Qualcomm is set to make India one of its major hubs for developing mobile applications using its BREW platform. The company, which has nearly 1,500 Indian engineers at its US facility, plans to tap the software skills in India. It is also aggressively working towards introducing data capabilities such as e-mail access on low-cost handsets.

Qualcomm had recently set up a research and development centre in Hyderabad to support applications for 3G services.

Qualcomm executive Peggy Johnson said gaming and music would be the drivers of mobile applications in the coming months for the company. She also noted that six of the 10 BREW-based developers in India were in attendance this week at the company's BREW conference in San Diego.

Qualcomm is pushing  BREW development for the business portfolio. CDMA-based operators, including India's Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices plan to deploy these solutions on their networks. Kanwalinder Singh, President pf Qualcomm India and SAARC, On the introduction of low-cost handsets,said the company was working with vendors to enhance data capability on the entry-level phones through the BREW platform.