESS NETWORKS.
WITH THE MAJORITY OF MOBILE DATA USAGE TAKING PLACE INDOORS,
OPERATORS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT OF FEMTOCELL DEVELOPMENT TO
ENSURE MOBILE DATA USERS HAVE THE BEST INDOOR CELL COVERAGE.
I
n the U.S., 14.8 billion video clips
are viewed online every month with an
average user viewing time of 356 minutes
and a consumption of 680Mbps1; in the
UK, the average monthly consumption per
user is 1.3Gbps2. This online trend is now
migrating onto mobile. According to AT&T,
data represented 27 percent of revenues in
1Q09 compared to 21 percent in the same
period the previous year, with streaming
audio and video accounting for 31 percent
of network traffic.
In developed markets3, much of this
mobile data explosion is generated by
smartphone users, where the average yearon-year growth of mobile data per user is
between three and five times.
“We need to drive down the cost
per bit in operator networks while also
meeting the rocketing demand for mobile
broadband services, which is putting
too much pressure on HSPA and HSPA+
networks,” said Simon Saunders, chairman
of the Femto Forum. “We need a change
and that is where femtocells have a major
role to play.”
It is a change driven by the operators’
need to meet growing user consumption.
Saunders told QMag that 90 percent of
mobile data usage is indoors. “Because the
data user experience is directly correlated
to the quality of that signal, it makes sense
to place femtos indoors where signals are
weakest and therefore the user experience
is poorest,” he said.
Questions are now being raised by
mobile operators about whether macro
networks will scale to meet the rapid
upsurge in mobile data demand. In
addition, coverage holes caused by
building shadows and building penetration
losses are limiting the performance of
wireless networks indoors.
“Femtocells bring the network supply
closer to the demand for services, and
in the process, provide excellent signal
conditions and high data throughput,”
said Nick Karter, senior director of business
development at Qualcomm.
Karter said operators confronted with
capacity concerns will require substantial
capital expenditures to improve macro
network performance to support its
heaviest users. However, operators can
target their CAPEX in both the enterprise
1
ComScore 2ComScore 3Coda Research Consultancy
and residential environments by providing
their heaviest users with femtocells. This
will ease network congestion on the macro
network and reduce backhaul capacity
needs. In the process, femtocells can
deliver indoor throughputs and peak rates
well in excess of 1Mbps.
Similarly, Saunders is confident that
the return on investment from femtocells
will be considerably higher than a macro
network upgrade path.
“Operators are starting to realize that
the investment required to provide free
femtocells to heavy data users is far lower
than trying to achieve the same outcome
with macro network upgrades,” he said.
“Femtos deliver better voice quality and a
vastly improved data experience at a cost
no other technology can match.”
He claimed that 20 percent of homes in
the UK have inadequate coverage for voice
and data. In July, Vodafone UK became the
latest operator to deal with the existing
issue of mobile coverage at home using
femtocells when it launched its Vodafone
Access Gateway – targeting homes and
small office locations. The UK operator
positioned the service as delivering
“more reliable 3G coverage indoors” and
providing improved voice calls and faster
data downloads.
Vodafone UK was the first European
operator to launch a femto service,
following similar announcements from
Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the U.S.,
NTT DoCoMo and Softbank in Japan, and
StarHub in Singapore. “These operators
are the pioneers, and we will see more
femto launches before the end of the year
from other big operators,” said Saunders.
The Vodafone Gateway is available on
a monthly tariff of £5 or a one-off cost
of £160, while Verizon charges US$250
Qualcomm QMag
Femto:
Femtocell shipments will grow from 0.2 million
units in 2009 at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 127 percent to 12 million units worldwide
in 2014, according to analyst firm Berg Insight.
Simon Saunders
Chairman, Femto Forum
(£157) for its Wireless Network Extender
device. But as both Karter and Saunders
explained, the costs are expected to
be incorporated by operators as femto
becomes a central component in the fight
against churn. “Femtocells are creating
a very sticky service for the consumer by
providing operators with the ability to
create differentiated offerings,”
Saunders said.
Not only does femto have the additional
attraction of being able to work with all
4 billion mobile devices operating around
the world, it can deliver location-, context-,
presence-, and user-based information.
Femto could deliver premium, bigger
apps to the device when the user returns
home and the device switches from the
macro network to the femtocell. “When
users are out and about they can use basic
multimedia services,” Saunders explained.
“However, when they arrive home they
can use the femto to access far higher
bandwidth services and synchronize their
handset quickly and at zero cost with all of
the media stored on their home network.”
As Saunders notes, femto is still in
its evolutionary phase and requires key
players such as Qualcomm to build on the
standardized products in large volumes
by delivering the silicon to femto-friendly
vendors.
“We all need to draw on a common
base of components,” Saunders said. “So
we’ve been looking at femtocell devices
and network gateways and started to
harmonize design based on standards.
This will allow consumers and operators
to choose from a wider range of products
as well as bring costs down through
economies of scale. If it’s cheaper overall
to deliver and it provides a better service,
then everyone wins.”
November 2009
page 11
Future Perspectives
Femtocellls
THE “SMART” CONCEPT HAS ALREADY SWEPT ACROSS THE MOBILE INDUSTRY AS MOBILE
PHONE USERS TRANSITION FROM SIMPLE VOICE AND TEXT TO MULTIMEDIA, INTERNET AND
MOBILE APPLICATIONS. SMART IS NOW BEING EXTENDED INTO THE COMPUTER WORLD.
SMARTBOOKS
WHAT MAKES A SMARTBOOK SO SMART?
The form factors of Smartbooks will vary widely, from
traditional tablet-sized devices with screens as large as
12 inches, to smaller 5-inch high-resolution touchscreen
devices. Smartbooks will have more memory and
faster speeds, sensors such as accelerometers, and a
significantly longer battery life than laptops.
• Instant-on access – no boot up time or waiting
•
•
for email to download
3G connectivity – mobile broadband speeds
Ultra-portable design – less than 20mm thick
and less than 2 lbs.
Smartbooks
WHAT MAKES A SMARTBOOK SO SMART?
• All-day battery life – 8 to 10 hour charge,
•
•
plus week-long standby
Built-in GPS – location-aware
Customizable interface – intuitive,
one-touch navigation.
I
n 2008, there were more laptops
sold worldwide than fixed PCs,
demonstrating the move towards mobile
computing. Netbooks are smaller,
cheaper and slightly dumbed-down
version of laptops intended to open up
mobile computing to the mass market.
Smartbooks, on the other hand, represent
the response from customers to combine
their communications needs with fast,
simple and easy-to-use computing.
“Smartbooks deliver high-end
smartphone capabilities to devices while
providing larger screen sizes. Users enjoy
features such as always-on 3G connectivity,
SNAPDRAGON
The first smartbooks using Qualcomm’s
Snapdragon chipset will go on sale towards the end
of 2009, tapping into a market that IDC forecasts
will reach US$16 billion in revenue by 2013.
location awareness, 3D graphics, HD
video, instant-on, and enough battery
power for all-day use,” said Keith Kressin,
senior director of product management at
Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “The goal
is to introduce a new category of devices
that are thinner, lighter, easier to use and
better connected than today’s netbooks.”
One of the fundamental differences
between smartbooks and netbooks is their
heritage. Netbooks come from a computer
paradigm using a PC usage model
requiring the user to go to a store and
buy software. They have proven popular
with consumers because they deliver
additional mobility compared to laptops.
A smartbook comes from a smartphone
background designed to work with
online applications rather than traditional
computer software. This provides ease of
use with the intelligence to collect emails
and data as required, rather than
when requested.
“Research shows people have changed
the way they use computers over the
past 10 years,” said Kressin. “Usage for
most people today is very Web-centric
as they do things like browsing, social
networking, downloading music and using
Web-based services. Web-centric usage
models and the growing market for subUS$500 netbooks are two key data points
indicating that consumers are ready for
devices that are highly mobile. They want
devices that are thin and light with a long
battery life and that are always connected
through 3G or WiFi. Smartbooks fill this
checklist ideally and are truly designed
for the mobile Web.”
Today, users expect not only services
but also accompanying applications.
As app stores have gripped smartphone
users, companies are exploring ways
of extending app-store functionality
beyond mobile handsets and into the
domain of smartbook devices.
“Developers are creating mobile
applications that we want to also apply
to the smartbook.” Kressin said. “We
believe there is a significant opportunity
for developers of mobile web applications
to extend their application to larger form
factor devices. We want smartbooks to
offer features that mobile web applications
expect, such as location awareness,
network awareness and sensors such as
accelerometers”
To date, Kressin said that the majority
of netbooks have been sold in Europe
because the operators have been
aggressively promoting connectivity
to push 3G data packages. Beyond
the developed world, there will also
be considerable demand in
emerging markets.
“In markets such as India, most of
the population does not have access
to computing and the Internet,”
said Kanwalinder Singh, president of
Qualcomm India and South Asia. “In a
country of 1.2 billion people with 40
percent teledensity, there is only 3 percent
penetration of classic computing devices
and an even smaller base of 6 million
broadband connections. Mobile platforms
will drive both computing and broadband
Internet access in India. Smartphones
and smartbooks have a great potential as
mainstream computing devices for urban
India, while rural India can be served by
affordable Internet solutions based on
Qualcomm’s Kayak platform.”
Kressin believes that smartbook use
in emerging markets would appeal to a
different demographic. “In the developed
world, people have grown up with
computers, but in the same way that the
mobile device has recently been touted as
the first Internet experience in emerging
markets, the smartbook could represent
the first PC-like Internet experience in
these countries,” he said. “It will span a
much broader generation. Many of these
homes are not wired for connectivity, but
it’s very important for many parents to
ensure their children have Internet access.”
In November 2005, the One Laptop Per
Child project was announced at the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
designed to provide the world’s poorest
children each with a low-cost, low-power,
connected laptop priced below US$100 to
assist with their education. Since the first
commercial laptop was launched in 2006,
the price has hovered around US$200.
Kressin expects similar demands to
be made on smartbooks in emerging
markets. “To make a sub-US$200 device,
you would need to make compromises
on screen, battery and sensors,” he said.
“Further compromises could be made by
using a low spec mechanical layouts or
last-generation display technologies and
removing many optional components.”
The move to 45 nanometer (nm) process
technology supports the chip industry’s
move to add more functionality in the
same chip footprint. Combined with
GHz processing, smartbooks can support
2G/3D graphics, high-definition video, as
well as lower standby power (less than
10milliwatts) with increased battery life
enhancements for all-day running.
Qualcomm QMag
Market tracking firm DisplaySearch
forecasts netbook sales to top 33
million in 2009, taking netbooks
total penetration of the global
laptop market to 20 percent.
November 2009
day by day
page 13
Getting smarter day by day
Getting smarter
The application ecosystem
gold
“ With app stores containing thousands of apps,
consumers could face up to 30 different versions
of a simple puzzle game like Sudoku.”
The mobile applications market has
evolved since 2001 when Qualcomm
launched the first mobile storefront
with BREW®. Following the launch of the
iPhone 3G in 2008, with which Apple
became the poster-child for the modernday “App Store,” the pace of innovation
has picked up significantly prompting
a proliferation of market channels for
mobile apps across smartphone platform
providers, handset OEMs and mobile
operators. This second wave of app
stores has sparked heightened levels
of innovation and attracted significant
funding into the sector. It has never
been a better time to be a developer.
This emerging marketplace is now
competing for the attention of the
developer community. The Chubby
Brain Blog reports that in 2009, venture
capitalists have invested more than
US$100 million in iPhone predicated
start-ups alone. Industry efforts to improve
the quality of tools, lower the cost of
testing and certification, speed time to
market, and promote these solutions to
consumers have resulted in an explosion
of applications. Stores are being stocked
with thousands of applications, and wellfunded companies with strong operator
relationships now sit alongside garage
developers in competing for
consumer attention.
But as the global developer community
responds to the proliferation of app
stores, this modern-day gold rush is
creating a series of challenges that may
ultimately constrain growth in the mobile
ecosystem. The proliferation of vertical
application stores tied to specific operating
systems (OS) is driving both platform and
channel fragmentation, thereby forcing
development and delivery costs up across
the industry. Developers are being forced
to make explicit choices between platformspecific channels that unnecessarily
constrain their market reach.
Developers are calling for greater
standardization across platforms to tackle
the rising issue of fragmentation. In 2009,
a total of 59 percent of venture-backed
mobile start-ups were developing for
five or more operating systems in order
to address a sufficiently broad base of
commercial devices. The emergence of
more capable browser-based environments
leveraging a cloud services infrastructure
will ultimately address this issue, allowing
developers to build highly capable
applications that work seamlessly across
different operating systems. However, over
the next couple of years, fragmentation
in native application environments is likely
to persist as competition between app
platforms and their stores intensifies.
Existing vertical app stores have created
the marketplace, but Qualcomm believes
that a horizontal distribution model is
necessary for it to scale. This requires
platform-agnostic content enablement
systems that support all OS platforms,
from BREW to BlackBerry to Android
and beyond. Retailers benefit from the
cost efficiencies of a single storefront
infrastructure. Consumers benefit by
reclaiming ownership of their content,
with features like a Digital Locker
enabling cross-device content portability,
and developers benefit from a horizontal
distribution model that promises to
reduce friction in the app
commercialization process.
Aside from channel choice, app
discoverability has also become a major
issue. With app stores containing
thousands of apps, consumers could face
up to 30 different versions of a simple
puzzle game like Sudoku. Only a few
developers have a truly groundbreaking
application or sufficient negotiating power
to get featured in a national ad campaign
or placement at the top of the store.
Developers need new ways to manage
the marketing and merchandising of
their application in a crowded space. In
particular, developers need operators and
other mobile retailers to step up the quality
of the merchandizing and marketing tools.
A strong recommendations engine is a
critical element in fostering discoverability
to deliver relevant and contextual apps.
The business environment is changing
rapidly for developers. Applications on an
operator deck could remain at a consistent
premium price for up to 24 months, but
prices on the Apple App Store can be
reduced rapidly within weeks. For the
mobile content ecosystem to flourish,
it needs to support the broadest possible
range of business models and allow
developers to optimize their channel and
pricing mix for profitability. This means
supporting high-volume, low-price
content with 80 percent revenue share,
but also premium content with direct
subscriber billing at a 60 precent revenue
share. The key here is flexibility.
There is not a specific business or
pricing model that will work for all
opportunities. Developers need tools
that allow them to experiment in
creating ongoing engagement with their
consumers within a retail infrastructure
that lets them make informed business
choices. This means facilitating an
ecosystem of free and ad-supported
content through integration with ad
networks, supporting free premium
(freemium) business models through
in-app billing, and creating models that
enable paid premium markets to flourish.
For developers, market trends
are adding complexity to an already
fragmented and congested market. This
is likely to get worse before it gets better
in the gold rush of app stores. The next
few years will be tough for the industry.
Some developers will strike it rich within
the current vertical model while others
may be fated to chase fool’s gold. It is
in this context that the ecosystem must
transform from a vertical solutions model
and unite as an industry to tackle these
challenges with a horizontal approach.
The application ecosystem gold rush
AS THE GLOBAL DEVELOPER COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO THE PROLIFERATION OF APP
STORES, THIS MODERN-DAY GOLD RUSH IS CREATING A SERIES OF CHALLENGES THAT
MAY ULTIMATELY CONSTRAIN GROWTH IN THE MOBILE ECOSYSTEM.
November 2009
The application ecosystem gold rush
page 15
The application ecosystem gold rush
MOBILE TOMORROW
Blurring the line between
virtual&reality
POINTING A MOBILE PHONE DOWN A
CITY BLOCK OR AT A NEW TOY IN THE
LOCAL TOY STORE AND USING THE
DEVICE’S CAMERA TO AUTOMATICALLY
IDENTIFY AND INFORM THE USER OF THE
SUBJECT APPEARING ON THE SCREEN IS
BEING HAILED AS A MAJOR TECHNICAL
ADVANCE FOR THE MOBILE INDUSTRY.
Augmented reality is the process of
overlaying the real world with information
or virtual objects, and emerging
breakthroughs in this technology are
poised to shape the mobile user experience
of the future.
“In the long term, you will be able
to point your mobile device’s camera at
buildings, objects or almost anything and
get detailed information on whatever
appears on the device’s screen,” said
Miles Kirby, senior director of product
management at Qualcomm. “Augmented
reality is one of those magical enablers that
takes things to the next level. This could be
the next big quantum step forward.”
Using computer vision algorithms to
align relevant information with imagery
captured by the device’s camera,
augmented reality has the potential to
change the way mobile phone users
interact with their environment. The
potential of augmented reality will be
realized as more and more of the objects
in our everyday environment can be
recognized digitally. At this stage, the
mobile device starts acting as an eye
and that is certainly the goal for Blur,
Qualcomm’s R&D augmented
reality project.
“This is a new user interface paradigm
that enables the mobile phone to bring
information to users automatically, rather
than requiring them to manually search
for information,” said Jay Wright, director
of business development for Corporate
Research and Development at Qualcomm.
“Call it what you will, a magic window or
looking glass, but this is a new paradigm
for location-based search.”
Augmented reality is already being used
to deliver digital information to images
appearing on smartphones. SPRXmobile
from the Netherlands has launched an
augmented reality browser called Layar for
Android, while London-based AcrossAir
has launched a “nearest tube/subways”
app allowing iPhone 3GS users in London
and New York to find the closest station
from their existing location using visuals
as a guide. As examples of some of the
The application ecosystem gold rush
Blurring the line between virtual and reality
November 2009
page 17
blurring virtual and reality
MOBILE TOMORROW
earliest augmented reality apps, these apps
are setting the precedent for the next wave
of content and services delivered over the
mobile channel.
Before the futuristic nature of
augmented reality grips the wireless
industry and consumers alike, the hype
cycle will have to be carefully managed.
“Our industry has a tendency to set
high expectations about the potential for
disruptive technologies like augmented
reality. We need to focus on talking about
applications for which augmented reality
delivers real user value, and which apps
the technology can realistically enable,”
said Wright.
The existing crop of mobile augmented
reality applications have been developed
around the device’s compass and
accelerometer. However, because a
digital compass is subject to error of up
to 20 degrees depending on magnetic
interference, the user experience for these
applications is not optimal. “Compassbased augmented reality suffers from
two problems with augmentation
graphics: They aren’t well aligned with the
underlying imagery, and they tend to drift
and be bouncy or jittery.”
While these problems can be addressed
using advanced compass calibration
techniques and adding motion stabilising
technology, the compass-based approach
will not enable tight alignment between
augmentation graphics and the underlying
camera image. This level of alignment
requires computer vision algorithms and
more processing power than is available in
today’s mobile phones.
“This is Qualcomm’s opportunity
for augmented reality,” said Larry
Hartigan, senior vice president, business
development at Qualcomm. “Compelling
augmented reality requires significantly
more computing power than is available
in today’s phones, and that’s exactly
what we’ll be delivering in future
Qualcomm chipsets.”
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
India
CDMA wireless space
INDIA HAS A POPULATION EXCEEDING 1.2 BILLION AND IS EXPERIENCING THE FASTEST
EXPANSION OF ANY MOBILE MARKET IN THE WORLD. WITH TELEDENSITY STANDING AT
40 PERCENT, IT HAS BECOME COMMONPLACE FOR THE MOBILE MARKET TO EXPAND
UPWARDS OF 12 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS PER MONTH THROUGHOUT 2009.
India has a population exceeding 1.2
billion and is experiencing the fastest
expansion of any mobile market in the
world. With teledensity standing at 40
percent, it has become commonplace for
the mobile market to expand upwards
of 12 million subscribers per month
throughout 2009. CDMA subscribers
represent 23 percent of the country’s total
subscriber base, which is expanding by an
average of 2.25 million per month. The
Open Market Handsets (OMHTM) initiative,
formed by the CDMA Development Group
(CDG) and championed by Qualcomm, is
set to accelerate this growth over the next
five years.
In May 2009, the CDG announced that
India’s CDMA subscriber base had crossed
100 million — less than two years after
announcing the first 50 million subscribers
— and is making a significant contribution
to the total Indian wireless market. The
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) announced in July that there were a
total of 441 million mobile subscribers in
the country.
“We expect 200 million subscribers,
of the projected 400 million subscribers
to join the Indian networks over the next
three-to-four years, to be on 3G CDMA
technology,” said Paul Jacobs, chairman
and CEO of Qualcomm.
One of the primary reasons behind
the development of OMH is to increase
the variety of devices in emerging
mobile markets and extend channels of
distribution within the mobile ecosystem.
For operators, OMH will reduce handset
inventory costs, as well as push subscribers
up the handset value chain towards data
capable 1xEV-DO devices.
“OMH enables an open distribution
ecosystem for CDMA because all of
the operator- and subscriber-specific
provisioning information is now
completely contained within the OMH
SIM card, making the handset free from
any dependency on a specific operator’s
network,” Nakul Duggal, senior director
and OMH project lead, Qualcomm
Corporate Engineering Services, told
QMag. “This gives subscribers the
freedom and flexibility to select their
handset and their network operator. By
choosing different OMH SIM cards or
simply upgrading to the OMH handset of
their choice, CDMA subscribers can now
easily take their contacts, pictures and
bookmarks with them.”
OMH will also deliver benefits to handset
OEMs by increasing economies of scale
in the context of handset development,
testing and distribution. The same device
can now be sold across multiple operators
in numerous markets. This offers OEMs a
much stronger value proposition for their
“Operators can get
access to handsets from
any market, and the
handset OEM is now able
to distribute the same
handset across multiple
markets,”
distributors who can position a variety of
devices across different market segments.
For the Indian operators who were
unable to carry a device inventory with
large variety, OMH solves their handset
dilemma. “Operators can get access
to handsets from any market, and the
handset OEM is now able to distribute the
same handset across multiple markets,”
said Duggal. “So the concept of ‘test once,
sell anywhere’ significantly strengthens the
CDMA ecosystem by increasing choice and
expanding distribution footprint.”
Data services based on 1xEV-DO have
also been positioned as a core function
of the device within OMH. At this time
of rapid mobile content and service
adoption, where ring-back tones dominate
the content landscape and mobile social
networking has catapulted mobile Internet
usage, the timing for OMH devices is ideal.
“Users can now personalize their devices
with rich-media content and can access
services like mobile social networking,”
said Duggal. “The fact that the OMH
SIM can also store data will encourage
much greater usage of these services and
increase ARPU for operators.”
OMH is a collaboration of almost
50 leading manufacturers, including
Gemalto, Haier, Huawei, LG, Oberthur,
Nokia, Qualcomm and ZTE. What’s more,
OMH has the full support of all the Indian
CDMA operators, which are committed
to releasing OMH SIM cards and bundled
services for targeted market segments.
The initiative went live in late August
with the launch of the world’s first OMH
device. Samsung, in association with
Qualcomm, released the Mpower 699
in India, a device with an OMH-capable
chipset, a 1.3 megapixel camera, advanced
multimedia features and a 2GB
MicroSD card.
Qualcomm anticipates OMH extending
beyond mobile devices into the mobile
broadband domain of dongles and
3G-embedded netbooks, while capitalising
on the extensive 3G infrastructure that has
already been deployed in several markets
across India.
“We will support OMH capability across
all chipset tiers; and we will work with
device OEMs on increasing the adoption
and implementation across their various
handset platforms.” Duggal said. “We are
supporting the migration to mobile highspeed data services globally. With OMH,
it just got a whole lot easier for users in
developing countries to get access to highspeed data capable devices.”
Beyond India, the immediate expansion
of the OMH footprint includes South East
Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East
and parts of South Asia. Longer term, the
OMH SIM cards and handsets are expected
to expand into additional CDMA markets.
“The OMH initiative for the CDMA
ecosystem is very important,” says
Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of
product management, Qualcomm CDMA
Technologies. “A thriving open market
in CDMA will result in increased variety
in handsets, facilitate transition to EV-DO
and allow new and advanced chipset
capabilities to be introduced in smaller
carriers, faster.”
OMH India
OMH to drive
November 2009
page 19
OMH India
OMH to drive India CDMA wireless space
November 2009
page 21
Empowering the consumers
empowering the consumer
empowering the consumer
INNOVATION
Empowering
the consumers
THE ABILITY TO TRANSFER DIGITAL CONTENT FROM ONE DEVICE TO ANOTHER
IS ALREADY PREVALENT BETWEEN THE MOBILE PHONE AND COMPUTERS.
NOW, DEVICE MANUFACTURERS ARE LOOKING TOWARD ENABLING DIGITAL
CONTENT SHARING AMONG A WIDE VARIETY OF COMMON HOME DIGITAL
DEVICES IN A PROCESS KNOWN AS MEDIA SHIFTING.
M
edia shifting will empower the
consumers with the capability of accessing
their digital content at any time, over any
device from any location.
Media shifting uses software that allows
consumers to access their centrally stored
digital content via a consumer device. It
has already started to penetrate the mobile
content space with sideloading enabling
digital files to be shared between mobile
and computing devices.
However, the ability to transfer
content between mobile devices remains
constrained. While mobile music is
undergoing something of a revolution
with digital rights management restrictions
being lifted, this is yet to be applied to
games and other forms of media. The
rapid growth of proprietary app stores and
accompanying fragmentation of operating
systems is creating additional hurdles
in the transference of content
between devices.
“If operators are differentiating
themselves with devices such as the Palm
Pre for example, what happens when a
consumer personalizes their device with
content from the Palm app store and then
they upgrade to another device running
on a different operating system?” asked
Brian Vogelsang, director of product
management at Qualcomm. “They can’t
take their content with them as their
content is managed by the vertical system,
which is tied to the operator and not
the platform.”
Consumers have the freedom to
migrate between devices within an
operator’s portfolio, but migrating to a
new operating system could result in the
loss of their mobile content even though
the rights to the content are tied to the
consumer. One means of overcoming
this is the digital locker of licensed rights
that removes the vertical business models
associated with existing operating systems.
“Consumers can access the digital locker
through WAP, the client, the Web or the
device,” said Vogelsang. “They can see
the rights they have and will be able to redownload their existing content from the
digital locker directly onto their
new device.”
Although digital lockers are a new
concept, the process of sideloading is
commonplace among mobile users. In
the same way that dual-downloading of
content primarily for the mobile device will
be centrally managed by the consumer
from his computer, it is the ability to access
this content over multiple devices that is
driving this usage.
Media shifting is now being applied to
multiple devices around the home, and is
no longer limited to just the mobile and
computer. Indeed, digital living enables
content to be shifted between media
devices throughout the home, such as
digital TVs, digital video recorders, digital
cameras and digital music players.
The concept of digital living starts
with the home network and is often a
combination of both wired and wireless
connectivity. To meet this growing demand
for connected content the Digital Living
Network Alliance (DLNA) has created
design guidelines for a new generation of
DLNA certified products that can
work together.
The DLNA is a collaboration of 245 of
the world’s leading consumer electronics,
computing and mobile companies.
To date, there are now more than 5,000
DLNA certified devices that can connect,
discover and communicate with each
other over a home network.
Ubiquitous connectivity is giving rise
to the consumer experience of media
shifting, and the move to extend digital
living beyond the confines of the home are
well underway.
“Users can be sitting in a hotel bedroom
anywhere in the world and use the
broadband connection to connect to
their PC at home and access all of their
media,” said Bruce Jackson, vice president,
Qualcomm Incubation Labs. “There is no
reason I should not be able to access my
digital media whenever I want, and from
wherever I want. I don’t want to consume
According to ABI
Research, nearly 200
million digital media
devices with DLNA
certification were
shipped in 2008
and this number is
projected to rise
to over 300
million in 2012.
the end result on my laptop. I want to
consume it on the plasma TV in the room,
or on my hifi and not through PC.”
Media shifting is transforming the PC
into a content management intermediary,
with the mobile phone becoming the
remote control for media place shifting.
“Consumers can take their media with
them wherever they go,” said Jackson.
“The world of mobile services is
no longer just about talk and text,”
acknowledges Jackson. “Flat-rate data
tariffs are increasing quite dramatically and
that is giving users access to the Internet
and their digital content.”
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EDITORIAL CONTACTS
Richard Tinkler
Public Relations
00 44 208 237 7106
John Gilbert
Investor Relations
00 1 858-658-4183
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Qualcomm
CDMA Technologies
00 1 858-651-1554
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Technologies
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