Surprisingly 2.5G Drives Cell Phone Baseband - chart

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

While it may seem strange that suppliers focusing on 2.5G were the best performers in the digital baseband semiconductor market during the first quarter, that's still where the global boom is. But the latest figures from market researcher iSuppli give a fantastic overview of where the players are positioned in the baseband chip market and their current growth.

Among the Top 9 suppliers of digital baseband Integrated Circuits (ICs) for cell phones, only three posted significant organic revenue growth compared to the fourth quarter of 2009: second-place MediaTek, Broadcom at #6 and Spreadtrum Communications of Shanghai in ninth. MediaTek’s revenue in the first quarter rose by 17.2 percent sequentially, while Broadcom’s soared by a stunning 125.6 percent and Spreadtrum’s surged by 28.9 percent.

The attached table presents iSuppli’s ranking of the Top 9 suppliers of cell phone digital baseband ICs.

Renesas Electronics’s massive 200 percent surge could be attributed entirely to its merger with NEC (hence the *) and was not supported by organic growth. In comparison, Marvell Technology Group achieved modest growth of 8.6 percent during the period.

“With the explosive growth in smart phone sales, the wireless supply chain—from infrastructure equipment, to handsets, to semiconductors—has been completely focused on the massive growth opportunity in 3G technology,” said Francis Sideco, principal analyst, wireless communications, for iSuppli. “However, in the first quarter, all the action was in 2.5G, mainly because of strong demand from Asia, a region still dominated by the older technology. While the first quarter is a slow period for wireless in many regions of the world, sales in Asia were strong because of the Lunar New Year holiday season. Furthermore, Broadcom enjoyed a major increase in 2.5G sales due to a major design win from a major OEM.”

Global revenue from sales of 2.5G baseband ICs in the first quarter was up 4.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009. In contrast, 3G baseband revenue declined by 3.4 percent during the same period.

While MediaTek, Broadcom and Spreadtrum in the first quarter benefitted from the 2.5G bump, leading baseband supplier Qualcomm suffered from the 3G slump and saw its baseband IC revenue drop 4.5 percent sequentially as its 2G offering is in CDMA for the US market rather than GSM.

“Qualcomm doesn’t offer GSM/GPRS/EDGE-only baseband chips, which are the primary drivers for the 2.5G market,” Sideco said. “Instead, the company supports these technologies only as part of some of its 3G and LTE chips. In the cost-conscious 2G handset market, very few—if any—would pay extra for a 3G chip from Qualcomm only to use just the 2G part of it.”

While 2.5G enjoyed a resurgence in the first quarter, iSuppli expects 3G to regain its momentum later in 2010 as sales in developed areas rise again.

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Linaro to drive ARM-based portable devices

ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Form New Company to Speed the Rollout of portable Linux Devices

ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments have created the not-for-profit company, Linaro, to provide new resources and industry alignment for open source software developers using Linux on ARM-based Cortex A system on chip (SoC) devices in portable equipment.
Linaro will invest resources in open source projects that can then be used by Linux-based distributions such as Android, LiMo, MeeGo, Ubuntu and webOS.
Linaro will provide a stable and optimized base for distributions and developers by creating new releases of optimized tools, kernel and middleware software validated for a wide range of SoCs, every six months.
Linaro’s base of software and tools will be applicable to a wide range of markets, helping reduce time-to-market for products such as smart phones, tablets, digital televisions, automotive entertainment and enterprise equipment. By providing the common foundations of tools and software for other distributions and stacks to build upon, Linaro enables greater operational efficiency for the electronics industry.
Linaro’s first software and tools release is due out in November 2010, and will provide optimizations for the latest range of ARM Cortex-A family of processors.
Traditionally, the Linux and open-source software communities focused on solving the software problems of enterprise and computing markets with a limited choice of processor platforms. The open source community is transitioning to create advanced Web-centric consumer devices using high profile open source based distributions and a wide range of high-performance, low-power ARM®-based SoCs. Linaro will make it easier and quicker to develop advanced products with these high profile distributions by creating software commonality across semiconductor SoCs, from multiple companies.
In addition to providing a focal point for open source software developers, consumers will benefit by the formation of Linaro. Linaro’s outputs will accelerate the abundance of new consumer products that use Linux-based distributions such as Android, LiMo, MeeGo, Ubuntu and webOS in conjunction with advanced semiconductor SoCs to provide the new features consumers desire at the lowest possible power consumption.
“The dramatic growth of open source software development can now be seen in internet-based, always-connected mobile and consumer products,” said Tom Lantzsch, executive officer of Linaro. “Linaro will help accelerate this trend further by increasing investment on key open source projects and providing industry alignment with the community to deliver the best Linux-based products for the benefit of the consumer.”
Linaro will work with the growing number of Linux distributions to create regular releases of optimized tools and foundation software that can be used widely by the industry, increasing compatibility across semiconductors from multiple suppliers. As a result, Linaro’s resources and open source solutions will allow device manufacturers to speed up development time, improve performance and reduce engineering time spent on non-differentiating, low-level software. Linux distributions, open source and proprietary software projects will benefit from Linaro's investment, with more stable code becoming widely available as a common base for innovation.
Linaro engineers will contribute to a wide range of open source projects covering areas such as tools, kernel, graphics and boot code. Linaro intends to work in partnership with the Linux Foundation to align on core operating principles.
In addition to ARM and IBM, four of the world’s leading application processor companies, Freescale, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments, will align open source engineering efforts within Linaro.
“ARM and our partners have a long history of working with, and supporting, open source software development for complex SoCs based on the ARM architecture,” said Warren East, ARM CEO. “As a founding member of Linaro, we are working together with the broader open source community to accelerate innovation for the next generation of computing, focusing on delivering a rich connected experience across the diversity of devices in our daily lives.”
”Freescale is taking a leadership position in shaping the future of consumer electronics by enabling entirely new categories of smart mobile devices based on processors,” said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Networking and Multimedia Group. “Linaro represents an important step forward in developing the ecosystem for these smart mobile devices through dramatically speeding and simplifying software development cycles and leveraging the power and strength of the open source community.”
"IBM believes that leadership with Linux solutions begins with effective collaboration in the community, and IBM's ten year history of working with the Linux community has resulted in a strong, mutually beneficial relationship,” said Daniel Frye, vice president, open systems development, IBM. "IBM's ongoing collaboration has contributed to the widespread adoption of Linux throughout the data center. We are strong proponents of working with partners such as ARM to further our commitment, ensuring Embedded Linux is the leading platform for innovation in the mobile and consumer electronics markets."
“Samsung is an industry leader in high performance, low power application processors for mobile handset and other consumer devices. We fully appreciate the significance of having an optimized Linux software foundation and tools for our ARM CPU core base products, to support our customers’ needs with high quality solutions,” said Yiwan Wong, vice president, System LSI marketing, Samsung Electronics. “We are pleased to join Linaro as a foundation member and work together with ARM to serve the interests of our customers.”
“Open source has become an engine for innovation in the smart phone and consumer electronics market,” said Teppo Hemia, vice president, 3G Multimedia Platforms Business Unit of ST-Ericsson.” Being an active contributor in the open source community, we are excited to be one of the founding members of Linaro and expect our combined efforts to accelerate the development of Linux-based devices.”
“Linaro is intently focused on delivering critical open source components to enable developers building on ARM-based processors. An important element of that delivery is a more complete, higher quality development toolset that increases performance. In our leadership role, TI will support Linaro’s efforts by leveraging our open source expertise—evidenced by our participation in Linux kernel enhancement submissions and our support of popular industry development boards,” said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager, OMAP Platform Business Unit, TI.

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MIPS and Mavrix Technology Collaborate on Mobile SoC Development

Mavrix to Deploy MIPS-Based SoCs Running Android in PMPs, MIDs and Mobile Phones

Fabless US/Chinese chip maker Mavrix Technology is using the MIPS processor core for complete system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for the emerging Mobile Digital TV (MDTV) and portable multimedia market.
Mavrix and MIPS are working closely with companies in MIPS Technologies’ mobile ecosystem to develop a mobile SoC design that leverages the Android platform. Mavrix will target mobile applications including cell phones, portable media players (PMPs) and mobile internet devices (MIDs). Mavrix already has design wins with major Chinese cell phone OEMs using its MIPS-Based SoCs as co-processors for audio/video decoding. This new relationship builds on the companies’ existing relationship and involvement in these cell phone products.

“We have had marked success with MIPS cores, and are pleased to announce that our next-generation MIPS-Based SoCs will run Android for mobile devices including handsets,” said Dr. Zhenyu Zhou, CEO of Mavrix. “Our customers will benefit from the high performance and low power consumption of MIPS Technologies’ cores, and the speed and ease of development that the Android platform can provide. Android on MIPS, combined with our unique technology for multimedia processing, offers a valuable solution to OEMs and ODMs.”

“Android on the MIPS architecture provides a powerful platform for companies to develop unique and differentiated connected devices,” said Art Swift, vice president of marketing, MIPS Technologies. “Mavrix Technology is an innovative company that is on the leading edge of development, leveraging Android on MIPS for a new generation of high-performance, low-power SoCs for cell phones. We are pleased to team with Mavrix and other companies in the evolving MIPS Technologies mobile ecosystem to enable these next-generation products.”

Mavrix provides integrated mobile digital TV (MDTV) receiver and multimedia processor SoC solutions for the handheld market. Tailored specifically to meet Chinese OEM and ODM requirements, Mavrix’s manufacture-ready total solutions help its customers to quickly and cost-effectively add MDTV and movie play functions into handheld devices. Since its establishment in February 2005, Mavrix has raised $16 million in venture capital funding. The company currently has 80 employees with offices in Shanghai, China and Newport Beach, California.  

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Apple Launches iPad with own chip

Aims at "Unbelievable Price" and new iBookstore - video at bottom

With global hoopla, Apple has launched its iPad with, for once, a key focus on price. The basic iPad with wifi and a 16Gbyte solid state drive is $499.
A key factor is the first use of its own chip, a 1GHz SoC designed by PA Semi. Details are scarce but I assume this is an ARM core with Imagination Technologies' PowerVR 3D, TFT and touchscreen drivers and system power management to achieve 10hrs of battery life. There are separate WiFi and WiFI+3G versions, which implies that the RF at least is separate, if not separate modules.
The iPad is just 1cm thick and weighs under a kilo — thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook and includes 12 new apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March.
“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”
iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction. The precise Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the web on iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer.
Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.
iPad’s 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent color with a wide 178 degree viewing angle. Apple says its Adaptive Charging technology delivers up to 1,000 charge cycles without a significant decrease in battery capacity over a typical five year lifespan. iPad comes in two versions—one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks.
iPad will be available in late March worldwide for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models of iPad will be available in April in the US and selected countries for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model.

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Arasan bundles key bus interface IP for netbooks

MIPI, SDIO, SuperSpeed USB3.0, SD 3.0 and eMMC

 

Arasan Chip Systems is bundling together its IP portfolio as a complete set of solutions for the growing Netbook market. According to leading industry analysts, sales of Netbooks accelerated to 33 million units in 2009 and are anticipating a healthy growth in 2010, thus ensuring that OEMS cannot afford to ignore this segment.

IDC reported that while worldwide PC shipments increased by 15.2% in 2009, the US alone experienced a whopping 24% rise. This rise was 35% higher than earlier projections and IDC's research showed that it was fueled by consumer demand for Netbooks which increased their share to 20% of all consumer laptop shipments in the second half of 2009. The appeal of a Netbook lies in its compact yet feature-filled form-factor which implies a number of Bus interfaces. Efficient, low-pin count and low power interconnect is a vital part of the chipset infrastructure enabling Netbooks. IP solution providers such as Arasan Chip Systems thus become a valuable resource in enabling the integration of leading edge IP solutions to meet Time to Market goals for OEMs.

Arasan provides a complete solution for the major Bus Interfaces being used in Netbooks today such as MIPI, SDIO, SuperSpeed USB and memory, storage solutions based on SD 3.0 and eMMC. Arasan's domain expertise through early engagement with standard's bodies and leading edge customers, results in the high quality interface IP.

"Arasan has long invested in developing extensive protocol expertise which it leverages in the development and validation of its Bus IP portfolio," said Prakash Kamath, Vice-President of Engineering at Arasan. "Leading Netbook chip vendors rely on our expertise in optimizing their solutions to differentiate their offering. Arasan's engineering teams go beyond delivering and supporting IP - to a more consultative engagement with customers, enabling the technological adoption of leading interconnect standards. Our expanding portfolio now includes PHYs which are the crucial building block for implementing efficient interconnects."

 "The growing speed and complexity of Application Processors and importance of low-pin count and inter-operable interfaces compounds the difficulty faced by Netbook chip design teams," said Ram Gopalan, Senior Director of Marketing at Arasan. "Arasan is the only leading IP provider to deliver a complete solution, working with the customer to ease SoC integration and mitigate Time to Market considerations with its Total Solutions offering."

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Key Intel deal with Nokia for mobile chips

Coming soon after Intel's acquisition of Wind River, the tie up of Intel and Nokia to develop new mobile chips is a telling move. Intel needs to migrate into the smartphone business before its laptop starts declining - the move to a 'pocketable' format is the key here.
Intel sees this step as further uniting the Internet with mobile phones and computers in a long-term relationship to develop a new class of Intel Architecture-based mobile computing device and chipset architectures which will combine the performance of powerful computers with high-bandwidth mobile broadband communications and ubiquitous Internet connectivity.
Both companies are expanding their longstanding relationship to define a new mobile platform beyond today's smartphones, notebooks and netbooks, enabling the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services.
Taking advantage of each company's expertise as leaders in their respective fields, these future standards-based devices will marry the best features and capabilities of the computing and communications worlds and will transform the user experience, bringing incredible mobile applications and always on, always connected wireless Internet access in a user-friendly pocketable form factor.
The Intel and Nokia effort includes collaboration in several open source mobile Linux software projects. Intel will also acquire a Nokia HSPA/3G modem IP license for use in future products.
"This Intel and Nokia collaboration unites and focuses many of the brightest computing and communications minds in the world, and will ultimately deliver open and standards-based technologies, which history shows drive rapid innovation, adoption and consumer choice," said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group. "With the convergence of the Internet and mobility as the team's only barrier, I can only imagine the innovation that will come out of our unique relationship with Nokia. The possibilities are endless."
The effort also includes technology development and cooperation in several open source software initiatives in order to develop common technologies for use in the Moblin and Maemo platform projects, which will deliver Linux-based operating systems for these future mobile computing devices.
The companies are coordinating their Open Source technology selection and development investments, including alignment on a range of key Open Source technologies for Mobile Computing such as: oFono*, ConnMan*, Mozilla*, X.Org*, BlueZ*, D-BUS*, Tracker*, GStreamer*, PulseAudio*. Collectively, these technologies will provide an open source standards-based means to deliver a wealth of mobile Internet and communication experiences, with rich graphics and multimedia capabilities.
Hosted by the Linux Foundation, Moblin is an optimized open source Linux operating system project for Atom-based MIDs, netbooks, nettops, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), and embedded systems.
Maemo is a Linux operating system, mostly based on open source code and powers mobile computers such as the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. The Maemo platform has been developed by Nokia in collaboration with many open source projects. For more information see www.maemo.org.

HSPA modem license

Building on today's announcement, Intel and Nokia have signed an agreement that will enable Intel to license Nokia's HSPA/3G modem technologies with the aim of developing advanced mobile computing solutions that deliver a powerful and flexible computing experience, combining 3GPP modem technology with the high performance and low power consumption of future Intel Architecture-based platforms.
The Nokia modem license complements Intel's broadband wireless technologies and will enable the company to extend chipset solutions incorporating Nokia's modem technologies across its mobility offerings in the future.

New screen adds memory to reduce power

Sharp has developed a new LCD technology that dramatically reduces power consumption.
Although the current screen is only 1.35in large and monochrome, and is aimed at small portable and solar powered applications, there is potential for the technique to be used to reduce power in larger LCDs.
The Memory LCD uses a memory cell in the column driver so that only the pixels that haven't changed are refreshed. This cuts power from 2mW for a typical 1.35in monochrome screen to 15µW in the Memory LCD, a dramatic reduction of 130 times
Sharp uses its proprietary Continuous Grain Silicon technology to make the screen, which at the moment is only 96 by 96 pixels. However, Sharp is a leading maker of LCDs for mobile, so expect this to be moving into larger monochrome screens for book readers, small colour screens and then to screens capable of handling video.

Flexible CMOS for portable screens

Electronics Weekly reports development by the University of Texas of a flexible version of today's standard CMOS technology. This opens up the possibilities of larger flexible displays that can be rolled up in a pocket and still have an acceptable battery life.
This has been done by combining amorphous silicon and polymer semiconductors which traditionally are high power consumption, not good for portable screens. For example, said the University, an n-mos a-Si:H flexible display column driver consumes around 150µA static current per column - equating to a total column drive power of 700mW in a 15Hz QVGA display, compared with 18mW for the backplane and 660µW for the row drivers.
An equivalent column driver in hybrid CMOS, said the University, consumed under 1µA, and dissipated only dynamic power - a total of 2.3mW for all column drivers in the 15Hz QVGA display, says Electronics Weekly.
The University has focussed on column drivers because all column drivers are active all the time in a display, while only one row driver at a time on.
To be larger than 150mm, these displays have to be on flexible substrates as glass is too brittle.
Researchers are now working on extending the lifetime of the test devices.

NEC embeds DRAM in EMMA for mobile

NEC Electronics has moved its EMMA multimedia chip to the mobile market, adding embedded DRAM to the chip.
The first in the EMMA Mobile 1 series of system-on-chips (SoCs) is the Mobile 1-D, for use in portable audio/visual (A/V) devices such as multimedia players and mobile televisions.
The EMMA Mobile 1-D device integrates all the features necessary for playing multimedia content in a reduced package size of 12.7mm x 12.7mm, approximately 20 percent smaller in package size than previous NEC Electronics mobile SoC products. The EMMA Mobile 1-D also integrates embedded DRAM in the same package, greatly reducing the effort of mobile device system designers and improving the time-to-market for product deployment.
The EMMA Mobile 1-S, an SoC without embedded DRAM, is also available, which enables the flexibility of memory configuration to adopt several applications.
The EMMA Mobile 1 incorporates a high-end ARM CPU core ARM1176JZF-STM, a dedicated digital signal processing (DSP) core, and an advanced H.264 function block.
Pricing and Availability
Samples of NEC Electronics' EMMA Mobile 1-D and EMMA Mobile 1-S devices are available now, priced at US$40 and US$30, respectively. Volume production is scheduled to begin in October 2009, and monthly production is expected to reach approximately 1,000,000 units.

Qualcomm launches 45nm Snapdragon chipset with 3G ...

Qualcomm has developed a new version of its ARM processor-based Snapdragon platform with a next-generation chipset that uses 45nanometre process technology to provide faster processing, significant battery life improvements and other enhancements for smartphones and netbooks, as well as adding 3G data capability.
The Snapdragon QSD8650A chipset – scheduled for sampling before the end of 2009 – boosts the clock to 1.3GHz for 30 percent higher performance as well as enhanced multimedia and 2D/3D graphics, while reducing power consumption by 30% and a low standby power of less than 10 millwatts.

“This latest addition to the growing family of Snapdragon chipsets will help our customers to develop faster, more power-efficient smartphones and smartbooks,” said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of marketing and product management at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “This new 45 nm device shows our continued commitment to extending the capabilities of the Snapdragon platform with leading-edge process technology and an expanded list of integrated features.”

The QSD8650A chipset also offers multi-mode UMTS and CDMA 3G mobile broadband connectivity in the same 15x15mm package as current Snapdragon chipsets. A standalone, power-efficient 2D graphics accelerator and enhanced 3D graphics core deliver a powerful multimedia experience with better Adobe Flash performance. It also features integrated GPS and high-definition video recording and playback, the latest Bluetooth 2.1 technology and support for Wi-Fi, high-resolution WXGA displays and mobile TV technologies such as MediaFLO, DVB-H and ISDB-T.
This is interesting as Qualcomm had already has a 45nm dual core version, the QSD8672 that runs up to 1.5GHz, but there was obviously a need for a single core, lower cost, lower power version.

... as Snapdragon support grows
More than 15 manufacturers are now developing more than 30 Snapdragon-based products, the first of which is the Toshiba TG01 Smartphone, introduced in February 2009. Others on show in Taipei this week include ASUS, Compal Communications, Foxconn, High Tech Computer (HTC), Inventec and Wistron.

“The mobile industry is evolving, and it’s become apparent that consumers are more sophisticated in their expectations than ever before,” said Stephen Chen, president of Compal Communications. “Snapdragon’s integrated 3G mobile broadband brings a new level of connectivity and convenience to the smartphone and smartbook categories.”

Software developers now supporting Snapdragon chipsets include those developing:
Digital media services: Zinio
Multimedia players: RealNetworks, Inc, Bluestreak and Varia Mobile
Operating systems: Phoenix Technologies, ThunderSoft and Xandros
Productivity applications: Haansoft, Remoba
Social networking applications: Conveneer
System integration services: Bsquare, Movial

TI launches OMAP4 for 1080p video

Texas Instruments has launched its multicore OMAP4 mobile applications platform with support for 1080p video record and playback, 20 megapixel (MP) imaging and
approximately a week of audio play time. The new platform provides significant improvements in performance and play time compared to today’s most popular Smartphones, with 10x faster Web page loading times, more than 7x higher computing performance, 6x higher video resolution, 10x better graphics performance and 6x longer audio play time.
At the heart of the OMAP 4 platform is a 45nm system-on-chip with four main engines: a programmable multimedia engine based on TI’s C64x DSP and power-efficient, multi-format hardware accelerators; general-purpose processing based on the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore supporting symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and capable of speeds of more than 1GH per core; a high-performance programmable graphics engine; and an Image
Signal Processor (ISP) for unparalleled video and imaging performance.
“For the past decade, TI has focused on providing an optimal balance of high performance and low power consumption in our OMAP product line to address our customers’ needs to quickly and easily address new market trends,” said Greg Delagi, senior vice president and head of TI's Wireless Business Unit. “The OMAP 4 platform will enable a new class of mobile devices that will redefine the boundaries of smartphones and MIDs.”
The new platform will support popular leading mobile operating systems and is validated for real-world use cases, taking into account the many elements of the mobile consumer’s experience to simplify application creation and help handset manufacturers get to market quickly.
The first members of the family are the OMAP4430 and OMAP4440, including:
o Four powerful, high-performance processing engines:
* General-purpose processing dual-core Cortex-A9 MPCore
* Programmable multimedia engine based on TI’s C64x DSP and power-efficient, multi-format hardware accelerators
* POWERVR SGX540 graphics engine
* Dedicated ISP
o Full 1080p multi-standard HD record and playback
o Digital SLR-like performance with 20 MP imaging
o 3D user interfaces supporting life-like graphics, intuitive touch screens, large local displays beyond WSXGA and HDMI compatible external displays
o Industry-leading power management technology:
* 10+ hours of 1080p HD video playback, 4+ hours of 1080p HD record
* 140+ hours of CD quality audio playback

The OMAP 4 platform will support Linux variants such as the Android Mobile Platform and LiMo, as well as Symbian OS and Microsoft Windows Mobile. Additionally, software for the OMAP 4 platform is tested and validated up to the application level, dramatically reducing development time. Further easing the design process, the OMAP 4 platform includes:
o Pre-integrated support for mobile connectivity, including TI’s current and future combo WiLink Wi-Fi solutions, NaviLink GPS solutions, and BlueLink Bluetooth solutions;
o Pre-validated modem interface software to easily connect the OMAP 4 platform to any external modem;
o New companion power and audio management solutions (TWL6030 and TWL6040 specifically designed to address the performance needs of the OMAP 4 platform; and
o Broad portfolio of other hardware solutions optimized for the OMAP 4 platform, including: DLP Pico projection technology, analogue components and other complementary technologies.
TI's OMAP 4 platform and development tools are expected to sample in the second half of 2009, with production expected by the second half of 2010. These products are intended for high-volume wireless OEMs and ODMs and are not available through distributors.

Backing for mobile editing chip designer

Dublin-based chip designer Movidia has secured over US$14 million in Series A funding from an international syndicate to bring its mobile video processor technology to market. Movidia’s first product, already proven in silicon, is set to launch in early 2009.
This low power video processor will enable powerful User Generated Content (UGC) video production functions for mobile phones and other consumer electronics products and will allow cell phone manufacturers to provide differentiated products and services to meet the growing global demand for mobile social networking. Users will be able to do complex in-clip editing to add post-production effects such as slow motion and super resolution zoom to their own video content in real time and on the move without the need for a PC.

Movidia was founded by an experienced management team from the semiconductor industry including CEO Sean Mitchell (right), CTO David Moloney and COO Paul Costigan. The company’s R&D and sales teams are located in Dublin, Hong Kong and Romania.

“The confidence shown by our investors in supporting Movidia highlights the value of our unique technology and, in light of current uncertainties in financial markets, provides strong validation of our fabless business model, market strategy and product plans,” said Movidia's CEO and co-founder, Sean Mitchell. “Mobile social networking capabilities will be an important differentiator for next generation mobile handsets and Movidia’s semiconductor products will provide handset manufacturers with unique video post-production capabilities that are now in demand by today’s consumers.”

Market
According to UGC industry analysts Juniper Research strong growth is expected in mobile social networking revenues with a market size of $7.3 billion by 2013. Meanwhile In-Stat expects that the worldwide market for mobile video revenues could reach $6.2 billion in the coming five years, while ABI Research forecasts 140 million mobile social networking users by 2013.
Funding
The venture syndicate is led by Celtic House Venture Partners and Capital-E and including Emertec Gestion, AIB Seed Capital Fund and Enterprise Ireland.