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back to article Nokia says patent dispute hurts 3G

The success of 3G phone technology is being put at risk by a patent dispute between Nokia and Qualcomm, Nokia said today. According to Reuters, the handset maker argues that uptake of the technology is threatened because of the legal battle between itself and chip maker Qualcomm. Chief technology officer Tero Ojanpera said: " …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nokia 2004 'patents promote licensing'

    2004:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/13/eu_patent_protest/

    'Nokia argues that software patents "provide incentives to undertake research and development in Europe, and to promote licensing and technology transfer"'.

    But they promote licensing and technology transfers say Nokia! How come they can block 3G due to licensing problems?

    Karma perhaps?

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  2. Pieter Hintjens

    Patents good?

    It's pretty clear that patents make a mess of the whole idea of "let's make good products, sell them, and make lots of money" vision of capitalism and instead promote the "let's file a bunch of patents, hire a bunch of lawyers and sue the other guys" vision. Is the great 'ism' war of the 21st century going to be "capitalism vs. capitalism"?

    Maybe Nokia will wake up one day and realise that without a market and products, and competition driven by being *better*, not having smarter lawyers, it's going to go the same way as the dodo.

    As for you guys at Qualcomm, just when exactly did you sell your soul to the devil in the first place?

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  3. James Anderson

    Prices hurt 3G.

    I was an early 3G (non)adapter.

    Bough expensive 3G capable handset.

    Signed expensive 3G contract.

    Got charged approx 5p per page for going online.

    Got first bill.

    Used 3G browsing capabilty once since.

    No amount of patent dispute could do the amount of

    damage the operators pricing models did.

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  4. Simon

    Gordon Brown killed 3G...

    ...the day he agreed that an il-thought-through auction in cahoots with LSE would suffice for selling the spectrum for 3G.

    £22.5 billion for five pieces of paper is possibly the most successful scam in the history of scams. Of course the mobile operators are equally to blame. No-one wanted to play chicken so up and up went the valuations on the spectrum.

    And what did prudent Gordo do with the cash? He paid down the national debt. So the reason that UK mobile bills are so silly, and the cost of 3G bandwidth (which by 2007 should be free flowing at low cost) is even sillier, is because every mobile phone bill is in effect a bill for interest on the national debt.

    Just think, if these companies didn't have to cover £4-5bn in licence costs, they could have slashed the cost of mobile internet, which is the biggest thing holding back its development.

    The UK is prime territory for developing products and services around the mobile phone, but £22.5 billion in debt has instead stifled development for years to come.

    Just one of the many reasons why the UK is a basket case.

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  5. Dillon Pyron

    UK a basket case?

    As if the US even had 3G. It's pretty much dead as a door nail here. Everybody is touting 2.5, but I have seen only a limited amount of 3G.

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