Qualcomm Innovation

Innovation Stories

Potential. Some say it’s the world’s greatest untapped resource. How can it be untapped when so much of it is realized every day? Because the moment potential is made real, the moment an explorer taps into that reserve, that’s when potential transforms into something else entirely—an idea, an inspiration, an innovation. Those are the moments that change everything. And at Qualcomm, those are the moments we work toward every single day.

AMBER Alert

Qualcomm is a world-renowned innovator of wireless technology and has pioneered efforts to integrate wireless solutions into diverse markets. Perhaps one of its most rewarding innovative applications is the work it has done with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the AMBER Alert program.

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Android

Imagine you’re somewhere in Europe. You take a picture with your mobile phone, which encodes your snapshot. Then, the GPS feature on your phone location-tags it. Since you’ve preconfigured it, your phone uploads the photo without your intervention to your Google account and, with your permission, your friends can “follow” your travels with Google Earth from either their mobile phones or desktop computers!

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Firethorn

A burgeoning frontier in the world of wireless technology is mobile commerce. Qualcomm has been working for years to leverage its expertise in network operations management and data communications into this new market. The challenge has been to find a way to enter the marketplace that supersedes early efforts by others in the industry that left consumers, carriers, and financial institutions skeptical of mobile commerce solutions.

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Fluence

When you’re using your mobile phone or Bluetooth headset, does the person you’re speaking to hear you or does he hear you and all the noise around you? Repeating yourself often? Raising your voice?

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Gobi™

In the world of real estate, the name of the game is “location, location, location.” In the world of wireless technology, it’s “connectivity, connectivity, connectivity.” And, in the world of notebook computer users, limited connectivity can give “mobile Internet” a bad reputation.

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gpsOne®

Once a luxury item found only in high-end automobiles and yachts or in the backpacks of serious backcountry hikers, global positioning system (GPS) technology is fast becoming a “must-have” in our daily lives. In fact, GPS in mobile devices such as mobile phones and laptop computers is rapidly outpacing the use of standalone navigation devices

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Health & Life Sciences

Qualcomm pioneered the wireless health care market in 2003, when it partnered with CardioNet to introduce a fully mobile, continuous cardiac diagnostic and monitoring service. Since then, Qualcomm has identified additional opportunities where wireless technology can drive new clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic management applications.

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Innovation Engine

Last summer, several Qualcomm employees sat overlooking the ocean in Del Mar and tried to imagine Qualcomm’s Next Big Thing. These employees were participants in the Qualcomm Innovation Engine process—a larger group of proven “innovators” handpicked from all divisions and functional areas of the company.

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LifeCOMM

LifeCOMM will provide valuable, cost-effective “health and wellness” services that couldn’t be delivered at an affordable price by the traditional health care system.

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Mobileview

In 1997, as an employee in Qualcomm’s handset division, Tia Cassett was keenly aware of issues with the network trouble-shooting process. Back then, if a network carrier customer complained about dropped calls, an engineer would literally drive around the reported trouble area while trying to duplicate the performance issue on test equipment in his car.

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WPAN/WBAN

The Baby Boomers are generally considered to be the most influential generation thus far. And now, as that large group reaches retirement age, the focus on health care and fitness is expected to grow exponentially.

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