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Agere Systems has launched a chipset for low end mobile phones that allows a full phone to be built for $30, or $50 for one with a better screen that plays videos, and looks set to drive a new range of films and TV content on memory cards that can be played on the phones.
Agere’s TrueNTRY X125 supports GSM and EDGE with CD quality music, Java engine for games and Agere’s middleware platform of software.
The initial focus is on the CD quality playback through dynamic noise suppression, echo cancellation, full-duplex speakerphone and a stereo equaliser. By next year thirty percent of worldwide mobile handset shipments are projected to handle full-track music playback.
“CD-quality music is rapidly becoming a ‘must have’ application for voice-centric and basic cell phones,” said Denis Regimbal, executive vice president of Agere’s Mobility Division. “The challenge has been figuring out how to achieve high-quality music and other higher-end, multimedia features on cell phones while making them much more affordable. The X125 overcomes this hurdle and unleashes breakthrough musical quality on entry-level phones.”
But the video-capable low cost phone opens up a huge market, not for downloads, but for providing pre-loaded content on microSD cards.
The density is now sufficient for a full feature film on a 512Mbyte card (QVGA resolution, 25 frame/s) that is affordable - there are even money off deals that could be done to reduce the net cost of the card to zero. The leading card maker, SanDisk, already has the digital rights management, content protection and even routes to retailers that the studios need.
In October Disney is launching its Mix Max personal digital media player for kids, which will use, you guessed it, digital media cards for playing full-length movies, digital music, TV shows and viewing photos. The new gadget will be priced at less than $100.
“With the Disney Mix Stick, we proved that kids were ready for digital music,” said Chris Heatherly, head of global electronics at Disney’s consumer products unit. “The plug-and-play experience also proved to be a winning feature for parents who welcomed the idea of not having to download music for their kids.”
SanDisk has both DRM technology called TrustedFlash and deals with retailers already to sell its cards for phones and digital cameras. It has already been experimenting with pre-loaded content, shipping a Rolling Stones album earlier in the year.
It has also recently bought a company that specialises in low cost one time programmable memory which could be used to further reduce the cost of shipping the content.
These content deals are in the pipeline, says Pedro Varga, director of mobile entertainment at SanDisk, and they have many different routes to market, from branding the card with the content to co-branding.
For more information, visit www.agere.com
