Our take...
Qualcomm's Brew software platform, available in 25 countries, has generated over $2bn in developer revenues since 2001. Though it has struggled outside its core US market. The Brew platform was designed to run on the CDMA mobile network (it now supports GSM as well), as such it failed to make an impact in Europe where GSM is the standard. Brew has lagged behind Java (J2ME) which has been installed on more than 2.6bn mobile phones. Qualcomm's launch of an OS (that supports CDMA and GSM) is a response to the combined threats of Java on feature phones and smartphone OSes such as Android. Qualcomm is aiming its OS at network operators (it has a similar approach with its Plaza Retail application store, which offers managed store fronts to operators). This will help the platform reach a wide audience, but it is unlikely to be welcomed by application developers.
Qualcomm will offer a simple application testing and submission process, but its limited scope is likely to prevent Brew MP from competing with Smartphone OSes such as Android, Symbian or Windows Mobile (iPhone, Blackberry and Palm's WebOS smartphone platforms are not licensed to third party manufacturers).
Instead, the obvious target for such a platform is in touch screen feature-phones aiming at lower price hardware replicating a smartphone experience at a lower entry price point. HTC's positioning of Brew MP devices in its line-up confirms such a stance. Developer interest remains to be seen, not least because lower priced hardware tends to come with lower content ARPUs.