As some industry vendors are recasting, or more aptly downsizing, their quarterly forecasts, Qualcomm says it expects its third quarter earnings to meet or exceed the high end of its original projection of $0.21 to $0.23 per share.

The company also expects to meet its shipment target of 15-16 million MSM phone chips.

Qualcomm executives attribute the strong outlook to the increase demand for CDMA products, driven by the growth of 3G CDMA2000 1X networks, BREW applications and gpsOne position location capabilities.

Another good news story, ‘More than One Million BREW-Enabled Handsets Sold Worldwide.’

Qualcomm is claiming that one million consumers have purchased handsets powered by its BREW chip since November 2001.

"Qualcomm expects the demand for BREW services and BREW-enabled handsets to accelerate as carriers continue to adopt the BREW environment as their primary wireless data application," commented Peggy Johnson, president of Qualcomm Internet Services.

To date three mobile carriers — KTF of South Korea, KDDI in Japan and Verizon Wireless of the U.S. — have launched wireless applications based on the BREW platform.

"Our handset sales well exceeded our projections and our downloads per customer were significantly higher than expected," said John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing, Verizon Wireless.

Telesp Cellular, the largest mobile phone operator in Brazil, and American carrier ALLTEL are expected to launch BREW services shortly.