QUALCOMM Inc. Tuesday boasted that it has discovered the long-sought ‘killer
app’ for wireless: it’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW)
applications platform.
“The wireless industry has long searched for the ‘killer app,'” said Peggy
Johnson, senior vice president of QUALCOMM and general manager of QUALCOMM
Internet Services. “We believe that having the freedom to choose from a wide
variety of applications is the killer app. The BREW platform enables
developers and carriers to create and provide exciting new applications to
bring us another step closer to a genuinely useful wireless Internet.”
To be clear, BREW is a thin applications development platform, not an
application itself. And while many have sought for a wireless killer
application, no one has yet declared victory. Indeed, the wireless Internet
has not yet created the demand that many proponents were looking for, and
mobile e-commerce, or m-commerce, has so far been received apathetically by
consumers, according to an April study by Cahners In-Stat Group.
Just Monday, e-commerce giant Amazon reportedly scaled back its Amazon Anywhere initiative because fewer consumers than
expected have utilized the mobile e-commerce (m-commerce) solution.
Wireless advertising, too, is having trouble gaining acceptance. And, according to a study released Friday by The Shosteck Group, location-based
services still have a number of issues to iron out before they’re ready for
prime time.
Still, that doesn’t mean the wireless industry won’t find those killer apps.
The Gartner Group released two studies Monday that predict significant growth in the sector.
One predicts that 75 percent of the people in the U.S. and Western Europe
will carry wireless computing devices by 2010. The other predicts 800
million worldwide wireless data users by 2004.
With that in mind, QUALCOMM is looking to make BREW the standard for
wireless applications. BREW provides developers with an open platform with
which they may create and deploy applications. The company said it will
demonstrate the platform at the Brew 2001: Developer and 3G Technology
Conference in San Diego, which begins Tuesday and runs through May 10.
A number of BREW Platinum Sponsors will begin demonstrating their new
applications Wednesday. They include:
- The Brodia Group — Brodia’s Identity Management System enables
authenticated transactions through wireless devices. The system allows
consumers to securely access and authorize transfer of their personal and
payment information using applications like Brodia’s Digital Wallet,
Micropayments and Cardholder Authentication services. - Eyematic — Eyematic’s eyePublish animation software will animate 3D
characters to provide personalization services. Live customer service
representatives will be able to interact with customers online and send
branded 3D personalities to customers via e-mail and wireless devices. - MP3.com — MP3.com will introduce an application for wireless delivery
of music, allowing consumers to turn their handsets into MP3 players. - NetZero — NetZero will unveil its HardCell advertising system, designed
to enable marketers to send highly targeted advertisements via mobile
applications. - Visto — Visto will show of its mLynx solutions, which allow enterprise
IT professionals to deploy remote access to corporate messaging applications
like Microsoft Exchange. - Wireless Knowledge — Wireless Knowledge will introduce its
enterprise-grade software and services including Workstyle, Anystyle and
Echo, which give corporate professionals mobile access to their critical
information.
To secure the BREW platform and prevent it from becoming an injection point
for viruses, as has happened to wired e-mail, QUALCOMM Tuesday forged an
agreement with VeriSign, which will integrate its enhanced code-signing
service with the platform.
VeriSign’s service will trace applications to their developers and check
their integrity and authorization before each launch. The solution
incorporates digital signatures and authorization counter-signatures with
real-time revocation checking.
“QUALCOMM’s work with VeriSign will ensure that carriers and their
subscribers receive BREW applications only from authenticated sources,
therefore protecting the handsets and carrier networks,” said Gina Lombardi,
vice president of marketing and product management for QUALCOMM Internet
Services. “By digitally signing every BREW application, we are taking
wireless security to a level unprecedented even in the wired world.”