Qualcomm has unveiled a new mobile platform called ‘Plaza,’ which will use open standards to allow developers to build mobile Internet widgets. Announced at  Qualcomm’s BREW conference in San Diego this week, Plaza is seen as a more ‘open’ version of its existing BREW platform and a possible rival to open mobile platforms such as Google’s Android. “[Plaza will give] publishers, developers and operators the ability to open up the mobile Internet to subscribers and monetise it for operators and content providers alike,” said Qualcomm’s EVP Andrew Gilbert.

Qualcomm also announced this week that it will embed Adobe’s Flash technology into its BREW platform, allowing BREW developers to develop applications using Flash. The deal is aimed at driving the adoption of Flash into more mobile handsets and allows the sizable Flash developer community to build BREW applications. Meanwhile it was announced at the San Diego conference that India’s Tata group will begin offering BREW solutions to its Virgin Mobile customers in India.