The long road to a happy ending for Nokia and Qualcomm on 3G
Handset manufacturer Nokia and wireless chip maker Qualcomm were in and out of court for the better part of two years. Now, after a six-month truce, they'll be working together on UMTS devices for the North American market.
The companies have agreed upon S60 as the operating system, and Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem (MSM7, MSM8 series) as the 3G chips. The latest Qualcomm MSM chipset -- the MSM7227 -- is a 12 x 12 HSPA solution with a 600 MHz applications processor, 320 MHz application DSP, and a 400 MHz modem processor designed for smartphones below the $150 price point.
In 2007, Nokia changed its chipset strategy to deal with four suppliers. Texas Instruments, whose OMAP2420 is used in most of the N-series devices, was Nokia's all-purpose chip supplier. Broadcom supplied EDGE chips, Infineon supplied GSM chips, and STMicroelectronics was its chosen 3G chip supplier.
In August 2008, just one month after the resolution of Nokia and Qualcomm's dispute, STMicroelectronics and Ericsson completed a deal to merge into a 50/50 joint venture. That merger, completed earlier this month, formed a company that will be the major chip supplier to four of the five largest handset manufacturers.
The first handsets to come from the new Nokia-Qualcomm alliance will launch in mid-2010, and will be compatible with the Symbian Foundation platform.
Betanews Nokia and Qualcomm patent litigation history:
- Qualcomm/Broadcom Battle near its End; Nokia Fills the Gap March 19, 2007
- Qualcomm Extends Patent Complaints Against Nokia April 3, 2007
- Qualcomm-Nokia Patent Fight Heats Up April 5, 2007
- Qualcomm Rejects Nokia Licensing Payment April 12, 2007
- Nokia Makes Good on Threat, Countersues Qualcomm May 24, 2007
- Nokia Looks for Import ban of Qualcomm chips August 17, 2007
- Qualcomm Scores Win in Nokia Battle October 22, 2007
- Nokia case against Qualcomm in ITC declared 'finished' November 21, 2007
- Nokia wins one round in Qualcomm IP battle December 13, 2007
- Double Whammy for Qualcomm as Nokia wins two rounds March 3, 2008
- Qualcomm and Nokia end fight and settle on patents July 24, 2008