Due to its strong patent position, it also collects fees from 195 licensees, spanning most of the cell-phone industry for code-division, multiple-access technology, which is the standard communications technology in cellular networks.

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Verizon, by contrast, uses a different standard, known as code-division multiple access (CDMA).

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It signed a deal earlier this year to source phones from an undisclosed Asian contractor that will work with the carrier's chosen technology, code-division multiple access (CDMA).

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Samsung has combined a full-color Palm operating system device with a code division multiple access (CDMA) phone.

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But Samsung Electronics, an affiliate of the Samsung chaebol, did have one thing going for it: The firm was totally committed to the up-and-coming phone standard of the time, known as CDMA technology (or code division multiple access), adopted by Sprint.

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While T-Mobile and Cingular use that standard, Verizon and Sprint operate on the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) standard, which is popular in North America but not supported everywhere else.

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