DALLAS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) (TI) today announced that Samsung Electronics has selected technology from TI’s OMAP(TM) platform and Bluetooth(R) solutions for its first Symbian OS(TM) and Series 60-based smartphones, the SGH-D720 and SGH- D730. Available in either clamshell (D730) or slider (D720) designs, the GSM/GPRS smartphones from Samsung are leveraging TI wireless technology to offer a variety of feature-rich entertainment and productivity applications, including RealOne(R) Player and Bluetooth multi-game and music maker. The Symbian OS-based Series 60 platform is the world’s leading platform for smartphones.
"Samsung is committed to combining multimedia functionality and efficient features into small, stylish, and lightweight handsets that mobile consumers will find very attractive," said Dohwan Choi, senior vice president of Samsung’s Product Planning Team. "Adopting TI’s OMAP processor and Bluetooth technologies will help Samsung in meeting this commitment."
The global smartphone market is currently experiencing rapid growth, with total shipments of Symbian OS smartphones in H1 2005 reaching the 14.5 million mark, up 191% from H1 2004 (source: Symbian Internal Data). "Combined together, the Series 60 Platform, TI’s OMAP platform and multimedia software, and Symbian OS form a powerful base for Samsung’s SGH-D720 and SGH-D730 handsets, and further prove continued adoption of the Series 60 Platform," said Matti Vanska, Nokia’s director of Mobile Software Sales and Marketing.
TI’s OMAP1610 application processor runs Symbian OS for the new Samsung smartphones and powers a full range of features and applications, including a 1.3 megapixel camera with zoom, built-in flash, and camcorder functionality; MP3 Player; and Series 60 applications such as e-mail and synchronization via Bluetooth or SyncML. As part of the comprehensive OMAP platform offering, TI’s robust Symbian board support software allows Samsung to focus its valuable development resources on product differentiation, while reducing the time required to bring smartphones to market. TI’s power-efficient BRF6150 Bluetooth single-chip solution, which is based on TI’s innovative DRP(TM) process technology, seamlessly interfaces to the OMAP platform and provides voice and data connectivity to the new Samsung smartphones.
"We are very pleased that Samsung is tapping into the strength of TI’s robust portfolio of wireless solutions, including its industry-leading OMAP platform, to deliver multimedia-rich sleek handsets to consumers around the globe," said Alain Mutricy, TI’s vice president and general manager of Cellular Systems for its Wireless Terminals Business Unit. "TI has a long- standing relationship with Symbian, and has become the leading supplier of application processors for Symbian OS-based smartphones. TI was also among the first semiconductor companies to work with Nokia Series 60 and is excited to contribute this expertise to Samsung as it launches its first Symbian OS and Series-60 based smartphones."
"Symbian welcomes the launch of Samsung’s latest Symbian OS phones that exploit the advantages of TI’s OMAP platform," said Jorgen Behrens, vice president of Product Management and Strategy for Symbian Ltd. "Using Symbian OS, these exciting, compact and light Samsung phones are ideally designed to meet the needs of both business and consumer markets. Symbian is working with companies such as Samsung and TI to enable rapid development and faster time- to-market for feature-rich smartphones based on the robust, industry-standard Symbian OS."
Samsung’s new clamshell handset, the SGH-D730, soon to be followed by the slider version, the SGH-D720, is available today in Germany followed by further roll-out throughout Europe later this year.
Texas Instruments – Making Wireless
TI is the leading manufacturer of wireless semiconductors, delivering the heart of today’s wireless technology and building solutions for tomorrow. TI provides a breadth of silicon and software and 15 years of wireless systems expertise that spans handsets and base stations for all communications standards, wireless LAN, Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband. TI offers custom to turn-key solutions, including complete chipsets and reference designs, OMAP(TM) application processors, as well as core digital signal processor and analog technologies built on advanced semiconductor processes. Please visit http://www.ti.com/wirelesspressroom for additional information.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company’s businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com/ .