Qualcomm’s fine from the European Commission announced this week could be the bullet in the head of the current administration at the company. It’s one thing to be beaten up by Apple which doesn’t want to pay its IPR dues and another for Broadcom to be pushing a heavy-handed foot in the door for an unwanted merger, but this move is entirely self-inflicted. Intel, charged with much the same thing in the past by the Commission, was the stand out precedent which said loud and clear, that once dominant, you cannot offer discounts to retain a major client, on an exclusive basis. Qualcomm was undeniably dominant in Europe in baseband radios for smartphones during the past 5 years. Intel ended…