How much will the Qualcomm chip ban impact the global mobile-phone market?
By Suzanne Deffree, News Editor -- EDN, July 19, 2007
The ITC’s (International Trade Commission’s) recent decision to ban US imports of some mobile phones that include certain Qualcomm 3G chips will affect the industry beyond just the company itself, but to what extreme is questionable. The ITC’s determination stems from a patent battle between Broadcom and Qualcomm; the commission has banned importation of infringing Qualcomm chips and future products, such as 3G cellular phones that use those chips. At press time, Qualcomm planned to appeal to President George W Bush to veto the ITC’s decision.
The CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) backs Qualcomm’s argument for a veto. “The ITC’s importation ban, if implemented, will force the redesign of virtually all handsets that utilize the banned chips,” Steve Largent, CTIA’s chief executive officer, wrote in a letter to the president. “This redesign process requires a substantial amount of time (18 to 24 months) and many millions of dollars for each of the companies involved.”
Meanwhile, researchers at iSuppli Corp estimate that the ban will affect 4.2 million shipments of EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) and WCDMA mobile phones in 2007, representing only 4.4% of North American mobile-phone shipments and 3.2% of worldwide 3G mobile-phone shipments in the second half of 2007. According to analyst Tina Teng, the ban would affect only 11 mobile-phone models in 2007, or 0.9% of phone-model introductions for the year.
Analysts at iSuppli say that the ban will have the greatest impact on OEMs Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Motorola. They do not expect the ban to reduce volume shipments of mobile phones overall this year.
