Qualcomm Plans to Invest in NextWave
You’re on the 18th hole of the Mt. Woodson Country Club golf course and you’re sweating. To salvage your game you must miss the lake, but not hit the ball too hard. You don’t want to miss the green, too.
Relax. You’re getting fixes from eight , count ’em, eight , military satellites, each 11,000 miles above the Earth. They are telling your Palm Pilot exactly where you are. Equipped with that information, your handheld computer is giving you the distances to both your obstacles and your goal.
Harnessing the 24 Global Positioning System satellites to improve a golf game isn’t a new idea. Undoubtedly it occurred to somebody when the system was in development.
What’s new is San Diego-based GolfRanger Systems Inc. has put together software and hardware that lets you convert a Palm handheld computer into an electronic advisor for a course. It’s called GPS-Caddy.
Since the system knows where you are, it can tell what course you are playing. It provides distances from the golfer’s current position to every feature on the hole between the golfer and the green. This includes distances to the front and back of hazards, and to the front, center and back of the green.
The company (www.gps-caddy.com) is selling a GPS receiver, its GPS-Caddy software, and maps of Southern California courses on a CD for $399. Map information can be downloaded to Palms.
Steve Seidensticker invented the device, founded the company and is its president. The outfit is now busy adapting GPS-Caddy to other personal digital assistant models, like the Handspring Visor, Sony Clie and Pocket PCs from Hewlett-Packard, Casio and Compaq.
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New Benefactor For NextWave:
San Diego’s Qualcomm Inc. has announced plans to invest $300 million in NextWave Telecom.
NextWave is the Hawthorne, N.Y., company that won spectrum licenses coast to coast, filed for bankruptcy, then watched the Federal Communications Commission auction the same licenses to other carriers earlier this year. Since then, a federal appeals court has ruled NextWave should keep the licenses. The matter has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Qualcomm also announced it will work with NextWave to build a network using Qualcomm’s next-generation CDMA2000 technology. An announcement from the two companies emphasized data services, like mobile Internet access, streaming video, high-fidelity audio and other advanced capabilities. NextWave has announced plans to be a “carrier’s carrier,” handling traffic for other companies in the 95 markets the disputed licenses serve.
Qualcomm announced its $300 million investment is subject to NextWave successfully completing its reorganization plan, filed Aug. 6.
Columnar Components:
Some $4.2 million of educational software from San Diego-based Lightspan, Inc. will go to the Fort Worth, Texas schools while $2.5 million will go to the Camden, N.J., schools. Mad Catz, Inc., a maker of video game peripherals, has left its Santee digs for bigger quarters , 14,000 square feet in Mission Valley. Publicly traded GTR Group Inc. (GIG) of Brampton, Ontario, Canada is its parent company. Proflowers, Inc., which sells bouquets and related items over the Internet, ended its fiscal year June 30. Annual revenue was up 70 percent to $46 million. Revenue for the quarter (which included Mother’s Day) grew by 67 percent to $18.2 million. The company did not release its net income, but said in a statement it hopes to make 2002 its first profitable year.
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Zevenbergen Appointed CFO:
Optical Micro Machines Inc., which has gone through three rounds of layoffs since April, has appointed Jody Zevenbergen as chief financial officer. Zevenbergen has 10 years of experience with Ernst & Young, LLP and Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Phil Chapman left the job in April to become OMM’s president and CEO.
Send high-tech news to Graves via e-mail at bgraves@sdbj.com.
