标签: omap

Last week, Texas Instruments has announced its plans to refocus its successful OMAP applications processor to target embedded applications—all but abandoning future smartphone and tablet sockets, despite some notable design wins. This news caught many people off guard. But not Will Strauss, principal analyst at Forward Concepts Inc. Back in November 2010, Strauss identified the trend that would lead to TI's strategic shift, and wrote about it in his monthly newsletter—the future of applications processors involved integrated base band, and TI had a decision to make. Back then, Strauss reported that OMAP was the leader in 3G cell phone apps processor shipments, but that Qualcomm was already nipping at its heels with the Snapdragon communications processor, which offered both an applications processor and cellular modem on the same die. Strauss predicted that combo chips that integrated both apps processor and modem would make up nearly three-quarters of applications processor shipments by 2014. TI had already all but exited the cellular modem business, pledging only to continue shipments to Nokia. Now TI had to make a choice—jump back into cellular modems with both feet in order to remain competitive down the road with OMAP for smartphones and tablets, or prepare to change strategies. Strauss, pointing out that Intel had recently bought its way back into the cellular base band market by acquiring the wireless chip unit of Infineon, noted that Nvidia was in a similar situation—Nvidia had the promising Tegra apps processor, but no base band. "Both companies are big enough to buy one of the few remaining modem houses, should they decide to take that route," Strauss wrote at the time. Strauss singled out Icera Semiconductor as the most attractive modem maker left. Nvidia bought Icera for $367 million a few months later. TI, having tired of the base band business after being undercut on price by MediaTek and others, had no intention of reversing its field. And the rest is history. While Intel and Nvidia were willing to ante up to add base band capability as table stakes to get into the game for future smartphone and tablet sockets, TI choose the low road. Nvidia is now offering both Tegra and the Icera base band chips, and plans to start shipping a version with both integrated on the same die next year. Strauss believes Intel will ultimately put either Atom or a successor on the same die with the base band, but he suspects it won't happen until at least 2014. A foregone conclusion According to Strauss, the inevitability of re-focusing OMAP has been a foregone conclusion by at least some people within TI for some time. In his remarks on the strategy earlier this week, Greg Delagi, TI's senior vice president for embedded processing, stressed that the company had been shifting RD investments in OMAP for several years in preparation for this move. He insisted that TI had not been caught "flat-footed" by the market trends. The primary reason for the change cited by Delgai is also relevant. Apple and Samsung are the dominant players in smartphones and tablets, and they make their own applications processors. That leaves a smaller pie for the likes of TI, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Intel. But as has been pointed out by analysts and others, that smaller pie is not that small, and TI may suffer as its roughly $900 million in annual revenue from OMAP and connectivity chips in smartphones and tablets declines along with its RD investment. But, according to Strauss, without the base band capability, TI wasn't going to be able to hang on to the smartphone and tablet sockets it has for much longer. "The clear trend is towards an integrated base band," Strauss said in an interview this week. This is by no means the end of the line for OMAP. As Delagi stressed, OMAP has a real opportunity to grow share in the $18 billion embedded processor market, where there are many more customers, but smaller volumes. TI can also leverage its strength in analogue to improve its position in embedded processing, where the company already claims 12 per cent market share and the No. 2 position. "It's a reasonable market for them," Straus said. "It's really they only approach they've got. That can be a profitable product line. It just won't be a 1 billion unit product line."

Last week, the news that Texas Instruments plans to refocus its successful OMAP applications processor to target embedded applications—all but abandoning future smartphone and tablet sockets, despite some notable design wins—caught many people off guard. But not Will Strauss, principal analyst at Forward Concepts Inc. Back in November 2010, Strauss identified the trend that would lead to TI's strategic shift, and wrote about it in his monthly newsletter—the future of applications processors involved integrated base band, and TI had a decision to make. Back then, Strauss reported that OMAP was the leader in 3G cell phone apps processor shipments, but that Qualcomm was already nipping at its heels with the Snapdragon communications processor, which offered both an applications processor and cellular modem on the same die. Strauss predicted that combo chips that integrated both apps processor and modem would make up nearly three-quarters of applications processor shipments by 2014. TI had already all but exited the cellular modem business, pledging only to continue shipments to Nokia. Now TI had to make a choice—jump back into cellular modems with both feet in order to remain competitive down the road with OMAP for smartphones and tablets, or prepare to change strategies. Strauss, pointing out that Intel had recently bought its way back into the cellular base band market by acquiring the wireless chip unit of Infineon, noted that Nvidia was in a similar situation—Nvidia had the promising Tegra apps processor, but no base band. "Both companies are big enough to buy one of the few remaining modem houses, should they decide to take that route," Strauss wrote at the time. Strauss singled out Icera Semiconductor as the most attractive modem maker left. Nvidia bought Icera for $367 million a few months later. TI, having tired of the base band business after being undercut on price by MediaTek and others, had no intention of reversing its field. And the rest is history. While Intel and Nvidia were willing to ante up to add base band capability as table stakes to get into the game for future smartphone and tablet sockets, TI choose the low road. Nvidia is now offering both Tegra and the Icera base band chips, and plans to start shipping a version with both integrated on the same die next year. Strauss believes Intel will ultimately put either Atom or a successor on the same die with the base band, but he suspects it won't happen until at least 2014. A foregone conclusion According to Strauss, the inevitability of re-focusing OMAP has been a foregone conclusion by at least some people within TI for some time. In his remarks on the strategy earlier this week, Greg Delagi, TI's senior vice president for embedded processing, stressed that the company had been shifting RD investments in OMAP for several years in preparation for this move. He insisted that TI had not been caught "flat-footed" by the market trends. The primary reason for the change cited by Delgai is also relevant. Apple and Samsung are the dominant players in smartphones and tablets, and they make their own applications processors. That leaves a smaller pie for the likes of TI, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Intel. But as has been pointed out by analysts and others, that smaller pie is not that small, and TI may suffer as its roughly $900 million in annual revenue from OMAP and connectivity chips in smartphones and tablets declines along with its RD investment. But, according to Strauss, without the base band capability, TI wasn't going to be able to hang on to the smartphone and tablet sockets it has for much longer. "The clear trend is towards an integrated base band," Strauss said in an interview this week. This is by no means the end of the line for OMAP. As Delagi stressed, OMAP has a real opportunity to grow share in the $18 billion embedded processor market, where there are many more customers, but smaller volumes. TI can also leverage its strength in analogue to improve its position in embedded processing, where the company already claims 12 per cent market share and the No. 2 position. "It's a reasonable market for them," Straus said. "It's really they only approach they've got. That can be a profitable product line. It just won't be a 1 billion unit product line."  

   Philippe Desblancs   惠普 (HP) 日前宣布推出其首款商用因特网显示器 HP Passport 1912nm，为机场、办公楼 (administrations)、公众场所或者酒店等公共场合的设备**问因特网和个性化多媒体内容（视频、图片和音乐）提供了一种全新便捷的途径。Passport 1912nm 采用内置扬声器的 18.5 英寸大型显示器，配备全尺寸键盘和鼠标，可为插入 SD 卡或者 USB 盘提供足够的插槽。   表面上看 Passport 1912nm 就像通常笔记本电脑用的 18.5 英寸显示器，但实际功能要丰富得多。Passport 1912nm 如何能做到提供如此强大的功能？原因在于它有一颗 OMAP4430 处理器的“芯”！   惠普显示器的初始设计构想表面看似简单，但在我们德州仪器 (TI) 工程师的协助下，实施方法却充满着智慧。以一款业界领先的时尚显示器为基础，他们整合了一块配备 OMAP4430 处理器和必要配套芯片的插板 (add-on board)，就实现了一款能够提供业界最出众 Web 浏览体验、丰富多媒体内容播放以及稳定可靠因特网连接的产品。与传统的非交互式显示器相比，这些强大的功能以低微的成本（也是实惠的价格）让一款通常的显示器具备非凡的价值。   Passport 是 TI OMAP 处理器广泛产品中的又一例证。过去常见于智能电话和平板电脑的 OMAP4430 处理器，现在正大举进军各类全新市场，全面满足客户需求。事实上，正是 OMAP4 系列传统上在移动领域的广泛应用，才积极促成了惠普选择这款处理器驱动自己的因特网显示器。想到这款产品既要播放时尚的 1080p 高清视频内容，提供流畅的 Web 浏览体验，如播放流行的 Adobe Flash 内容等，同时还要满足严格的低耗电要求，这种选择就完全是顺理成章的。Passport 1912nm 符合最新的低能耗标准，能够为消费者提供业界最出色的性能。   在 Passport 1912nm 带来的新用途方面，我个人已经看到不少的新功能正在涌现。孩子们在家爱看网络视频，我们家就是这种产品的理想用户。我的孩子会非常喜欢这种用户界面的简洁性：仅需操作几个图标，就可以从附加设备中播放视频、观看图片、欣赏音乐，并打开 Web 浏览器上网。当然，我更欣赏实现 Passport 1912nm 应用的底层技术，其中包括 OMAP4430 处理器为嵌入式 Adobe Flash 插件所做的优化。此外，我还可以确证加锁的 Linux 操作系统可以防止病毒入侵，让我们家的内容和信息时刻得到保护。   除了家居环境外，我认为 Passport 1912nm也适用于酒店房间或者机场候客厅等地方。例如，在一天的旅游结束后，我能够把我的数字相机轻松连接到 Passport 1912nm 上，将图片和见闻发送给朋友和家庭。这对许多人期望使用 Passport 1912nm 相互交流的其他场合也同样适用，如办公楼以及公共场地等。这个设备的用途可以说是真正的无穷无尽。能够与惠普的团队合作开发这一特性优异的产品，我们倍感振奋。   您想怎么使用 Passport 1912nm 呢？请在评论栏中畅所欲言吧！    

Imagine this: Intel Corp., whose x86 architecture is locked in a struggle for supremacy with the ARM architecture, could actually be a perspective buyer of Texas Instruments Inc.'s (TI) line of ARM-based applications processors. That's according to speculation by an analyst. For  the past few weeks, rumors have been circulating that TI is attempting to sell off its OMAP division. Most recently, the technology news site Semiaccurate reported Tuesday (Aug. 16) that Broadcom Corp. is considering the acquisition of OMAP.  Predictably, TI won't comment on whether or not OMAP is for sale. A company spokesperson gave the standard-issue "no comment" when asked about the speculation, citing a long-standing company policy not to discuss rumors or speculation about mergers, acquisitions or divestitures. As many have pointed out, the divestiture of OMAP might make sense for TI, particularly since the company has hitched its wagon more tightly to analog than ever before. Analyst Craig Berger of FBR Capital Markets recently downgraded TI's stock to "market perform" from "outperform," in part because TI is borrowing money to finance its $6.5 billion acquisition of National Semiconductor Corp. So, the $1 billion or so that OMAP might fetch would probably come in handy. In downgrading TI, Berger also noted that Nvidia Corp. has the early lead in applications processors for tablets with its Tegra 2. But OMAP hasn't exactly been a flop. OMAP design wins include Research in Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry Playbook and Motorola Mobility Inc.'s Droid smartphones, and rumor has it that OMAP 4 will be used in the reference platform for the next version of Google's Android operating system (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich). That's all well and good, but where exactly does Intel fit in? According to Will Strauss, principal analyst at market research firm Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.), if OMAP is indeed in play, Intel is a possible suitor. Here's why: Strauss believes that smartphone and tablet OEMs will increasingly look to leverage SoCs that integrate both the applications processor and the cellular baseband on the same die. Since TI is phasing out its baseband operations, the firm may have an even tougher time notching OMAP design wins going forward, Strauss believes. Intel, on the other hand, finalized the acquisition of Infineon Technologies AG's wireless chip business earlier this year, and might be interested in an ARM-based applications processor that it could marry with the baseband technology. Strauss, who emphasized that he was speculating, noted that the price that OMAP would fetch, which he estimated at certainly $1 billion or more, means there are only a handful of companies who could pull off a deal. "People are looking at alternatives to Intel ," Strauss said. "Maybe Intel should, too." Intel, of course, has marketed ARM-based processors in the past. But the company sold the XScale line to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and has phased out other ARM-based products in its catalog in favor of those based on x86. Strauss noted that another frequently rumored suitor for OMAP—Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)—might also be interested in a deal, but that such an offer would likely be a merger as opposed to a cash buy because AMD doesn't have Intel's deep pockets. Strauss noted that AMD has dabbled in non-Intel-architecture chips before, taking a license from MIPS in 2002. But AMD sold its MIPS-based processor line to Raza Microelectronics Inc. in 2006. "I thought they really missed the boat on that one," Strass said. AMD has been widely criticized for being slow to bring to market processors for tablets and smartphones. Getting its hands on OMAP through merger or another arrangement would give the company a big boost in that department. But in addition to not having the resources to make a straight cash buy of OMAP, any attempt by AMD to get its hands on OMAP is complicated by another matter. More than seven months after showing CEO Dirk Meyer the door (some say for being to0 slow to bring to market processors for tablets and smartphones) AMD is still looking for its next permanent CEO. It's hard to imagine AMD pulling off a deal of this magnitude without the sign off of the person who will be running the show, eventually.   Dylan McGrath EE Times

Here's what an analyst is speculating: Intel Corp., whose x86 architecture is locked in a struggle for supremacy with the ARM architecture, could actually be a perspective buyer of Texas Instruments Inc.'s (TI) line of ARM-based applications processors. For several weeks, rumors have been circulating that TI is attempting to sell off its OMAP division. Most recently, the technology news site Semiaccurate reported Tuesday (Aug. 16) that Broadcom Corp. is considering the acquisition of OMAP.  Predictably, TI won't comment on whether or not OMAP is for sale. A company spokesperson gave the standard-issue "no comment" when asked about the speculation, citing a long-standing company policy not to discuss rumors or speculation about mergers, acquisitions or divestitures. As many have pointed out, the divestiture of OMAP might make sense for TI, particularly since the company has hitched its wagon more tightly to analog than ever before. Analyst Craig Berger of FBR Capital Markets recently downgraded TI's stock to "market perform" from "outperform," in part because TI is borrowing money to finance its $6.5 billion acquisition of National Semiconductor Corp. So, the $1 billion or so that OMAP might fetch would probably come in handy. In downgrading TI, Berger also noted that Nvidia Corp. has the early lead in applications processors for tablets with its Tegra 2. But OMAP hasn't exactly been a flop. OMAP design wins include Research in Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry Playbook and Motorola Mobility Inc.'s Droid smartphones, and rumor has it that OMAP 4 will be used in the reference platform for the next version of Google's Android operating system (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich). That's all well and good, but where exactly does Intel fit in? According to Will Strauss, principal analyst at market research firm Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.), if OMAP is indeed in play, Intel is a possible suitor. Here's why: Strauss believes that smartphone and tablet OEMs will increasingly look to leverage SoCs that integrate both the applications processor and the cellular baseband on the same die. Since TI is phasing out its baseband operations, the firm may have an even tougher time notching OMAP design wins going forward, Strauss believes. Intel, on the other hand, finalized the acquisition of Infineon Technologies AG's wireless chip business earlier this year, and might be interested in an ARM-based applications processor that it could marry with the baseband technology. Strauss, who emphasized that he was speculating, noted that the price that OMAP would fetch, which he estimated at certainly $1 billion or more, means there are only a handful of companies who could pull off a deal. "People are looking at alternatives to Intel ," Strauss said. "Maybe Intel should, too." Intel, of course, has marketed ARM-based processors in the past. But the company sold the XScale line to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and has phased out other ARM-based products in its catalog in favor of those based on x86. Strauss noted that another frequently rumored suitor for OMAP—Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)—might also be interested in a deal, but that such an offer would likely be a merger as opposed to a cash buy because AMD doesn't have Intel's deep pockets. Strauss noted that AMD has dabbled in non-Intel-architecture chips before, taking a license from MIPS in 2002. But AMD sold its MIPS-based processor line to Raza Microelectronics Inc. in 2006. "I thought they really missed the boat on that one," Strass said. AMD has been widely criticized for being slow to bring to market processors for tablets and smartphones. Getting its hands on OMAP through merger or another arrangement would give the company a big boost in that department. But in addition to not having the resources to make a straight cash buy of OMAP, any attempt by AMD to get its hands on OMAP is complicated by another matter. More than seven months after showing CEO Dirk Meyer the door (some say for being to0 slow to bring to market processors for tablets and smartphones) AMD is still looking for its next permanent CEO. It's hard to imagine AMD pulling off a deal of this magnitude without the sign off of the person who will be running the show, eventually.   Dylan McGrath EE Times