Palm to base next-generation wireless units on TI platform

Palm to base next-generation wireless units on TI platform
By Patrick Mannion, EE Times
December 18, 2001 (4:07 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011218S0036

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Palm Inc. has announced that it will use Texas Instruments Inc.'s OMAP platform as the basis for its next-generation wireless handheld devices. Palm said the companies' "multifaceted business alliance" encompasses technology, product collaboration and joint marketing, and said it will use OMAP to realize general packet radio service devices that will be released by the latter half of 2002.

Palm's current handless units are based on Motorola Inc.'s 68000-based DragonBall processors, but Palm will be moving to OMAP to take advantage of what it called the "more powerful" ARM processors that are a part of OMAP (open multimedia applications platform). OMAP is premised on the tight integration of an enhanced ARM RISC processor with a TI 'C55x digital signal processor to speed time-to-market for developers, while lowering costs, power consumption and device footprint.

Though Motorola announced its MX1 implementation of an ARM processor earlier this year, Palm has not committed to Motorola.

TI, Motorola, Intel and Agere are all competing for a slice of the wireless handheld market, with a strong emphasis on applications development and data/voice convergence.

Aware of that competitive landscape, Palm said its deal with TI is not exclusive. However, TI "will be very much a preferred supplier" as Palm drives into the enterprise space with wireless solutions for mobile voice, data and multimedia, according to Todd Bradley, a Palm executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company's Solutions Group.

Palm's work with TI will "create new opportunities for software developers in the Palm economy," said Bradley, pointing to TI's extensive applications and software development network. "Developers will have access to the OMAP architecture all the way down from the API level to the register level," said Gilles Delfassy, senior vice president and general manager of TI's Wireless Business Unit.

Palm envisio ns such new business functions with OMAP-enabled devices as multimedia presentations and documents, biometric-based security, the search of large databases as well as the playing of graphically intensive, interactive games.

Palm and TI said they will share resources and technologies to accelerate the development of wireless solutions for enterprise customers and consumers. The companies also will co-promote the features and benefits of the resulting products to expand the market for wireless handhelds. TI also will adopt the OMAP-based Palm products as an executive standard, placing them on its list of approved technologies for the company's more than 35,000 employees worldwide.