Who knows what Qualcomm’s plans really are? The current cell phone technology is used only in the US, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the US eventually adopts the European and Asian standard. Then what happens to CDMA? Their job openings have been posted for a long time – UT reported 500 openings as of last December. My friend, a VP at one of their divisions, had never even heard of a hiring problem, so who knows if these are just ongoing postings.
I’m no expert, but I’m learning and work for a company that deals with Qualcomm, Sprint, Cingular, etc on a daily basis.
What I can tell you is that traditionally Qualcomm has been limited *mostly* just to the US due to CDMA (vs GSM). So, you’re right there. However, the new wireless data standards are a place where Qualcomm is heavily investing and will doubtless make significant inroads as they have a lot of the worldwide Intellectual Property that EU is using right now. They’re not getting smaller in the US (in my experience) and they’re getting bigger in the rest of the world.
PS The US doesn’t just decide to adopt a wireless standard like GSM vs CDMA. In fact, we already *have* GSM over here and have had it for years. Cingular/T-Mobile are on GSM and Verizon/Sprint are on CDMA. They exist together in the same industry and Qualcomm makes a ton of money from it.
