ABI Research this week released a report entitled Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB) Might Be Dead on Arrival But Qualcomm Wins with OFDMA and MIMO Anyway, which suggests that the prospects for widespread adoption of Qualcomm's UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) 4G technology are looking dim.

"No operator has yet announced plans to trial or deploy UMB," says ABI senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. "Several of the major CDMA operators in the two primary markets are migrating to other technologies. Vendors cannot move forward with development unless their customers commit to trial this technology. WiMax and LTE have ecosystems in place that offer support. LTE, which is expected to be available around 2010, already has operator commitment from Vodafone and Verizon. WiMax has implemented many trials, and has over fifty commercial deployments underway."

Still, Manjaro says Qualcomm's product portfolio in other areas looks solid, with OFDMA and MIMO patents as well as chipsets for W-CDMA/HSPA technology.

More here from InformationWeek ... more here from Broadband Reports ... and the press release is here.