Live at CES: The Qualcomm press conference
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11:57 – Qualcomm press conference is starting a bit early with Steve Mollenkopf … glad we left the DISH press conference early! Talking about what we all already know – mobile is growing.
11:59 – LTE is going to grow from a premium product to a mainstream consumer product. The smartphone and the tablet are now going into the car – moving into new areas. We are also seeing the impact of cloud computing on consumer computing. Things like Google Now and Siri are only interesting when you are connected to the cloud. This applies to wearables, too!
12:02 – Qualcomm’s previous announcements: The Snapdraon 825, which is a leading processor on the market. Snapdragon 410 supports worldwide LTE. Today’s announcements will focus around moving these into cars and wearables, moving into other industries.
12:04 – There is still lots of growth in the smartphone market, too!
12:05 – Now they’re turning to Q&A – this is VERY toned down, this year!
12:06 – Lots of smartphone manufacturers are basically recycling their designs into tablets, but the mobile OSes are becoming more robust and feature-rich. This is also an opportunity for carriers to get additional subscriptions – tablets and smartphones are starting to be sold as pairs, which is very important to Qualcomm. Very optimistic about tablet market.
12:09 – Announcement recaps: processors in automobiles. Also, Snapdragon processor for TVs. Alljoin technology.
12:11 – Talking now about 64bit strategy in phones, which is important as computing becomes increasingly mobile. This is where phone and computing “meld together.” Snapdragon is one of the first products that embraces 64bit technology.
12:13 – No announced products on the ARM server market – “but we do have the capability based on our strong position in smartphones and tablets”
12:14 – Question about anti-trust investigation in China.
12:15 – “We are a friendly business model to China. … We hope to get through whatever transpires.”
12:17 – Next question is about smartwatches, but again it’s “too early” to talk about that.
12:19 – Question about the failure of Windows RT, and how Windows RT was Qualcomm’s major play for the business/productivity sector. Slam!
12:20 – Answering this question by talking about how important media consumption is for Qualcomm… Hmm…
12:22 – Pace of roadmap is increasing in terms of features. However, not announcing high end products quite as early, mainly because Qualcomm views itself as a leader in the field, and they don’t feel the need to.
12:23 – Question about how Qualcomm plans to compete with Intel and NVIDIA in the automobile industry. Qualcomm says its position is already quite strong – for example, internet access in cars is often reliant on some kind of Qualcomm technology. Soon, cars won’t only be connected to internet, but also to other cars, and also with more sensors about the surrounding environment. (Possible allusion to self-driving cars?)
12:27 – Talking now about data demand – “we almost need one base station per person.” Qualcomm is driving this through small cell solutions.
12:30 – Qualcomm is researching too how the brain processes information – this is an area Qualcomm has only recently started exploring.
12:32 – Qualcomm and Microsoft have a strong relationship, and they only expect it to strengthen as Microsoft becomes increasingly interested in trends that Qualcomm is in the center of.
