LG goes with Korean EoNex over Qualcomm for CDMA chips in SD280

The SD280 from LG might not be anything special, merely boasting a 1.3 megapixel camera and MP3 playback, but under the hood is a new CDMA modem from Korea's own EoNex that means a new era for some phone manufacturers, but has Qualcomm shaking in their boots. Up until now, Qualcomm has held a near stranglehold on CDMA; by guarding their technology closely they've provided the majority of CDMA modems ever since they introduced them originally, but this October EoNex announced they had developed their own chip, with TI following with a similar announcement in November. The EoNex chip is only 2.5G, with 3G chips in testing right now, but they're cheaper than the Qualcomm alternative, which makes LG excited to get the modems, but scared of Qualcomm's reaction,
fearing they might withhold their EV-DO chips, destroying that end of LG's business for the time being. The phone came out in October, but right now LG isn't even advertising the SD280, and have only sold about 5000 handsets so far. That seems a little silly to us, but if you think of it in terms of the addictive chemical Colonel Sander's puts in his chicken, (that makes you crave it fortnightly) it all starts to make more sense.