Fujitsu-Qualcomm WiMAX Tussle

This is the kind of story that I wish I had broken. But instead the honor goes to Heather Forsgren Weaver, a writer with RCR Wireless News who opens her article with this:

Qualcomm Inc. is trying to delay a mobile WiMAX technical standard until it can be shaped in such a way where the CDMA chip giant will not feel threatened, charged Fujitsu Ltd. Wednesday.

Mike at Techdirt writes "What's amazing is that Intel hold back from making these comments themselves, though, they probably fear the inevitable Intel vs. Qualcomm articles that would appear like wildfire."

Nancy Gohring at Wi-Fi Networking News reporting on the spat had this tidbit from the newsletter FierceWireless:

...some industry insiders suggest that Intel is encouraging Fujitsu's accusations in order to avoid a direct confrontation itself with Qualcomm.

Could WiMAX be a huge threat to Qualcomm? There are actually two threats. To the extent that WiMAX is utilized as a data service on licensed spectrum, it is a clear competitor (with key advantages) to Qualcomm's 3G plans. And everyone else's for that matter. More interesting even is the potential for WiMAX to be utilized in license exempt spectrum -- which could be bad news for Qualcomm and Qualcomm's customers who currently rely on monopoly control of the airwaves for their pricing regimen. And don't think this is just about data -- license exempt spectrum will be supporting VoIP calls under WiMAX about two minutes after the first data packets are sent...