Nokia, Qualcomm to work on smartphones together

The world's largest mobile phone vendor and the biggest cellular chip developer said Tuesday they plan to make 3G mobile devices together for the North American market.

Nokia and Qualcomm, which ended a long running patent battle in the middle of last year, will co-develop advanced devices based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), which is designed to succeed the most common mobile phone airwave standard in the world, GSM.

The partners will design mobile devices based on S60 software, which uses the Symbian OS. The devices will also use advanced chipsets from Qualcomm.

The first devices from the two companies are expected to launch in the middle of next year. They will be compatible with the upcoming Symbian Foundation platform, the companies said in a statement.

Last July, Nokia agreed to pay Qualcomm a multi-billion dollar amount in back payments and future royalties after a long court battle over wireless patents. At the same time, the companies said they would work together in the future.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.