News
Issue #2002 - 40 (October 2002)
(Updated Oct. 22, 2002)

APPLICATIONS & DEVELOPMENT

QUALCOMM & Eyematic Partner on BREW

Source: News story written by Mala Nugehally, Special to MobileInfo.Com 

QUALCOMM Incorporated and Eyematic have entered into a partnership to deliver an advanced mobile messaging solution with MMS capabilities. Enabled by QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless(TM) (BREW) platform, Eyematic's "Shout Messenger", an animated messaging service, is available on Verizon Wireless' BREW-enabled Get It Now (SM) service. It provides capabilities such as still photos, graphics, music, speech and downloadable branded characters. QUALCOMM's BREW Solution is said to provide the necessary infrastructure for wireless applications development, billing and payment, and also allow for over-the-air application distribution virtually anywhere, anytime.

Affirming the commitment to the agreement between the two companies, QUALCOMM's Gina Lombardi, senior vice president of marketing and product management, QUALCOMM Internet Services said "The wireless industry has been eagerly anticipating MMS capabilities, and QUALCOMM's BREW platform is the enabler for these next-generation multimedia messaging applications". Steve Hartford, vice president of marketing, Eyematic said, "Eyematic developed a sophisticated multimedia software platform to power visual services such as MMS (multimedia messaging), games and digital assistants. When combined with BREW's ability to download applications over the air, the result is a complete solution for multimedia service development and deployment."

With this agreement, the two companies plan to address the needs for a complete end-to-end solution for multimedia service development and deployment. Verizon Wireless, ALLTEL in the United States, KTF in Korea and KDDI in Japan have already commercialized BREW-based services. Telesp Celular, the largest mobile phone operator in Brazil, U.S. Cellular, China Unicom and 16 other carriers have plans to follow suit. With 30 device manufacturers indicating their support for the BREW platform and 24 BREW-enabled handset already available commercially, this partnership can only be seen as a good strategy for the both Eyematic and QUALCOMM.

For more information: www.shoutmessenger.com

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: While Qualcomm's BREW may compete with Sun's J2ME platform, they can also be complimentary. J2ME has a greater device and OS reach. By and large, BREW is smart phone-centric solution in a comparative sense. On selected hardware platforms, it might perform better than J2ME under a JVM. See Insignia's announcement for J2ME application to BREW device integration.  Application developers should carefully make the choice. 

As for Eyematic's Shout Messenger service on Verizon, it is a straight-forward and simple messaging application that can jazz up your messages if you so choose. BREW provides over-the-air distribution of messages in this case. Shout Messenger will certainly be of interest to the younger consumers. 

Note: This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology architectures.  All trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective owners.