@MWC: Nokia and Qualcomm snuggling up in U.S.

Since the settlement last year that ended the industry’s highest-profile cross-licensing battle, Nokia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. have been expected to cozy up. Now it’s official.
Nokia, the world’s largest handset maker, and Qualcomm, the world’s leading wireless chip maker, will work together on 3G smartphone products, initially for North America – the Achilles heel in Nokia’s global reach.
The results won’t hit shelves until the middle of next year, however, which presents challenges to the partnership. Research In Motion Ltd. and Apple Inc. have seen phenomenal growth in the United States and globally. Nokia’s share of the smartphone market, once well above 50% globally, has seen slower growth while RIM, Apple and even HTC Corp. make inroads with their platforms. But the Nokia-Qualcomm focus on smartphones is squarely aimed at the remaining growth segment of the handset market.
Further, no carrier partnerships were mentioned in conjunction with the announcement, which may reflect that the pair are only just embarking on the design phase for their planned devices.
Specifically, the collaboration announced today will focus on Nokia’s Series 60 software running on the Symbian operating system, which Nokia is working to make available in a license-free, open-source platform. Two of Qualcomm’s MSM-trademarked chipsets will be integrated into Nokia’s new S60 platform for, the pair said, “cutting-edge processing performance and ubiquitous mobile broadband capabilities.” The Nokia-Qualcomm collaboration will be compatible with Nokia’s Symbian platform, according to Nokia.
“The announcement is a strong, long-term positive for Qualcomm and puts it on a share gain path in 3G for the foreseeable future,” wrote Ittai Kidron, analyst at Oppenheimer, in an investor note today. “That said, we note that the U.S. focus – where Nokia is poorly positioned – and timing of shipments – should yield only small volumes nearer term for Qualcomm.”
In other news:
–Nokia also will use Broadcom Corp. for high-volume, low-end 3G devices, which analysts speculated could lead to a resolution of various patent disputes between Broadcom and Qualcomm.
–Texas Instruments, Inc. announced new OMAP3 and OMAP4 processors that will ship next year and a collaboration with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for pico projectors embedded in handsets, based on TI’s DLP pico chipset.
–Intel Corp. announced that its Moorestown processor has scored a design win in a MID (mobile Internet device) by LG Electronics Co., due out next year.