qualcomm

A round-up of the salient news I missed due to the effects of alcohol:

Dec 26: Two Google-booked stands at the Mobile World Congress expo and an APCMag article get everyone in a tizzy with the prospect of possible Android handset revealings in February.
Dec 28: HTC earnings in trouble? [via AndroidGuys]
Dec 29: HTC perhaps impatient with the lack of polish on Android? Are handset manufacturers, like developers, just whiny bitches? [via AndroidGuys]
Jan 1: First video of Android running Amarok is released.
Jan 2: In a brilliant show of technical prowess obviously designed to quell persistent grumbling from the peanut gallery about the quality, or lack-thereof, of the Android project, the Android Developer Challenge submission site just doesn't work.
Jan 2: A ruling is issued in the Qualcomm vs. Broadcom thing. [via Google Phone]
Jan 7: CES starts.

In a move that convinces that certain OHA members are collaborating to create the fabled gPhone, Qualcomm has announced the RTR6570 tranceiver, which "...delivers support for the 700 MHz band to CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UMTS) devices"

Qualcomm, OHA member, creator of the MSM7200A chipset for which the first linux kernel released by than Android team is compiled, chip supplier to OHA cohort HTC whom rumour has oft associated with the gPhone, is building a chipset to run on the 700mhz band which Google has recently confirmed it is going after.

Whew. This is more evidence than your average 911 conspiracy theorist can produce.

Or maybe not. Maybe Qualcomm is just a company chasing profit who knows that whoever wins big in the 700mhz spectrum is gonna need a chipset.

For 34 days we'll be profiling one OHA member each day, in alphabetical order. The feature has been on hiatus for a few days, but we're now focused and ready to continue.

Company Name: Broadcom Corporation

How the OHA site classifies them: Semiconductor Company

What the OHA site says about them: Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, providing products that enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment.

What they do: They build chips.

Wikipedia proclaims them "...among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders." Their site list their offerings as including Bluetooth products, network processing solutions, digital cable products, digital TV solutions, satellite devices, DSL chipsets, mobile multimedia processors, mobile phone solutions, networking components, security processors, I/O integrated circuits, storeage solutions, VOIP solutions, WLAN solutions, and Ethernet solutions. They got solutions.

Broadcom is probably best known for their NICs. There's a good chance that the network card in the PC you're currently reading this article on was designed by Broadcom.

Of course, Broadcom doesn't really build any of this. Rather, it employs Asian people to do the building for them.

In July 2007 the US International Trade Commission blocked blocked the import of cell phones based around Broadcom's future OHA cohort Qualcomm's chips because those chips infringed on the former's patents, A ruling against Qualcomm resulted in that company paying up.

What they bring to OHA and Android: Semiconductors. And, given their history with Qualcomm, domestic violence.

Earlier this month Broadcom announced a partnership with EA with the goal of delivering high performance gaming for mobile phones. EA will be delivering titles designed for Broadcom's VideoCore® Mobile Multimedia Solutions. We can only hope that some of these titles wll show up on Android.

Qualcomm, not content with joining the OHA and producing the chip that Google tests its mobile OS on, now has some mad mobile banking skillz to bring to the Android table.

The company announced Wednesday its acquisition of Firethorn, a mobile banking company. Firethorn, as its website proclaims, "enables consumers to securely perform a wide variety of banking and payment functions anytime, anywhere using their mobile phone, PDA and other mobile devices."

Qualcomm paid $210 million. No word on whether they used a mobile phone to conduct the transaction.

UPDATE - No longer imminent. See below.

Helloandroid.com has spotted the location of a linux kernel on git.android.com, "
part of the Open Handset Alliance."

The repo is listed as "Linux support for the Qualcomm MSM7K family of devices", an impressive little chipset that does, well, pretty much everything.

Now what runs an MSM7K chipset? Well, our good friends HTC have the Kaiser (AKA TYTN II)...

My guess is the hacker community will have Android ported to the Kaiser within a week. Which means I'll have to buy one...

UPDATE: This kernel apparently will not work on the Kaiser. This kernel is for the MSM7200A chipset, whereas the Kaiser runs the MSM7200. I can find no available handset with the MSM7200A. (If anyone knows of any -- jordan[at]fandroid.net).

Also, apparently the existence of this repository was announced on Nov 8, here, by Android Kernel Lead Brian Swetland.