The EU has decided to pass over Qualcomm’s (QCOM) new MediaFlo technology in favor of Nokia’s (NOK) mobile-television system as the standard which will be used in Europe. Given that there are now 490 million mobile users in the EU, according to WSJ.com, that announcement is a big set-back for the US company. Of course, the fact that the EU picked a company headquartered in Europe is a coincidence.
MediaFlo is Qualcomm’s bet that it lead the race in handset based TV. They system is being adopted by cellular service providers Verizon Wireless and AT&T (T) Wireless in the US. But, being locked out of a market as large as Europe will prevent Qualcomm from present content owners a global standard.
The news is another thorn in Qualcomm’s side. It recently lost an ITC case brought by rival chip company Broadcom (BRCM) which currently prevents some handsets with Qualcomm chips from coming into the US. Qualcomm is also in a bitter licensing and intellectual property suit with its largest customer, Nokia (NOK).
While Nokia’s shares are up 55% over the last year, Qualcomm’s are up half as much.
That speaks volumes.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]
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