Vodafone, Samsung, S.D. firm to link up

San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Vodafone will partner with Samsung and Qualcomm "to provide high-speed cellular service in Europe next year." According to the article, "Vodafone will use cell phones made by Samsung...which in turn will buy semiconductors from Qualcomm."

Michael King at Gartner noted the "partnership among the three companies will help Qualcomm gain a foothold in the WCDMA market for chips." He said, "It's certainly good news for both Samsung and Qualcomm." On Samsung and Qualcomm's long-standing CDMA relationship, King said, "They've been such good allies. Seeing that they've signed up to use Qualcomm's chips is not such a big surprise."

According to Gartner, "the upgrade to faster networks by wireless carriers will result in a surge of shipments of phones that run on the technology Vodafone will use, from 6.3 million next year to 102 million in 2009."