One of the longest-running -- and certainly most fascinating -- soap operas in the entire wireless world, the seemingly endless patent drama between Nokia and Qualcomm, has finally drawn to an amicable (dare we say anti-climactic) close. After just a single day of arbitration, the two firms have basically agreed to a patent swap, allowing Nokia to use all of Qualcomm's patents and vice versa. Furthermore, Nokia is just stone-cold handing over a bunch of patents it holds related to GSM, WCDMA, and OFDMA, which presumably means companies that are currently licensing those patents can get ready to start writing those checks to Qualcomm. What's more, Espoo's dropping its anti-competition claims against Qualcomm in Europe -- but beyond that, specific terms (read: cash money) weren't disclosed beyond the typical PR pleasantries that both sides are happy with the outcome. If this means we finally have to retire our Nokia-Qualcomm starburst graphic, we're going to pout like little children, so we can only hope these two lovebirds find something else to squabble over in the not-too-distant future.

Looks like that agreement between Nokia and Qualcomm to postpone the dozen or so lawsuits they've filed against each other worldwide while an arbitrator tries to help sort out the mess is starting to bear some fruit -- the two cellphone giants are headed to court in Delaware on Wednesday to start the healing. In essence, Qualcomm says that Nokia still owes license fees on a CDMA agreement that expired in 2007 since it's been using the patented tech, and Nokia says that it doesn't owe anything because it's shelled out over $1B since 2001 and giving Qualcomm any more cash would be unfair. Not surprisingly for these two, it's likely that the outcome here will essentially be a draw, with the judge ruling that Qualcomm can charge whatever it wants, but that Nokia didn't extend the agreement. We'll see how things go, though -- this is just the beginning of what could very well be the early start of close to the end. Video summary of the entire dispute after the break.

While we haven't found an official press release on the subject, AVING is reporting a June 2008 retail release of a Samsung Snapdragon MID. This according to a Qualcomm official. It's unclear to what extent Sammy's device will make good on Snapdragon's list of "supported" features like 12 megapixel camera, GPS, HD video playback, WiFi, Bluetooth, all day battery life, digital broadcast television (MediaFLO, DVB-H, and/or USDB-T) and dual-mode EV-DO Rev. B and UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA riding atop a 1GHz processor and Qualcomm's 600MHz always-on DSP. All we've got is this picture of an engineering prototype (actually based on Snapdragon this time) on display right now at the World IT Show.

It doesn't sound like Qualcomm has all of its legal woes here in America worked out just yet, but apparently that won't stop fat-walleted USers from snapping up the forthcoming HTC Advantage X7510 real soon. Both Dynamism and On The Go Solutions are expecting stock any day now, and they'll be shipping to your US-based address so long as you're willing to accept a $1,299 charge on your preferred piece of plastic. Before you brush this off as absurd, listen to that devil on your shoulder whispering things like "5-inch VGA display" and "HSDPA." Hmm.

[Via Pocketables]
Read - Dynamism
Read - On The Go Solutions

As if things weren't confusing enough in the world of tiny computers, Qualcomm went and blurted off news about a $299 machine that will run Windows Mobile 7 on its Snapdragon mobile chip set. Qualcomm's senior veep Luis Pineda boasted that the machine will run WinMo7 and is more efficient than its competitors from the likes of Intel, AMD, and Via. When pressed, he wouldn't give up any additional hardware specs, but he promises a "big presence in Snapdragon-based devices at CES 2009". This isn't the first time we've seen mention of Windows Mobile 7, but it's quite possibly the first tie-in with a specific product group. We look forward to the Snapdragon-Intel-AMD-Via mobile computing war in the coming year, indeed.

You've got your LCDs, you've got your OLEDs, and you've got your E Ink, but Qualcomm's gearing up to push a new kind of display your way: the technology's called reflective interferometric modulation (IMOD), which is something of a mouthful, so Qualcomm intends to market it as Mirasol. These IMOD displays should have many of the same qualities we've come to know and love about OLED, like low power consumption, visibility in outdoor lighting, and no backlighting requirement, and apparently the first, very tiny 0.9-inch Mirasol screen will be showing up in a future Freestyle Audio player (technology sample shown above).

Read - Press release
Read - Mirasol site (not a lot there, unfortunately)

Even though we've seen a couple of US e-tailers offering HTC's latest Advantage, the X7510, up for pre-order, it seems that the handheld won't actually be sold here for at least awhile. According to jkOnTheRun, the X7510 possesses one of those hotly-debated Qualcomm chipsets that cannot be sold on American soil -- presumably due to all those legal issues the firm is currently wading through. Of course, folks that just can't fathom living another quarter without one can cough up the requisite dough to snag one from an importer, but otherwise, it looks like you USers are clean out of luck (at least for the moment).

In a case of oh shiznit, LG and Samsung are combining forces to protect their mobile TV interests in the US. With Qualcomm's proprietary MediaFLO digital broadcast technology rapidly gaining a mobile TV foothold in the US (thanks to AT&T and Verizon) and Europe standardizing on DVB-H, it seems that LG and Samsung (the once proud and gloating parents of the DMB standard) have little choice but to support the ATSC's attempt to create the ATSC-M/H standard in the US... about three years too late. Of course, the ultimate victor will have very little to do with what's best for the consumer and everything to do with who is most successful at lobbying the government. Oh, did that sound bitter? Good.

HP's already jumped on board, and it looks like Qualcomm's now also managed to convince Dell of the merits of its Gobi dual-3G chipset, which will soon be finding its way into a variety of Latitude, Precision, and other unspecified consumer laptops. For those not up to speed, that welcome addition will let you connect to both EV-DO and HSPA networks the world over without having to carry two different mobile broadband cards with you, with switching between the two as easy as flipping a software switch. Unfortunately, there's no word on the exact models that'll be getting the upgrade, nor is there any word on how much extra it'll cost or exactly when it'll be available, with Dell only going so far as to say that they'll be available "later this year."

As expected, the European Commission just did the obvious and made the EU's de facto DVB-H standard, standard. The move is expected to accelerate the deployment of mobile television services across Europe in the same way that GSM standardization in the early 90s gave Europe a head-start on backwater cellular locations like North America. So get outta Dodge Qualcomm and South Korea with your MediaFLO and DMB mobile television technologies, you aren't welcome around Brussels anymore.

You know, we'll actually be a little sad when the endless legal battle between Nokia and Qualcomm actually comes to an end -- but until then, we're going to revel in all the dirt that comes out of having over a dozen simultaneous lawsuits going worldwide. Nokia now says that it owes Qualcomm nothing for its "early" CDMA patents, because it's dropped a cool billion dollars into license payments for them over the past 15 years and those deals have expired, so it's in the clear now. As you might expect, Qualcomm disagrees, and says that if Nokia wants to keep using its tech, it's got to pay up -- that's on top of the estimated $500 million a year Nokia's already paying Qualcomm for other patents. Guys, guys, why fight like this? What's a couple billion a year between friends? Video summary of the entire dispute after the break.

[Via MocoNews]

Just days after the ITC upheld a December ruling that stated that Nokia did not violate Qualcomm patents, the UK High Court has handed down its decision on a lawsuit initially filed in May of 2006. If you'll recall, the case involved Nokia's GSM / GPRS / EDGE-only handsets and a pair of Qualcomm's patents "that cover certain power saving and power control technologies." Nearly two years after the spat got real, the court has ruled that "although the Nokia accused products included the patented technologies, the power saving patent is invalid and that the power control patent is partially valid but, insofar as it is valid, is not infringed by Nokia." Granted, we reckon that could have been spilled out with fewer complexities, but the end result has Qualcomm considering "whether to seek permission from the UK court to amend the patents and appeal the decision." Please, just let it go.

We remember when there was actually a glimmer of hope that the quarreling between these two may end -- man, was that a long time ago. Anyways, the International Trade Commission has reportedly upheld a judge's ruling made back in December which affirmed that Nokia did not violate Qualcomm patents. As expected, the latter firm expressed its utmost disappointment in the decision, and is already considering yet another appeal process. Then again, we may actually be a little sad if it didn't.

[Via PhoneScoop]

There's no love lost between Nokia and Qualcomm -- the two companies have been suing each other willy-nilly for a year and half now -- but it looks like they've agreed to stop the vicious procedural and technical legal maneuvering that's marked the dispute so far and make a go at actually resolving some issues. That's right, after filing nearly a dozen lawsuits and engaging in an endless war of paperwork, the two companies have agreed to sit down with their arbitrator and figure out who owes who how much, and who gets the kids patent licensing rights. Still, it's not over over -- only two cases are being consolidated before the arbitrator, and although Nokia and Qualcomm say they've agreed to postpone the other outstanding cases and hold off on filing any more lawsuits, we'd say there's just too much bad blood here for things to end this easily.

It's not all just cellphones at Mobile World Congress -- HP and Qualcomm have just announced plans to ship laptops with Qualcomm's Gobi dual-3G chipset that supports both EV-DO and HSPA. That means you won't be locked into a carrier when you buy a laptop with an integrated WWAN modem -- and hardcore road warriors with multiple subscriptions will even be able to switch on the fly to the network with better coverage. HP says Gobi (officially the MDM1000 chip, but that's no fun) will be available on a range of laptops from ultraportables to high-performance models later this year, but there's no word on pricing just yet -- let's hope it falls into the "might as well" range, eh?