re: The Mobile OS War - Japan Entry
* Nec And Matsushita, Japan's Top Two Mobile Phone Makers, Joined Forces Last Summer To Build A Common Operating System For Third-Generation (3G) Phones For The Global Market.
* two core operating systems - separate C-CPU (Communication-CPU) and A-CPU (Application-CPU) software platforms would be developed so that improvements could be made in each area independently
>> NEC, Matsushita Comm Set 3G Software Standards
Reuters
28 February 2002
Japan's NEC Corp and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co Ltd on Thursday unveiled a joint software platform for third-generation mobile handsets.
Osamu Waki, a director at Matsushita Communication, the maker of Panasonic phones, said they had agreed to develop two core operating systems for mobile phones that would separately handle radio communication functions and application functions such as Internet browsing and video calling.
In order to promote their technology and ensure that 3G services grow rapidly, the two mobile phone firms said they would licence the software platform to other manufacturers.
"What's key about the evolution of mobile phones is that the size of software has increased significantly," Waki told reporters.
"The purpose of our cooperation is to create, expand and accelerate the 3G market," he said.
A mobile handset product based on their 3G software technology would appear in the Japanese market by the end of the year, said Ben Nakamura, NEC's senior vice president for mobile terminals.
Rivals NEC and Matsushita, Japan's top two mobile phone makers, joined forces last summer to build a common operating system for third-generation (3G) phones for the global market.
NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's biggest mobile operator, launched the world's first 3G service with NEC and Panasonic's mobile phones last October. Matsushita Communication's Waki said that they would have 100 engineers working by September at a "3G Mobile Collaboration Office" in Yokohama.
NEC's Nakamura said that current mobile phones were based on a single CPU (central processing unit) architecture that bundled all functions together.
But this was no longer appropriate for 3G phones, whose fast speeds make possible more complex applications such as video conferencing and fast Internet content downloads.
Instead, separate C-CPU (Communication-CPU) and A-CPU (Application-CPU) software platforms would be developed so that improvements could be made in each area independently.
The use of the A-CPU architecture would enable NEC, Matsushita and other makers to design unique features into their handsets without having to adjust their software to the C-CPU. <<
- Eric - |
