Qualcomm drops UMB, focuses on LTE

Qualcomm announced that it was stopping its development of Ultra-Mobile Broadband 4G technology, and instead would put its focus on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, as the demand for mobile phones slips.

LTE, which has been chosen by CDMA operator Verizon Wireless and many GSM operators as the 4G standard going forward, seems to have effectively killed the need for UMB. UMB was supposed to have been a technology that would have served as a handoff for CDMA 2000 technologies. But because the 3GPP2 standards added this functionality to LTE, it made UMB redundant. 

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs made the announcement at an analyst meeting, and did not specific any large job cuts that will come as a result of the move. Despite weakening demand, Jacobs said he still expected 25 percent growth in Qualcomm's CDMA technology in 2009. 

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