Qualcomm Opening App Store In China

Qualcomm plans to partner with Chinese web portal SINA to launch an application store that will offer content, apps, and services based on the chipset maker's Brew mobile platform.

The announcement came as Qualcomm's two-day Uplinq Conference for mobile developers began Wednesday in San Diego.

The Brew mobile operating system is based on technology that is flexible, scalable, and has "powered over 1,200 device models and hundreds of millions of handsets," according to its website. With the platform, developers can provide capabilities like touchscreen, rich multimedia, window management, open platform extensibility, and expanded support for native application development, the San Diego-based Qualcomm said.

The open market application store will give Chinese consumers access to a variety of paid and free content, apps, and services that can be downloaded.

SINA, China's largest infotainment web portal, will manage the first application store and be responsible for hosting content delivery and merchandising, catalog management, and the storefront. Its strong brand awareness in China creates an opportunity for developers locally and globally to offer apps and services to one of the most significant consumer markets in the world, Qualcomm said.

A key goal for Qualcomm is to build a robust, mobile ecosystem for developers, said Andrew Gilbert, executive VP and president of Qualcomm Internet Services and Qualcomm Europe, in a statement. "We look forward to working with SINA as they foster a strong local developer community that will create socially relevant content for the China market. At the same time, Qualcomm will encourage Brew developers around the globe to take advantage of the market potential in this region.''

"SINA is committed to offering consumers a wide array of quality content and services, and mobile is an integral piece of our overall strategy," said Gaofei Wang, general manager of SINA Mobile. "We are confident that working with Qualcomm will enable us to provide an exceptional mobile experience that best meets the needs of our end users."