BREW

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Also Known As	V-Cast (Verizon - from USA) EZweb (from Japan by AU/KDDI) Magic N Multipack (WIPI) (from Korea by KTF)
Developer	Qualcomm (US) KTF (KR) KDDI (JP)
Type	Cellphone/Mobile
Generation	6th generation - 8th generation
Release date	2000 (January 2001)
Discontinued	?
File extension (s)	.mif, .mod
Backward compatibility	Yes
Predecessor	EZ-appli (J)
Written in	C, C++
Related	Java ME, Symbian
Emulated	✓

BREW / Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless is a mobile development platform by Qualcomm, originally intended for CDMA handsets such as those sold by Verizon. Unlike Java ME, applications and games for BREW use native code as opposed to running in a virtual machine in the case of Java ME. Also, BREW development has a higher barrier to entry due to stringent certification requirements, which led it to be significantly less popular than Java ME even in markets where CDMA has a significant market share, such as in North America. To top it all off, downloaded BREW apps are tied to an individual handset via a digital signature, making piracy or sideloading difficult; it is however possible to unlock certain BREW-enabled CDMA phones to run backups and pirated apps, though downloads for BREW apps and games are rare and hard to find compared to Java ME.

Zeebo, which was a video game console and online distribution platform developed and released exclusively in Mexico and Brazil, also used BREW. Japanese carrier KDDI, also used BREW under the name EZweb (though it was originally based on J2ME extended with propietary APIs)