Qualcomm (QCOM) Loses Another One

The European Union is recommending that the Nokia (NOK) DVB-H become the standard for mobile TV in the big region now and in the future. That leaves the two other formats in the running, one from Korea and the other the Qualcomm (QCOM) MediaFlo technology out in the cold. While a final decision still has to be made, that would appear to be a formality

The EU estimates that mobile TV will generate $5 billion to $7 billion in sales worldwide by 2009.

MediaFlo is Qualcomm’s big bet that it can dominate video streaming to handsets the way its has the chipset segment of the market. Its primacy in the chip area was hurt recently when the International Trade Commission banned phones with new versions of its chips from being imported to the US because their technology violated certain Broadcom (BRCM) patents. Qualcomm is also in a licensing and IP dispute with Nokia, its largest customer.

Qualcomm is losing a great portion of its role as the leading provider of advanced technology for handsets. US manufacturers like Motorola (MOT) are troubled by the chipset ban because it could compromise their ability to market new products. Carriers like Sprint (S) could also be hurt because some of their next-generation phones are based on Qualcomm’s chips.

Now, handset companies that were going to use MediaFlo in the US may have to build parallel systems for Europe using Nokia tech. And, that moves Qualcomm further back in the line.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.