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.

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.