Qualcomm power the world's first LTE-Advanced smartphone in Korea first

SAN DIEGO, June 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., is enabling the world's first LTE-Advanced smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A, powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 processor. The new Galaxy S4 LTE-A will be launched on all three mobile operators' LTE networks in Korea, starting with SK Telecom, followed by KT and LGU+. The new Galaxy S4 LTE-A will be the first smartphone to utilize LTE carrier aggregation for data rates up to 150 Mbps – double what current LTE speeds offer. The Snapdragon 800 processor is Qualcomm Technologies' most advanced and powerful mobile processor to date.

"Snapdragon 800 processors with LTE Advanced are designed to deliver maximum performance and connectivity to users who want the fastest and best mobile experiences, from watching high-definition video to playing the latest mobile games," said Murthy Renduchintala, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and co-president, Qualcomm mobile and computing.  "LTE-Advanced represents a significant improvement over current standards and will only enhance these experiences on the Galaxy S4, and other future devices worldwide."

LTE carrier aggregation is an important new technology, and a foundational feature of the standard that combines radio channels within and across bands to increase user data rates and reduce latency. While current LTE mobile devices support several LTE radio channels, they can only download on one channel at a time. LTE carrier aggregation, however, allows for simultaneous download on two or more LTE radio channels, effectively enabling full use of the nominal chipset LTE data rate category. 

Snapdragon 800 processors feature an integrated multimode 3G/4G LTE modem and are designed to support LTE carrier aggregation without sacrificing battery life, allowing operators to increase both peak and average data rates for their consumers and device manufacturers to build sleeker devices with differentiated applications for their customers.  Qualcomm Technologies is currently shipping its third generation multimode LTE solutions.

The Galaxy S4 LTE-A is expected to be available to customers in Korea this summer. For more information on LTE-A and carrier aggregation, visit: http://www.qualcomm.com/media/videos/lte-advanced-carrier-aggregation-doubles-4g-data-speeds

About Qualcomm Incorporated

Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) is the world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm's licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. All Qualcomm Incorporated trademarks are used with permission. Other products or brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Qualcomm Contacts:
Tina Asmar, Corporate Communications
Phone: 1-858-845-5959
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com

Warren Kneeshaw, Investor Relations
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com

First quarter 2013 - ABI's report data on mobile market share and analysis

First quarter 2013 market share by OEM

OEM shipments from first quarter 2010 to the first quarter 2013

Overall smartphone shipments vs. non smartphones

Analysis from ABI's Michael Morgan

Vendor	Q1 2013 shipments (millions of units)	Analysis
Samsung	112.8	Samsung was one of two top OEMs that was able to increase its smartphone shipments from Q4. Continued strength from it's Galaxy line of smartphones and the increasing strength of the Note line kept smartphone shipments growing. It appears that Samsung was one of the few OEMs to capitalize on China's Q1 buying season. While it was Samsung's strength in the premium smartphone segment that built its market leadership, it can be expected that Samsung's strategy for mid-to-low-cost smartphones will be the engine that keeps Samsung at the top over the mid-term.
Nokia	61.9	Nokia shipped 61.9 mllion handsets in Q1 and 6.1 million smartphones. Of the 6.1 miillion smartphones 5.6 million were Windows Phone devices with the remainder made of Symbian devices. With the lowest penetration of smartphones in the global top ten, Nokia is increasingly dependent upon its line of feature phones that are exemplified by its Asha line of devices. In regard to feature phones, the Asha line of devices boasts industry leading functionality, but it is uncertain is these "smartphone-like" feature phones will be able to compete with the growing sub-$100 Android smartphones over time.
Apple	37.4	Q1  2013 results exemplified Apple's key problem: "Anyone who wants an iPhone, already has one." Apple's year-over-year growth dropped from 88% in Q1 2012 to 6.6% in Q1 2013.  The slowed growth of iPhone shipments was accompanied by a massive drop in its stock price as investors worry about the potential for future revenue growth. With strong demand for the iPhone 4S in China, ABI Research is concerned that the iPhone 5 has not done enough to keep Apple's upgrade cycle intact.
ZTE	16.9	Despite a drop in handset and smartphone shipments in Q1, ZTE was able to keep its penetration of smartphone shipments at 54%. Like other Chinese OEMs, ZTE felt the pressure of Samsung in its key home market of China. ZTE is expected to continue to push itself up the value chain from low-cost handsets into premium smartphones and furthur develop its brand strength and recognition. While upmarket movement is a classic strategy, ABI Research beleives that ZTE should not move up stream at the expense of its core strength in delivering low cost products.
LG	16.2	With yet another sequential quarter of profitablility and shipment growth, LG appears to be one the select few handset OEMs to legitimately turn its business around from the smartphone market disruption that occurred in 2011 and 2012. LG made the right bets on LTE, Android and premium smartphones two years ago, and these bets are officially bearing fruit. ABI Research beleives that if LG can comfortably shift to success in the mid-tier smartphone space, it may be able to move up the top ten ladder over the next two years.
Huawei	14.2	Huawei saw a nice sales boost in Q1 from its key APAC market despite Samsung's increasing presence in the region. While Huawei does have increasing presence in international markets and in particular emerging smartphone markets, it will be increasing important that it defends its position in China. ABI Research beleives that if Huawei's inherent advantages in China cannot hold against Samsung's marketing budget, there will be little to stop Samsung from pushing Huawei back in other developed markets such as Western Europe and North America.
TCL (Alcatel)	8.5	TCL (Alcatel) shipments showed heavy seasonality in Q1 with a 37% sequential drop in shipments. Comparitively, TCL has low brand recognition for a top ten handset OEM, and ABI Research believes that this will prevent TCL (Alcatel) from fending off lower ranked handset OEMs on the rise.
Sony Mobile	8.1	With the launch of the iPhone 5 and the continued dominance of the Samsung Galaxy line of smartphones, Sony's smartphone efforts may have been lost in the fanfare of others success. Sony remains in the top ten list at No. 8, while other perenials such as HTC and Motorola have lost their ranking for the forseeable future. ABI Research belives that Sony's sequential shipment decline in Q1 signals a need for Sony to throw some strong marketing muscle behind its latest Xperia Z smartphone, and raise its awareness and presence in the North American market.
Lenovo	7.6	Like most China-based handset OEMs, Lenovo shipments decreased in Q1 due to pressure from Samsung in its home market of China. Although the Chinese market offers amazing potential for growth, Chinese OEMs such as Lenovo will need to build global strength in their brands if they want to capture more of their home markets.
BlackBerry (RIM)	6.0	ABI Research would classify BlackBerry's launch of its new BB10 platform a soft launch. With only select markets receiving the Z10 device in the quarter, BlackBerry was only able to move 1M of the new devices in Q1. However, with the Q10 and the Q5 devices coming to play in Q2, BlackBerry will be firing on all cylinders for the rest of 2013. WIth heavy demand build up from consumers waiting for a quality Qwerty smartphone to hit the market, BlackBerry may yet squeeze another golden egg from its old strengths.
HTC	4.5	Despite HTC's well designed One smartphone, initial sales were not enough to stem HTC's shipments decline. ABI Research has done considerable research on this device and found it to be one of the best designed handsets on the market. This goes to show that it is not always the best technology that wins in the mobile market. However, HTC's commitment to increase its marketing spend on the device may be the missing ingredient needed to stem HTC's decline.
Motorola	3.9	With little news about Motorola's X phone, the shipments of its now stale line of smartphones continues to decline. ABI Research believes that Motorola may be shifting away from developing unique branded handsets and moving more towards the development of Android reference designs that other handset OEMs can leverage. While this may help the Android ecosystem at large, the loss of Motorola's brand presence will only cause the sinking division of Google to loose relevance in the smartphone market.

The raw data

2013 Q1 Handset Shipment Market Share by OEM
Samsung	27.9%
Nokia	15.3%
Apple	9.2%
ZTE	4.2%
LG	4.0%
Blackberry (RIM)	1.5%
Huawei	3.5%
Motorola	1.0%
TCL (Alcatel)	2.1%
Sony Mobile	2.0%
HTC	1.1%
Lenovo	1.9%
Other	28.3%

 

Handset shipments by vendor
Vendor	1Q 2011	2Q 2011	3Q 2011	4Q 2011	1Q 2012	2Q 2012	3Q 2012	4Q 2012	1Q 2013
Nokia	108.5	88.5	106.5	113.5	82.7	83.7	82.9	86.3	61.9
Samsung	70.0	74.0	85.0	93.5	93.8	94.2	102.6	106.5	112.8
LG	24.5	24.8	21.1	20.0	13.7	13.1	14.4	15.4	16.2
Sony Mobile	8.1	7.6	9.5	9.0	7.3	7.4	8.8	8.7	8.1
Motorola	9.0	10.6	12.9	10.3	8.8	8.1	7.3	5.3	3.9
BlackBerry	14.9	13.2	11.8	14.1	11.1	7.8	7.4	6.9	6.0
Apple	18.7	20.3	17.1	37.0	35.1	26.0	26.9	47.8	37.4
HTC	9.7	12.1	13.2	10.1	6.7	8.3	7.1	6.1	4.5
Huawei	9.1	11.9	14.2	16.3	10.5	10.8	12.1	15.0	14.2
ZTE	15.2	19.6	18.9	20.0	18.9	19.7	17.6	20.8	16.9
TCL (Alcatel Mobile Phones)	7.7	8.9	9.4	8.1	7.8	10.8	10.5	13.4	8.5
Lenovo	0.8	0.9	0.9	1.1	2.3	6.8	6.9	9.5	7.6

 

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Samsung and LG aim to up sales of US$200 handsets in 2008,

22 Jan 2008
Samsung Electronics aims to ship 50 million handsets with a unit price tag of above US$200 in 2008, accounting for 25% of the company's shipment goal of 200 million handsets for the year, the Chinese-language Commercial Times quoted South Korean media as indicating.

3G handsets surpass half of US device sales in 3Q07, says Strategy Analytics

21 Nov, 2007

Handsets from Motorola and LG Electronics (LGE), collectively accounted for seven of the top-ten best selling consumer handsets in the US in the third quarter of 2007, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
"Overall the average retail price paid for these top-ten handsets was 19% higher than the market average and we continue to see strong upgrade dynamics continue to supplement US market growth," stated Barry Gilbert, vice president of Strategy Analytics' ProductSTRAX services. "Motorola, however, despite selling four of the top-ten models in the third quarter, realized an average selling price (ASP) of only US$80, nearly 40% lower than the group average."
"3G devices accounted for 55% of the top selling device volumes. That share will continue to grow during the fourth quarter," states Chris Ambrosio, a director in the Wireless Practice at Strategy Analytics. "While the iPhone gets the headlines, the "Sync" from Samsung and the "Chocolate" from LG quietly stole the show in the category of iconic, 3G feature phones. Samsung, in particular, is well-positioned to dominate 3G sales during the critical fourth quarter holiday season."

US best selling consumer handsets, 3Q07
Model
Motorola RAZR V3
Motorola RAZR V3m
LG VX8300
Apple iPhone
LG Chocolate VX8550/8500
Motorola MOTOKRZR K1m
Samsung SGH-A707
LG VX5300
Sanyo Katana II
Motorola V323i/V325i

China’s smartphone sales continue to rise

20 Nov, 2007 by CommsDay
China saw a 5.2 per cent increase in smartphone sales, reaching sales volume of 6.388 million sets in Q3 and gaining US$2.23 billion sales revenue, increasing 11.3 per cent on a month-on-month basis, said CCID Consulting.
The firm put down the highs in sales volume to students buying phones during the summer vacation and the promotions during the Chinese national holiday.
CCID also reported that Symbian OS retained its lead over other operating systems, holding nearly 70 per cent market share with sales volume reaching 4.416 million handsets, due to Nokia’s ongoing popularity in China.
Windows Mobile posted 52 per cent growth rate attributed in part to the popularity of Windows Mobile-based phones from Motorola, Samsung, Lenovo and Dopod, though still representing just over 5 per cent of the market.
Conversely, although Linux still held more than 25 per cent of the market, sales volume dropped partly due to the declining sales of Motorola’s Linux-based models, which accounted for 70 per cet of the Linux-based smartphone market, the market analyst said.
The market share for Palm operating system phones is down 52.6 per cent. The reason is that the manufacturers adopting the Palm operating system are not the mainstream of the market, CCID reported.
CCID also added that market share of phones with large screens continually increase. However, while smartphones with a screen size larger than two inches make up more than 90 per cent of the market, their share is actually decreasing. Demand for screen sizes larger than 2.4 inches has decreased nearly 13 per cent, which the firm has speculated on account of customers wanting smaller, lighter phones.
Looking forward, CCID Consulting forecasts that China's smart phone market will keep increasing in 2007Q4 and the sales volume will increase five per cent while the sales revenue will increase eight per cent.
Promotional campaigns are also expected to be the key to a manufacturer’s success in the smart phone market in 2007Q3.

Taiwan market: Samsung to open first retail store

13 Nov, 2007
Samsung Electronics plans to open a retail store for its elite series electronics products located in eastern downtown Taipei. This will be the first store Samsung opens in Taiwan. The opening is scheduled for November 17, according to Samsung Electronics Taiwan.
The design and style of the store is the same as other Samsung elite stores around the world, Samsung Taiwan indicated. The store will showcases handsets, digital music players, digital cameras, printers, LCD monitors and home theater systems, Samsung Taiwan noted.
Samsung plans to set up further retail outlets in central and southern Taiwan in 2008, Samsung Taiwan pointed out.

Taiwan market: Samsung achieves goal of shipping one million handsets

9 Nov, 2007

Samsung Electronics recently reached its target of shipping one million handsets for a 14-15% share in the Taiwan handset market, according to Scott Huang, vice president of the mobile communications unit at Samsung Taiwan.
Samsung will continue to boost its sales in Taiwan by introducing more camera, music and fashion handsets, with two 5-megapixel camera models, the G608 and G808, and three music handsets to be launched in early February 2008, Huang noted.
Although Samsung has engaged simultaneously in the development of Windows Mobile-, Linux- and Symbian-based handsets, the company will focus on Windows Mobile-based models in the Taiwan market, with the i458 to hit the local market in early 2008, Huang added.
Samsung on November 8 launched its Windows Mobile-based i608 smartphone in Taiwan. The i608 supports HSDPA and is equipped with a QWERTY keyboard. Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) is expected to purchase 10,000-20,000 i608 handsets from Samsung in the initial cooperation plan, according to sources at CHT.

MontaVista acquires Korean company to expand embedded Linux in Korea

01-Nov-2007 [Source: MontaVista]
Former Korean joint venture - MontaVista Software Korea Co., Ltd. - now wholly-owned subsidiary of MontaVista Software in efforts to better support Korean companies (Samsung, LGE, ETRI and others) in developing new devices and software platforms running on MontaVista Linux.]
Seoul, Korea -- MontaVista Software, Inc., the leading provider of Linux for intelligent devices and communications infrastructure, announced today that it has purchased a Seoul-based company to meet the growing demand from Korean device manufacturers and software developers for MontaVista embedded Linux software and services. The announcement was made at a press conference in Seoul.
MontaVista Software Korea Co., Ltd. was established four years ago as a joint venture between MontaVista and other investors. It has been acquired in full by MontaVista Software, Inc. The entire sales and services staff have become employees of MontaVista Software, Inc., and will help MontaVista support Samsung, LG Electronics, ETRI, and its other Korean customers in the use of MontaVista Linux to quickly produce innovative new electronic devices and embedded applications.
"We are impressed by the rapid growth in the number of Korean companies that have selected MontaVista Linux," said Tom Kelly, president and CEO of MontaVista Software. "We expect to sign more than 50 agreements with 30 different Korean companies this year alone. We are making this investment to build closer relationships with our Korean customers, and with the markets they help drive."
The former Korean joint venture is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of MontaVista Software, Inc. It will provide sales, support, and consulting engineering services to electronic device designers, helping them use MontaVista DevRocket development tools to customize MontaVista Linux and implement new devices and software platforms running on MontaVista Linux open-source operating system software.
MontaVista has hired Young-Hoon Yoo as Korea Country Manager. The former head of South Korean operations for WebMethods and EMC Documentum, Yoo also managed telecommunications business development in Asia for Cadence Design Systems.
"We are working on making a seamless transition for our customers, partners, and employees to MontaVista ownership," said Yoo. "Now, with direct access to MontaVista's corporate resources, we are ready to address the growth in demand for MontaVista embedded Linux operating systems, development tools, and support services."
MontaVista Software, Inc. is the leading provider of Linux for intelligent devices and telecommunications infrastructure. MontaVista delivers commercial-quality Linux operating systems, time-saving development tools, expert support, and design and migration services. MontaVista has more than 400 partners, and thousands of companies use MontaVista embedded Linux to add functionality, increase reliability, reduce costs, and accelerate product development. MontaVista has offices in 15 countries. For more information, please visit www.mvista.com

Samsung Planning to Outsource Handset Production

29 Oct, 2007

Samsung Electronics is planning to outsource some handset production to OEMs, reports the South Korean Electronic Times newspaper. An industrial source told the newspaper that handset casing suppliers will provide up to 700,000 units per month in a "near finished" state.
The so-called 'ready-to-sell' products will be completed the core parts, the window lens and the display attachment process. Therefore, Samsung Electronics will simply install its operating software and serial number.
Intops, one of the suppliers, will provide 300,000 to 500,000 units of the ready-to-sell handsets to Samsung Electronics in every month.
Managing Director Young-tae Jeong of Intops said, "Of course, it would be limited to several models only. However, we will provide handsets, which has been completed 85-90% of the manufacturing process, to Samsung. The average monthly volume is expected to be 300,000 units. But, it is likely to increase to 1 million units."
On the web: Electronic Times
Posted to the site on 29th October 2007

Top 5 Mobile Phone Manufacturers Consolidate Their Market Share Lead

25 Oct, 2007
How much did Nokia increase its mobile-phone unit shipments in the third quarter? More than the total second-quarter mobile-handset shipments of Fujitsu, Ningbo Bird, TCL-Alcatel, Panasonic, Pantech & Curitel, and UTStarcom - combined.


Indeed, Nokia's third-quarter gains were impressive, with its global mobile-handset shipments rising by a stunning 10.9 million units compared to the second quarter. The Finnish mobile-handset sales leader increased its shipments to 111.7 million units in the third quarter, up 10.8 percent from 100.8 million in the second quarter. This gave the company a global market share of 39.5 percent, up from 37.9 percent in the second quarter, helping it to pad its market dominance.

"Nokia is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of multimedia- and business-oriented applications for mobile phones," said Tina Teng, analyst, wireless communications, for iSuppli. "The company's shipments of 'convergence' mobile phones that integrate multimedia and smart-phone features grew by 53.8 percent in the third quarter of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006."

Nokia also remained the leader in terms of operating profit in the third quarter. The company's mobile device business unit achieved an exceptionally-healthy 22.2 percent operating margin during the period. This compares to an average operating margin of 10.5 percent for the Top-5 mobile-handset suppliers in the third quarter.
The only disappointment in Nokia's third-quarter results was its performance in the Americas region. Nokia in the third quarter suffered a unit-shipment decline of 12.7 percent in Latin America and of 1.7 percent in North America compared to the same period in 2006.


A Q3 to remember
The strong results from Nokia came during a robust period for the global mobile-handset business and its leading players. Worldwide mobile phone shipments during the period amounted to 283 million units, up 6.4 percent from 266 million units in the second quarter and a 15.4 percent increase from 245.3 million units in the third quarter of 2006.
High first-time sales of phones in emerging markets and high replacement rates in Europe were the major factor driving the growth.
The Top-5 mobile handset suppliers benefited from the healthy growth, with all of these companies increasing their shipments during the third quarter compared to the second.
Combined shipments for these companies rose 9.6 percent during the third quarter compared to the second. At this margin of expansion, these companies outgrew the overall market and thus gained aggregate market share at the expense of the smaller suppliers.



Samsung soars again
While Nokia's unit shipment gain was impressive, Samsung Electronics actually posted a slightly larger increase on a percentage basis, helping the company to maintain the second rank in the industry.
Samsung's global mobile-handset shipments rose to 42.6 million units in the third quarter, up 13.9 percent from 37.4 million in the second quarter. Compared to the third quarter of 2006, Samsung's shipments rose by 38.8 percent, the highest rate of all the Top-5 mobile-handset makers.
This boosted Samsung's market share to 15.1 percent, up from 14.1 percent in the second quarter, giving the company a 2.2 percentage point lead over No. 3 ranked Motorola. This is up from a 0.7-point gap in the second quarter.
"Samsung's strong performance was due to impressive increases in shipments in the European and Americas regions," Teng said. "The company's shipments in Europe and the Americas rose by 28.1 percent and 26.6 percent respectively in the third quarter. This more than offset the 6 percent sequential decline in shipments in Asia during the same period."
Samsung has chosen not to participate in the Ultra Low Cost Handset (ULCH) market and instead has put increased focus on high-end, high-margin 3G handsets. This strategy paid off, with the company boosting its average operating margin by $1 during the period.
The company in the third quarter yielded a 12.3 percent operating profit margin, up from 8.4 percent in the second quarter.
Motorola on the comeback trail?
Based on iSuppli's preliminary estimate of Motorola's share, the company shipped 36.5 million mobile handsets during the third quarter, up 2.8 percent from 35.5 million in the second quarter. This lagged the handset market's overall shipment growth rate of 6.4 percent, but kept Motorola's market share fairly steady at around 13 percent. However, on a year-to-year basis, Motorola's shipments plunged by 32.7 percent, making it the only company not to post an increase on an annual basis in the third quarter.
Motorola in the second quarter lost its long-time No. 2 ranking to Samsung. The company struggled to achieve an operating profit in the first and second quarters.
"Despite Motorola's recent woes, there are signs the company is gradually regaining its footing in the global mobile handset market," Teng said. "With its new product line coming out during the holiday season, Motorola should be able to achieve continued growth in shipment volume during the fourth quarter."

Final figures on Motorola's shipments will be available after it issues its third-quarter results later this week.

LG lives large
LG was the clear leader in terms of volume-shipment percentage growth in the third quarter, with its sales rising by 14.7 percent sequentially. The company's global mobile-phone shipments increased to 21.9 million during the third quarter, up from 19.1 million in the second quarter.
However, all the growth was driven by emerging markets such as the Middle East, Latin America, India and China, as was reflected in its Average Selling Price (ASP). Slow sales in North America and Europe resulted in LG's mobile-handset ASP falling to $124, down 18.6 percent from $152.3 in the second quarter.
Despite a revenue decline of 7.9 percent measured in South Korean won, LG still managed to maintain its operating profit at 8.4 percent in the third quarter.

Broadcom Joins the LiMo Foundation

18 Sept, 2007

[Broadcom joins LiMo Foundation as semiconductor supplier. LiMo Foundation members collaborate to create a unified Linux-based OS for mobile devices.]

Irvine, CA -- Broadcom Corporation, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that it has joined the LiMo Foundation as one of its first semiconductor suppliers. Broadcom joins a prestigious group of founding members (Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone) that have collaborated to create a unified Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. As part of the group's charter the LiMo Foundation is delivering a globally consistent software platform and unified applications programming interface (API) to enable open source contributions that will help to drive smartphone capabilities and developments.
As Broadcom 3G solutions continue to evolve towards more powerful and increasingly connected devices, next generation handsets will require a software platform that can keep pace with this increasing level of sophistication. Today's smartphone is expected to enable, enrich and entertain consumers with dynamic user interfaces and increased security. As the Linux operating system continues to gain momentum in the mobile space, Broadcom will work with the LiMo Foundation to address industry concerns such as power, size and cost, in an effort to achieve widespread adoption of Linux-based handsets.
"Broadcom's membership in the LiMo Foundation highlights the growing enthusiasm for mobile Linux and the effort to build products within a shared architecture," said Morgan Gilis, Executive Director of the LiMo Foundation. "The power of the LiMo Foundation increases with each new committed contributor and the addition of Broadcom to this alliance will make the technology increasingly attractive for new handset products."
As an associate member of the LiMo Foundation, Broadcom will gain access to the Foundation's code, participate in working groups and make contributions that will enable Broadcom to further assert its leadership in the developing smartphone segment, while continuing to maintain technological leadership in the mobile Linux arena.
"Adding the expertise and commitment of a leading chip supplier such as Broadcom to the LiMo Foundation makes the organization stronger and ultimately more successful in commercializing innovative LiMo solutions," said Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DoCoMo, Chairperson of the LiMo Foundation. "We're excited to have Broadcom as a member and we expect the company to make strong contributions to our technology and market initiatives."
"Broadcom is an exciting addition to the LiMo Foundation," said Hankil Yoon, the chair of Architecture Council of LiMo and Vice President of Samsung Electronics. "Broadcom's diverse connectivity portfolio will drive increasingly advanced devices into Linux handsets."
Broadcom's move to join the LiMo Foundation follows the recent expansion of its smart-phone Design Center in Taiwan, which currently focuses on the development of Windows Mobile solutions, and joining the S60 developers' community for Symbian S60 based smart-phones. These three recent moves highlight Broadcom's strong commitment to and investment in all popular types of smartphone. It is this commitment and investment, combined with world-leading silicon solutions that enable Broadcom to target the majority of the feature-rich mobile phone market.
"Broadcom has a long history of working closely within the Linux community on advanced communications products. Our membership in the LiMo Foundation highlights our commitment to the expanding opportunities within the Linux mobile environment," said Jim Tran, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Mobile Communications line of business. "Support for advanced operating systems, such as Linux, is a key feature of our advanced baseband products and we're excited to support LiMo Foundation devices for both the smart- and feature-phone markets."
Key Broadcom Linux-compliant Mobile Solutions
Broadcom expects its initial Linux-compliant mobile solutions to include the BCM2153 and BCM2820.
The BCM2153 HEDGE (HSDPA + EDGE) multimedia baseband processor is the industry's first solution for mobile handsets that integrates a High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) baseband modem with world-class application, audio and multimedia processors on a single monolithic chip. The new Linux-compliant mixed-signal device is the first developed completely in a 65 nanometer CMOS process and integrates an advanced HSDPA modem that delivers 7.2 Mbps (megabits per second) for applications requiring high speed 3G connectivity. With this level of integration, the BCM2153 HSDPA processor requires less board space, cost and power than competing solutions, thus eliminating the cost premium associated with HSDPA handsets today.
The BCM2820 applications processor is a high performance system-on-a-chip solution that combines Broadcom's industry-leading VideoCore's multimedia processor and an ARM11(TM) applications processor. Fully supporting Linux, the BCM2820 is optimized for high volume markets including mobile phones, mobile TVs and portable audio/video/game devices, while delivering unprecedented levels of integration, multimedia performance and low power dissipation. The BCM2820 applications processor offers an impressive array of multimedia features including support for an 8 megapixel digital camera, MPEG-4/H.264 VGA video decoding at 30 frames per second, video encoding at 30 frames per second, and NTSC/PAL TV output via composite, component and S-video connections.
Both the BCM2820 and BCM2153 are currently available to Broadcom's strategic partners. Broadcom also makes available complete development platforms, pre-integrated with associated software and peripheral devices, such as PMU, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, FM Radio, and GPS.