Qualcomm's BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) is an open software platform for creating wireless Internet applications. With BREW, developers can create applications that operate on devices using CDMA chipsets. The platform serves developers by eliminating the need to modify applications with each new phone model or network, thus decreasing application development costs. (However, according to Qualcomm, users will have to upgrade to a BREW-enabled phone.)

Developers and handset manufacturers can license BREW for free. Developer's won't need to have internal knowledge of the phone and its software. By eliminating the costs of finding a handset partner and the need for access to the chip system software, BREW could spark the increase of wireless applications.

"BREW is air interface-independent. It does not care if the phone is cdmaOne, cdma2000, or GSM, for that matter. BREW sits on the chip set and to date has been integrated to Qualcomm's current generation of CDMA chips. Porting it to other chip sets is an easy matter, and Qualcomm is prepared to do that," said Jeremy James, director of marketing for Qualcomm Internet Services.

How it works

BREW is designed to allow rapid development of a variety of small, transportable handset applications that users can download over carrier networks onto any BREW-enabled phone. Currently, BREW works only on CDMA-enabled phones, though it could be enabled for GSM and TDMA chipsets. BREW is language-neutral, although native C/C++ applications will run most efficiently. BREW also supports integration of Java, applications that contain a Java Virtual Machine, browsers such as WAP and Compact HTML (CHTML), and other environments.

Meet the competition

Qualcomm is not alone in the software development race. Sun offers a Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) application, and with 2.5 million Java developers, it should be an easy sell. Openwave Systems (the union of Phone.com and Software.com) Openwave Services OS offers the leading software standard, an IP-based software platform that includes gateways, browsers, applications, services, and support. Openwave has cornered this market in part due to its help in developing WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), which wireless carriers use for Internet connections.

But, according to James, BREW is the only open applications platform for CDMA devices. While various equipment manufacturers have announced initiatives to support applications development for their handsets, Qualcomm does not believe hardware-based solutions can support a broad developer community. Therefore, Qualcomm doesn't feel it has any direct competitors.