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Saturday November 14, 2009
Qualcomm CEO warns of intensifying competition
13 November 2009 – Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs (pictured) has warned of growing competition in both the high-end and low-end mobile phone chipset markets, predicting that next year will be “a battleground for market share." In an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week, Jacobs said that the mobile silicon giant was facing competition from the likes of Intel in the high-end smartphone market and from chip-makers such as Taiwan’s MediaTek in the low end. "We're expecting price competition on the chipset side," he added. Qualcomm is positioning its Snapdragon processor to counter competition from rivals (such as Intel) moving from the PC world to smartphones, and Jacobs said he expects competitors such as Texas Instruments to follow its lead. He said that Qualcomm may benefit from the traditional PC manufacturers looking for alternative suppliers for their products, adding that many of the players would likely want to lessen their dependence on Intel.
Jacobs also highlighted Qualcomm’s vision for a line of so-called ‘Smartbook’ products, which feature the always-on capability and low power usage of a smartphone in a larger package. Jacobs said that manufacturers are rushing to get the first smartbooks out by the end of the year, although they may be delayed until the first quarter of 2010. US operator AT&T is expected to launch the first Snapdragon-based smartbook – a device made by laptop-maker Lenovo – early next year. In the low-end of the market, Jacobs said that China remains the fastest-growing market for the company, thanks to the ongoing build-out of 3G networks. He said the firm was also looking at the imminent rollout of 3G in India as another catalyst for growth. Yesterday, Qualcomm launched what it claimed were the industry’s first chipsets for dual-carrier HSPA+ and multi-mode 3G/LTE technology. ♠ JC
Source: GSMA
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