Sony Online Entertainment Leaps Into Wireless Gaming Market

Entering into the highly anticipated wireless gaming market, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) Inc., a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that they will be developing recognized entertainment brands for wireless devices using QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless™ (BREW™) platform. With popular titles such as Wheel of Fortune Online and Jeopardy Online, SOE is leveraging its experience in the casual gaming market to bring some of the Internet's most popular titles to a growing audience of mobile gamers.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20011203/LAM002 )

"We are witnessing a change in the gaming landscape with the increasing convergence of technologies," said John Smedley, chief operating officer, Sony Online Entertainment. "As our lives become more and more hectic, we demand that the very devices we use to communicate and organize also provide a few minutes of entertainment. By using QUALCOMM's BREW platform to develop popular content for mobile devices like cellular phones, we are not only answering the demand for new avenues of entertainment for millions of people, but creating additional revenue opportunities for SOE and the industry."

Many industry leaders are looking to the mobile devices market as one of the fastest growing areas in an already multi-billion dollar gaming industry. Yankee Group estimates that over 200 million people in the U.S. and Europe will be playing wireless games by 2005 with particular appeal to teens and young adults.

"The market for mobile gaming is on the verge of exploding," said Gina Lombardi, senior vice president of marketing and product management, QUALCOMM Internet Services. "Working with companies like Sony Online Entertainment, we are providing the platform that will help bring this emerging market to mainstream audiences across the globe."

QUALCOMM's BREW platform is a thin application execution environment that provides an open, standard platform for wireless devices. The BREW platform is part of a complete, end-to-end solution for wireless applications development, device configuration, application distribution, and billing and payment. The complete BREW solution includes the BREW SDK™ (software development kit) for developers, the BREW applications platform and porting tools for device manufacturers, and the BREW Distribution System (BDS) that is controlled and managed by carriers enabling them to easily get applications from developers to market and coordinate the billing and payment process. Carriers' BREW-based services will enable consumers to customize their handsets by downloading applications over the air from a carrier's application download server. The BREW platform is a product of QUALCOMM Internet Services (QIS), a division within the QUALCOMM Wireless & Internet (QWI) Group of QUALCOMM Incorporated.

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online gaming division of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, is a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming that creates, develops and provides online entertainment for the personal computer, console, wireless, and online markets. With more than 13 million registered users, SOE's award-winning website, The Station ® ( http://www.station.com/ ) hosts a variety of entertaining games and player communities spanning numerous genres. In addition to blockbuster hits EverQuest® and Jeopardy! Online, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development such as PlanetSide™, Star Wars® Galaxies™, EverQuest® II, and the world's premier online-only console game for the PlayStation®2, EverQuest® Online Adventures™.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM)( http://www.qualcomm.com/ ) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Company's CDMA digital technology. The Company's business areas include CDMA chipsets and system software; technology licensing; the BREW applications platform; QChat™ push-to-talk technology; Eudora® e-mail software; digital cinema systems; and satellite-based systems including portions of the Globalstar™ system and wireless fleet management systems, OmniTRACS® and OmniExpress®. QUALCOMM owns patents that are essential to all of the CDMA wireless telecommunications standards that have been adopted or proposed for adoption by standards-setting bodies worldwide. QUALCOMM has licensed its essential CDMA patent portfolio to more than 100 telecommunications equipment manufacturers worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.

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SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment Inc.

CONTACT: Tamara Sanderson of Sony Online Entertainment, +1-858-577-3362,
tsanderson@soe.sony.com; or Brandon McCormick of Access Communications,
+1-415-844-6218, bmccormick@accesspr.com, for Sony Online Entertainment

Web site: http://www.qualcomm.com/

Web site: http://www.station.com/