Posted date: 6/12/2006
New Software Applications Brewing at Developers' Gathering
High-Tech: Qualcomm's MediaFLO Technology Gains Praise at Event
By BRAD GRAVES
San Diego Business Journal Staff
Software publishers and developers have earned more than $700 million from the sale of BREW applications and services since commercial launch in November 2001.
That is according to the software's maker, San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., which pegged the same number at $350 million one year ago.
BREW, short for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, lets mobile phone users load applications to their handsets wirelessly. These applications might be games, sports updates or aids in business.
More than 2,400 people attended this year's BREW conference, which took place May 31 - June 2 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego.
Days were filled with technical sessions, evenings featured parties for software developers and carrier executives. The latter typically includes special beer and a nationally known musical group; this year the company booked Earth, Wind and Fire.
"Qualcomm always puts on a good show," said Magda Remillard, who runs a technology startup, San Diego-based Virago Technology Corp., that specializes in mobile application development.
Remillard has attended the BREW conference for five of its six years.
"The only new and innovative thing I saw this year was mobile blogging applications with images and video," Remillard said.
She added she was impressed with MediaFLO, Qualcomm's television-over-cell phone technology, and Qualcomm's uiOne, which gives software developers extra freedom while developing user interfaces for cell phones.
Sessions during the three-day conference included a presentation from Com2uS and Gamevil, two South Korean companies that offer massively multiplayer games on handsets, and FusionOne, a San Jose company that backs up clients' telephone-based address books - just in case those clients lose their cell phones.
Qualcomm collects money every time someone downloads a BREW application.
A carrier such as Verizon Wireless will bill a customer for the download (the price varies; a software developer and operator will agree on terms beforehand). After taking some money for its trouble, the carrier forwards the rest of the money to Qualcomm, which gives the developer an 80 percent cut.