Nokia, Qualcomm to Partner on Advanced Mobile Devices

BARCELONA, Spain—Two giants of the mobile industry, Nokia and Qualcomm, announced plans to work together to develop the 3G CDMA-based wireless communication standard Universal Mobile Telecommunications System for advanced mobile devices in North America.

The devices will be based on Nokia's S60 software on Symbian OS, one of the leading software platforms for smartphones, and will utilize Qualcomm's MSM (Mobile Station Modem) chip sets for processing performance and mobile broadband capabilities. The first mobile devices based on this collaboration are expected to launch in mid-2010 and will be compatible with the forthcoming Symbian Foundation platform.

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“We are eager to demonstrate to the industry the possibilities that exist when innovative and open software is combined with advanced hardware solutions,” said Nokia’s executive vice president of devices, Kai Oistamo. “Nokia is very pleased to be in discussions with Qualcomm around designing mobile devices that can benefit from the high level of integration found on MSM chip sets.”

The pairing may come as a surprise to those who remember the vicious three-year, three-continent legal battle between Nokia and Qualcomm, when the two technology titans battled over patent licenses and royalty rights. A settlement was reached in June 2008, and while no specific financial details were released, Nokia, the world’s top cell phone maker, agreed to make an upfront payment and pay royalties to Qualcomm in a settlement agreement that will span 15 years.

“Nokia and Qualcomm are leaders in advanced wireless technologies, and this new level of cooperation would bring exceptional leaps in mobile performance to people around the world,” said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “We are very excited about the possibility of the substantial synergies between S60 software and MSM chip sets.”