CES 2014: Qualcomm shifts narrative away from just mobile to connecting everything

If the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show revolves around the Internet of Things, then Qualcomm's mission is undoubtedly to be embedded on each and everyone of those things.

With an increasing dominating presence each year at the gargantuan trade show, the chip maker has come across as primarily concerned with mobile devices over anything else.

But this year, based on a slew of announcements this morning ahead of Monday's keynote, the San Diego-based enterprise is going after everything from set-top boxes to cars.

Here's a rundown:

• Snapdragon 802: An Ultra HD, fully integrated system-on-a-chip designed specifically for smart TVs and set-top boxes. Basically, Qualcomm wants to control more than your on-the-go devices but also the living room too. Given that the dual-screen behavior of using mobile devices (and social networks, by extension) while watching TV continues to grow, this strategy makes sense being that Qualcomm could power and enable such devices to talk to each other.
• Snapdragon Automotive Solutions for Connected In-Car Infotainment: Speaking of on-the-go, that concept isn't limited to just smartphones and tablets. As the major powers behind those mobile devices (i.e. Apple, Google and Microsoft) continue to shun CES in favor of their own showcases throughout the year, cars continue to move into the spotlight. Qualcomm is wedging its way in here (or outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, depending on how you look at it) with the Snapdragon 602A chipset to bring support for flashy functionality to the interior dashboards and then some. Beyond just cutting edge Wi-Fi, 3G/4G and Bluetooth LE 4.0 connectivity, Qualcomm boasts that this chipset will support the installation of multiple HD screens as well as mobile operating systems for accessing 3D navigation, HD multimedia streaming, and voice/gesture recognition.
• Qualcomm Internet Processor (IPQ): To connect the dots between everything else, Qualcomm introduced this platform for the home at-large. Besides transmitting the standard data for voice and video, the IPQ is designed for managing data and bandwidth for laundry list items such as security, energy management, and health monitoring.

Wedged in between Nvidia's announcements on Sunday and Intel later today, Qualcomm still has its work cut out for it.

But with a clear agenda like this in place, Qualcomm already looks like one of the few solid bets at CES this year.