3 to launch Qualcomm’s BREW
Rating: don’t hold your breath
by Bena Roberts
Two years ago O2 was the European mobile operator standing up at the BREW conference touting how great Qualcomm was and how it was to launch uiOne devices. Last year it was Telecom Italia Mobile’s (TIM) turn. This year it seems as though BREW has taken the bait.
What we think
The press release is full of glorious quotes about BREW, 3 and Qualcomm but we refuse to print BS. Yes I am being harsh because after the glamour of the BREW conference the reality is that usually BREW deployments in the Europe/UK flop. The Ice device was a flop because access to WAP was awful and the marketing terrible. In Italy, nothing really sparked. I speak to contacts at Telecom Italia all the time and once I asked how is the uiOne device and he had never heard of it!
But because it’s just an intention - we will not hold our breath. The plan is to launch a BREW style X Series… sigh.
Actually, something just struck me. O2 signed with Qualcomm and then O2 got purchased by Telefonica. TIM signed with Qualcomm and then it got swallowed and re-worked by Telecom Italia. Could this be the start of a Qualcomm curse? It can go two ways
1. Third time lucky for 3
2. Someone will buy 3 in the next year.
In anyone would like to read our analysis on uiOne vs SurfKitchen – please email me.
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2 Responses to “3 to launch Qualcomm’s BREW”
Were you thinking of the N5050 from Onda and the Z630 from Samsung which TIM launched last December?
Comment made on October 31st, 2007 at 7:48 pmFor O2 its the ICE device and in Italy it was the Onda.
Comment made on November 1st, 2007 at 6:23 amb
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