Japanese giants team to tackle global 3G handset market

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 08 February 2007 16:44

Business IT - Technology

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator with over 50 million subscribers, has teamed up with Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson to provide these companies with a common platform for 3G handsets that will give them a head start when developing handsets products for global markets.

The companies say that the platform will enable mobile phone Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson to "eliminate the need to develop common handset functions...significantly reduc[ing] development time and costs [an] allowing the manufacturers to invest more time and resources in developing distinctive handset features and expanding their product portfolio."

The platform will be for dual-mode handsets supporting HSDPA/W-CDMA (3G) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE (2G). It is expected to be ready by the third quarter of calendar 2008 and will be based on the SH-Mobile G3, a single-chip system LSI from Renesas Technology which implements a baseband processor supporting HSDPA/W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE communications and an application processor with high-end multimedia functions, together with a reference design integrating audio, power supply, and RF front-end modules.

The platform will also include common software for basic functions, including a sophisticated operating system such as Symbian, device drivers, middleware, and communication software.

NTT DoCoMo and Renesas have already jointly developed the SH-Mobile G1, a first-generation single-chip LSI for dual-mode handsets supporting W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS. It is now in mass production and handsets built around it first appeared on the market in the third quarter 2006. Its successor, the SH-Mobile G2, and a mobile phone platform integrating core software are currently under development by NTT DoCoMo, Renesas, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, and Sharp. Handsets employing the G2 are scheduled to appear in the fall of 2007.

Renesas plans to provide the platform to the worldwide W-CDMA market, in addition to customers in Japan, aiming to further reduce costs.