Qualcomm has announced a tie up with mobile web browser vendor Access to port the latter’s i-Mode client software to some of its WCDMA chipsets. Tony Cripps, analyst at Ovum says the move makes sense as it exploits an under-resouced market — European i-mode.
Cripps writes: “Access’s NetFront Mobile Client Suite, in its i-Mode Global Profile guise, has already been selected by the i-Mode Global Alliance of mainly European mobile operators as a key technology component of their offerings.
 “On the face of it, i-Mode appears a strange route to market for establishing Qualcomm, and possibly BREW, in Europe. After all, the two are rivals as end-to-end technology environments and marketplaces for mobile content services. But the technologzy components of each need not be rivals. If Java fails long term to meet the needs of the highly proactive i-Mode Global Alliance, the BREW environment – with its closer affiliation to the mass of application developers – could prove attractive. Providing that DoCoMo can be persuaded of the merits of licensing technology from its erstwhile rival in the creation of mobile content ecosystems. Stranger things have happened.”
