AT&T, Qualcomm focus on easier development of industrial and health apps

Computerworld - LAS VEGAS -- AT&T and Qualcomm jointly announced a new development platform Monday based on a Qualcomm Gobi chipset to be used to build industrial and health care apps and embedded devices on Java to connect to AT&T 's 3G cellular network in the U.S.

The companies said the platform, called the Internet of Everything (IoE), will be made available to developers in the second quarter of 2013.

The platform relies on the new Qualcomm QSC6270-Turbo chipset and supports Oracle's Java ME Embedded 3.2 developer tool, the companies said in a statement.

The announcement is important to developers who are building cellular-connected products and applications in tracking, industrial controls and health care, the companies said.

"Wireless connectivity makes products better, and this IoE development platform makes it easier for both existing and new AT&T developers to embed wireless into their products," said Chris Penrose, senior vice president of emerging devices for AT&T.

Using the new chipset, developers can also customize and optimize printed circuit boards for end-products without the need for added processors to cut down costs, the companies said.

Overall, the IoE development platform provides on-board sensors and indicators, such as an accelerometer, light sensor and temperature sensors. The platform supports tri-band cellular UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM, as well as 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for 802.11a/b/g/n through an added Qualcomm Atheros module.

More details are expected to be provided at the AT&T Developer Summit being held here a day before the official start of the International CES trade show on Tuesday.

The summit also traditionally includes announcements of new smartphones and devices that AT&T expects to sell in coming months.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His email address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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