Motorola Inc. has unveiled an architecture that will enable original equipment manufacturer developers to bring many features into smart handhelds at limited cost, within a small space and more rapidly than currently possible.
Known as the Mobile Extreme Convergence architecture, the company describes it as “a significant jump over today’s smallest approaches that are the size of a business card.” The size of the new product is more like a postage stamp, it said. The platform architecture covers hardware and software and makes the cost of components cheaper because they will be in one platform.
The product is based on the ARM processor design, but it underscores Motorola’s effort to improve the profile of its semiconductor unit, which has to do battle with big players like Intel Corp., Texas Instruments Inc. and STMicroelectronics.
With this product, the company expects the applications to be easy to develop in an agnostic atmosphere. It will also help smart devices to process a slew of multimedia offerings like video on demand, voice quality and MP3 players, as well as all forms of data downloads and transfers.
“OEMs can offer feature-rich, innovative devices at mass-market prices, doubling the addressable market size, creating new revenue opportunities and providing higher value services to their customers,” said Motorola.
The other advantage, according to the vendor, is that OEMs can make a wider array of devices in a short time.
It also handles the issues of convergence, memory, battery life, security and speed. With convergence, the platform harnesses Motorola’s hardware to drive call processing technology and applications processing technology using a shared memory system.
With a single processing core, developers can write once and port applications to any device, said Motorola. The wireless player said it has built a security engine into the product to increase the speed of adoption of a variety of offerings from music downloads to mobile credit-card transactions. This will help operators and content owners with onboard security like fingerprint recognition technology and over-the-air transactions.
Motorola has indicated its desire to spin off its semiconductor business. The division suffered a loss in the last quarter where rivals Intel and TI made significant leaps in net incomes. The MXC is part of the efforts of the company to put itself in good strides to jostle for market share and stand on its own or be acquired.
With the potential in the Asian market, especially China and South Korea, the company hopes its new product will give its semiconductor firm more traction.
