BREW or Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless is an application development platform created by Qualcomm for mobile phones. It is air-interface independent, i.e. it can support GSM/GPRS, UMTS, and CDMA.
However, when BREW was first introduced it was solely developed for CDMA handsets. Standing for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, it is a software platform that can download and run small programs for playing games, sending messages, sharing photos, etc.
The main advantage of BREW platform is that the application developers can easily port their applications between all the Qualcomm ASICs. The BREW runs between the application and the wireless device's chip operating system; therefore BREW enables a programmer to develop applications without needing to code for system interface or understand wireless applications. It debuted in January 2001.
For software developers, it is a complete set of APIs that enables software development and applications in C, C++ and Java and is supported (platform) by an ASIC. It has a footprint of about 150 K.
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