What can Qualcomm really do in this dynamic post-era of monopoly and expired licenses? Qualcomm has started losing its territory /dominance in wireless for the known reasons and we all know this is just a beginning. Now, the question is what it can really do at this point to prevent collapsing or slowing down its pace in a long term? The whole goal for Qulacomm is not join the list of other giants like (Nextel, Nokia, Moto, AMD, Sun, etc.).
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Stop recycling threads! Can't believe somebody would bother copy pasting the entire thread months later
Lets all chip in to help pay For the executive's bonuses
Short term: Layoff (mostly randomly at this time to save costs) Long term: Strategic thoughtful trimming of many bulk functions/operations with decreasing profit margins & eliminate redundancies, tactical faster penetration on new (& still reachable) frontiers like auto, medical etc.
The interesting thing about Qualcomm is that there were many similar situations for which this has happened during QC's history in which it tried to manufacture some part of cellular technology along side trying to collect licensing deals. In each of those cases, they ended up jettisoning that part of the business for all that some of us older folks remember. There was their QC venture into cellular infrastructure. (QC never made money it in) And eventually they sold it to Ericcsson, along with the employees that worked in that division. Then there was the handset division. QC jettisoned that division to Kyocera. QC has always been able to find a niche market in terms of licensing some if its proprietary technology that came ahead of any sort of standards and incorporate some of it's IP into standards. But when it came to "implementation", there always comes a point during the product lifecycle that things get commoditized when a bunch of "me too" players eventually caught up with a "good enough" solution. QC still has some breathing room in that currently it still has an advantage with some of its technology. But that gap is closing really soon. What I think QC will find out is that a lot of there acquisitions they did so that they can offer a packaged wireless/connectivity solution is now in trouble. QC's selling point was offering the best app+LTE modem and packaging connectivity that was so-so as a packaged deal at a premium an hopes of locking out other suppliers who only sell part of the solution. Samsung just torpedoed that strategy. The implications is that now that Samsung has decided not to go with the package solution, and decided to break everything up, using as many components as they can from themselves and as many suppliers they can. That also poses architectural issues moving forward for QC's platform in that now they have to deal much more with interoperability with other suppliers. So far, Samsung is only using their app processor in their phones. But what's to say they can't supply their app processor to other OEM's in the future, along with their LTE modem to customers in China? QC's only differentiation is if it gets way out in front in offering something that no one else has or can do (like it has in the past), which is increasingly more difficult with standards-driven 5G. It needs to find a niche to play in that isn't standards driven. I'm not convinced "IOT "is it. IOT is marketing buzzword to generate spin. I have yet to see people willingly spend $300+ for a smart thermostat or smoke detector, except for the extreme geeks maybe. QC also needs to make more IP related acquisitions so it can continue its royalty/licensing model. ARM would be a perfect example and they aren't that expensive right now (ok, I'm biased about ARM). Intel will never acquire ARM, and no one else is large enough to acquire it, nor does ARM's business model really fit with the business model of other other chip players, deriving much revenue from licensing/royalty, which let's face is QC is an expert at doing. QC can then get out of the business of competing with everyone else trying to create a low cost app processor, and instead just collect royalty checks for everyone that implements an ARM processor. It's like a war, in which QC ends up being weapons supplier to everyone else that is fighting that war, without having to fight in the war itself. It doesn't really need to care who actually wins the war, and frankly, the longer the war is, the better off QC will be, since a prolonged war with among a lot of people means a lot more weapons sales to everyone fighting.
QC itself “refused to disclose its patent list and included expired patents in its patent portfolio licensed to Chinese licensees” and you want me to list them with their expiration dates in this post!!? Your question itself shows you are living in your virtual world instead of the real world, time to wake up! http://www.chinalawinsight.com/2015/03/articles/corporate/antitrust-competition/ndrcs-qualcomm-decision%EF%BC%9Aa-warning-to-patent-heavy-companies/
Plese describe every tree, before I will acknowledge it's a forest. Why do you think Jacobs Jr left and the business of too the dismantling crew? The handset world is running away from Q as fast as they can, and you can make a volte device without giving Q a dime. The writing is on the wall, and there is no longer the sort of innovation at the Q to make themselves invaluable, and the clout in Washington and with the FCC is dwindling. Not that the Q will fold overnight, but history is full of telecom giants who had to cut headcount to one third existing just to survive until someone bigger swallows them, and Q's turn is coming.
Which ones are expiring and when? Also, please educate us as to the royalty rates for each OEM, broken down by air interface, and also your analysis of QC portfolio of SEP, present and future relative to other industry players. Also, it would be great to peer into your crystal ball for outcomes of various litigation. Thanks in advance.