Lucent Technologies Inc.’s Microelectronics Group announced it is supplying its Sceptre chipsets for Blaupunkt’s new Radiophone device, a car stereo and cellular phone in one that will be available in Europe during the third quarter, said Lucent.
The initial release of Radiophone will operate using the Global System for Mobile communications standard, said Lucent. Germany-based Blaupunkt-Werke GmbH has not yet scheduled a release in the United States.
Paul Kan, marketing spokesman for Lucent’s European division, said the Radiophone incorporates functions of a high-end car radio, including compact disc and cassette players, as well as a cellular phone.
The phone is built in to the car with the radio equipment and cannot be removed. So what advantage would users have with a Radiophone, compared with a separate stereo and phone?
First of all, talking hands-free while driving is the law in Europe. Kan also said that a typical cellular phone in hands-free mode suffers in voice and audio quality. When a call comes in on the Radiophone, the stereo sound fades automatically for the driver to answer the phone. The Radiophone’s microphone and speakers are designed specifically to accommodate a speaker-phone environment.
“This is the first innovation of its kind,” noted Kan.
Blaupunkt is marketing the product to carriers and automakers. “There’s a pull factor from the operators,” said Kan. He expects that Radiophone customers will use the phones more than if they had a portable in hands-free mode, because of the convenience of operating it and the improved voice quality. In addition, on a traditional GSM phone, “I would argue that the likelihood of you using that phone and dropping calls is higher,” said Kan. Therefore, the expected increase in airtime used is a great selling point for Radiophone.
“Operators are happier with this, people staying on the air longer.”
Controls for the Radiophone will be installed on a vehicle’s steering wheel so drivers don’t have to lift their hands from the wheel or eyes from the road. And of course, said Kan, there will be no cords to get tangled.
Lucent said its Sceptre chipset is robust, flexible and can be used in a vertical market like stereo electronics. Lucent has supplied application support and support to integrate its chipsets into the Radiophone, said the company.
Blaupunkt’s marketing spokesman Randolph Ernst said his company chose Lucent’s Sceptre GSM chipset because of its small size, low-power requirements and its ability to easily be added to the Radiophone. “It dramatically reduced the time it would have taken us to bring this product to market.”
“This product opens up a whole new market for our cellular chips,” said Dan DiLeo, vice president of wireless and multimedia integrated circuits in Lucent’s Microelectronics Group. Stereo electronics is the first of many vertical market opportunities for the company’s cellular integrated circuit technology, added DiLeo.
More than half of the world’s digital cellular phones contain Lucent chipsets, said the company.
The Radiophone can only be used when activated with the user’s Subscriber Identity Module card. The card activates both the cellular phone and stereo power, said Kan. Users can roam with the Radiophone, in the same areas as other GSM users. The SIM card requirement also should reduce risk of theft compared with free-standing cellular phones or car stereos, Kan noted.
