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Freescale becomes independent company

Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Motorola Inc.'s former semiconductor subsidiary, became a free, independent company following the completion of the spin-off. As a result, Motorola issued its shareholders 0.110415 of a share of Freescale Semiconductor Class B common stock for each outstanding share of Motorola common...

Vendors differ on including devices in network sale

One vendor's end-to-end strategy is another vendor's poison. Nokia Corp., Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. market their end-to-end strategies as one-stop shops for carriers. But Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks Ltd. and Alcatel Alsthom say end-to-end solutions actually limit choices for carriers. In between...

Wi-Fi component becoming integral piece of mobile chips

Wi-Fi is quickly taking the place of integrated cameras and push-to-talk functions as the new hot technology for the handset market. As a result, chipmakers, carriers and handset suppliers are rushing to take advantage of the perceived demand for such converged devices. And the...

MBOA-SIG releases UWB-related specs

MUNICH, German-The MultiBand OFDM Alliance Special Interest Group said it completed its physical layer 1.0 specifications, which will be made available to its promoter, contributor and adopter members.The specifications will allow companies to finalize their standards-based ultra-wideband chip and board-level designs, said the group."This...

Motorola shareholders to get Freescale stock

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-The board of directors of Motorola Inc. said it will distribute about 0.11 of a share of Freescale Semiconductor to Motorola shareholders tax free Dec. 2.The board described the share as class B common stock for each share of Motorola common stock and...

Nation’s Briefs

Mobile-phone industry lawyers said they intend to ask a D.C. court to dismiss six brain-cancer suits on federal pre-emption grounds. In July, U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake of Baltimore sent back the six lawsuits to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia where...

Napster goes mobile with AWS service

LOS ANGELES-AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which last week was acquired by Cingular Wireless L.L.C., is taking Napster mobile.The Internet music vendor is introducing Napster To Go, a mobile music subscription service for AWS users on the Audiovox SMT5600 smart phone. The service, which costs...

Sprint, Verizon Wireless eye Qualcomm’s planned TV network

It didn't take long for Qualcomm Inc.'s planned mobile television network to attract attention. Sprint PCS Chief Operating Officer and President Len Lauer said Tuesday his firm is negotiating with the wireless chip and technology vendor to deliver live broadcasts to Sprint users. Verizon...

Zeevo announces audio-based reference design

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Zeevo announced a new reference design using Wolfson audio CODECs that will allow original device manufacturers to design wireless stereo headsets, speakers or wireless MP3 players with CD-quality sound.The reference design is based on the ZV4301 Zeevo Bluetooth ARM-7-based microcontroller chip to...

Qualcomm to gain European access through Siemens, Trigenix

Failing to make strong inroads into Europe with its second-generation CDMA offering, Qualcomm Inc. wants to write a different story for UMTS technology. Within a two-week span, the San Diego-based vendor penned two deals that underscore its intention to be a mainstream player in...

Samsung enjoys strong profit despite flat phone growth

In spite of a slowdown in cell-phone sales, Samsung Electronics Co. still roared to a 46-percent profit compared with the same period last year. Much of its boost came from its chip division.But the result showed the company did not continue the overall momentum...

NEC announces mobile-phone chips with sound technology

KAWASAKI, Japan-NEC Electronics Corp. launched three single-chip melody LSI solutions that offer sound technology for mobile phones.The product line-up consists of the microPD9993 chip, which offers 64 polyphonic tones and is the first LSI device to support MP3 and advanced audio coding playback; the...

IEEE to develop wireless broadband standard for open TV spectrum

PISCATAWAY, N.J.-The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers said it has set up a working group for a standard to tap open channels in the television spectrum for wireless broadband applications and services. Known as 802.22, or wireless regional area networks, the new standard...

Motorola’s Warrior lays out the vision of ‘liquid media’

Before the spinoff of its chip business, Motorola Inc. often came across as an octopus-a many-sided giant. With Freescale Semiconductor Inc. now a standalone company, the wireless vendor still weighs heavy in the industry. This has been both boon and pain for the Schaumburg,...

Semiconductor segment slows, 5-percent growth predicted for ’05

A year ago, the semiconductor sector seemed on cruise control, while other sectors of telecom had just begun to rev up their economic recovery engines. Quarter after quarter companies reported sequential growth, confirmed by studies reflecting a surge in demand to feed a growing...

Nortel, Motorola continue layoffs

A tremor of restructuring is rippling through the infrastructure players, signaling a new approach to the market. Such moves, some of them imposed and others induced, are spawning a new round of layoffs in some of the companies. Nortel Networks Ltd. and Motorola Inc....

Qualcomm buys Spike Technologies

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it has acquired chip design company Spike Technologies Inc. for $19 million in cash to enable it to provide third-generation CDMA customers and partners with design, sales and technical support around the world.Bangalore, India-based Spike Technologies will bring not only...

Motorola to cut 1,000 jobs, take $50M charge

With a view to focusing on its wireless business, Motorola Inc. said it plans to slash 1,000 jobs, or 1 percent of its staff, and absorb charges of about $50 million. Most of the job losses will affect the vendor's government, industrial, broadband and...

Nvidia offers 3D processor for better gaming

LONDON-Graphics processor manufacturer Nvidia will announce its latest offering at Mobile Content World in London this week.The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company will unveil its GoForce 3D 4500, which features high-performance three-dimensional graphics and 3-megapixel functionality. The processor initially will be brought to market in...

Qualcomm raises earnings expectations

Qualcomm Inc. said it anticipates a rosy fourth-quarter result, emphasizing the traction of its chipsets in the wireless market.The company said it expects earnings per share of between 28 cents and 30 cents compared with its prior estimate of between about 27 cents and...

Products

AirGate Technologies, a subsidiary of The X-Change Corp., said it has completed a radio-frequency identification (RFID) prototype for car child safety seats. The prototype uses the company's "Smart Buckle" technology incorporated into a standard child seat. Miniature RF transmitters send a low-power signal to...

Group aims to set foundation for wedding Wi-Fi, cellular

With 802.11n still lurking in the distance, wireless players are stepping up efforts to wed cellular and wireless local area networks while earnestly preparing Wi-Fi for wedded bliss. The "n" protocol will not be ready for a few years, but some carriers have set...

Intel details WiMax chip

SAN FRANCISCO-Intel Corp. disclosed its broadband chip for WiMax products, otherwise known as 802.16.The component, known as Rosedale, will be a system-on-a-chip design to enable long-distance high-speed Internet access for homes and businesses, said the chipmaker.WiMax is expected to compete with DSL and cable...

Alphamosaic launches multimedia processor

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom-Building on its original VideoCore solution, Alphamosaic has launched the VC02 Mobile Multimedia Processor chip. The solution is designed to display video on 3.5-inch color displays and to capture 8-megapixel images, optimizing the experience of watching television, making videos and taking photos...