NEW YORK-Sony Corp. has licensed the Texas Instruments Open Multimedia Application processing engine and Symbian’s EPOC software platform for Sony’s next generation of wireless handsets.
Sony selected the two technologies as part of an “ongoing effort to implement Memory Stick storage and data exchange into its wireless phones,” the companies said.
Last year, Nokia Corp. licensed the OMAP and EPOC technologies, and Ericsson Inc. followed suit earlier this year.
“The upcoming broadband data services and the rising demand for ubiquitous, [multifunctional] 2.5G and 3G mobile devices will require a powerful, power-thrifty processing engine and operating system,” said Katsumi Ihara, president of Sony’s Personal IT Network Co.
Texas Instruments designed OMAP “as a microcontroller core to run high-level applications,” said Alain Mutricy, director of TI’s wireless communications group for the Americas.
It uses an open standard the company “is pushing as a de facto industry standard … so that independent software houses and original equipment manufacturers can accelerate development of applications tailored for mobile devices,” he said.
Symbian said its EPOC platform provides an operating system, system layer, application engines and user interfaces designed for a variety of wireless information devices. Motorola Inc., Panasonic Co., Philips Electronics Corp. and Psion also have licensed EPOC.
