“Longtime WiMAX basher” Qualcomm is lightening up. This week the company confirmed its purchase of a WiMAX development start-up company.Unstrung.com reports that “longtime WiMAX basher” is evidently moving into an if-you-can’t-beat’em-join-em mode. According to the report, the company has purchased the 802.16e development work of TeleCis Wireless, Inc. for “an undisclosed sum.”
Unstrung quotes an unidentified QualComm spokesperson, saying “TeleCIS’s engineering resources were acquired for their mobile broadband system knowledge and System On a Chip design experience. Their knowledge and experience can contribute to multiple R&D efforts such as UMB, LTE, and other OFDM based technologies such as WiMAX.”
According to David Sumi, VP of Product Management and Marketing at TeleCIS, will still develop and sell TCW 1620 Fixed/Portable SoC products.
The move marks a major shift in QualComm’s strategy concerning the mobile wireless market. In the past, its focus was on Qualcomm’s CEMA and WCDMA technology. Two years ago, Om Malik characterized the fierce competition between Qualcomm and the Nokia-Intel WiMAX partnership as “mortal combat.”
We agree with Unstrung’s take that this appears to be a move on Qualcomm’s part to cover all its bases. WiMAX is becoming a viable force in the mobile metro market.
Click here to read Unstrung.com’s report.
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