Qualcomm Cancels UMB Development - Focuses on LTE

Qualcomm has decided to cancel development of Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) products as the company seeks to cut costs in the face of a slow down in demand for mobile phones. The company will now focus on developing Long Term Evolution (LTE) based platforms - which has been backed by the majority of WCDMA based mobile operators as their network upgrade path.

Based on an announcement earlier this year, the company aims to start sampling multi-mode chips including LTE in the second quarter of 2009.

Speaking to analysts, Qualcomm's CEO, Paul Jacobs said that there are no plans for any large-scale job cuts, which did leave open the option for small cuts in specific departments. He also expects a small recovery in the industry during the second half of next year.

Jacobs recently told the Financial Times in an interview that he had seen a very sharp decline over the past two weeks in inventories of Qualcomm chips held by customers.

"They are trying to manage their working capital more carefully. ThereĆ's clearly some lessening of demand, but not as dramatic as you might think," he said, noting that Qualcomm was still predicting 25 per cent growth for its CDMA wireless technology in the 2009 calendar year."

However, in an upside for the firm, Taiwan's handset manufacturers are increasingly switching from the Ericsson mobile phone platform to Qualcomm's own handset platform - report local industry sources.

Posted to the site on 14th November 2008