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QUALCOMM
and KTFreeTel Reach Agreement to Commercially Launch BREW-Enabled Handsets
and Services to Customers in November 2001
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| China October 25 |
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QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, and KTFreeTel, a leading Korean wireless carrier, today announced at the PT/Wireless & Networks Comm Beijing 2001 conference that the companies have reached an agreement for the commercial launch of KTFreeTel's applications service based on QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for WirelessÔ (BREWÔ) platform. KTFreeTel expects to roll out its BREW-enabled magic n multipackÔ service to subscribers on their third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X network beginning November 1, 2001. KTFreeTel will be the first carrier in the world to launch BREW platform services and provide customers with the ability to download wireless applications over the air - anytime, anywhere. "KTFreeTel's commitment to QUALCOMM's BREW platform represents a bold advancement toward the future of useful wireless data services," said Peggy Johnson, president of QUALCOMM Internet Services, the division of QUALCOMM responsible for the complete BREW solution. "KTFreeTel's customer focus, combined with QUALCOMM's technology leadership, takes full advantage of the improved capabilities of today's mobile devices to bring truly relevant, useful solutions to market. For the first time, people will be able to choose the applications and features they want, and the BREW platform's ability to download applications over the air is the breakthrough that enables this." The agreement was announced at a ceremony featuring Dr. Joo Young Song, senior vice president, KTFreeTel Multimedia Business Division and Peggy Johnson. "This agreement with QUALCOMM further enhances KTFreeTel's technology leadership and market strategy," said Dr. Song. "We've created a much-needed solution that will put the power to personalize cell phone services, over the air, directly in the hands of consumers." KTFreeTel conducted a successful public user trial of the BREW-enabled magic n multipack service with 5,000 users in September and October 2001. The BREW-enabled service allows KTFreeTel subscribers to easily download and install a variety of applications in a matter of seconds. For KTFreeTel's customers, this means that the same BREW-enabled handset hardware can provide very different capabilities tailored to individual interests as subscribers download the applications they want from various categories, such as games and entertainment, business applications, messaging and navigation services. More than 160 applications are currently available from more than 20 companies, including Anicom, Gaeasoft, GeoTel and Lycos-Javagame. KTFreeTel's
BREW services will launch on two new CDMA2000 1X BREW-enabled handsets:
QUALCOMM's
BREW platform is a thin, standardized execution environment that resides
in handsets. Native BREW applications are written in C/C++. While
the BREW platform supports programming in other languages, such as
Java, C/C++ is used as a primary language by significantly more developers
worldwide than any other language, according to International Data
Corp. QUALCOMM's BREW initiative is the only approach that offers
developers, OEMs and carriers a complete, end-to-end solution for
wireless applications development, device configuration, application
distribution, and billing and payment. The complete BREW solution
includes the BREW Software Development Kit (SDK) for developers,
the BREW application platform and porting tools for device manufacturers,
and the BREW Distribution System (BDS) that enables developers and
their carrier customers to get applications to market and coordinates
the billing and payment processes for them. Carriers' BREW services
will enable consumers to customize their handsets by downloading applications
over the air from a carrier's application download server. |