ARM Community: Smart Connected Devices - ARM Community

With the Silicon Handcuffs Off, Taiwan Will Lead A New Era of Choice in Computing

With ARM and its expansive Partner ecosystem providing compelling platforms for the (mobile) computing market, Taiwan’s ODMs and OEMs, for the first time, will have the freedom to innovate and differentiate through a new class of Smart Mobile Device that they provide.

I’ve spent many a year in the traditional PC industry, but now I’m seeing signs of a major transformation happening at the ODMs. For the first time, they feel the freedom to move from implementing a defined specification/device to making new devices that leverage the base technology. This freedom allows them to choose the best ARM Partner for the class of device that they are designing.

Computex 2009

Having finished a week tour in Taiwan meeting with ODMs, I was amazed at the focus and excitement surrounding this year’s Computex. As usual, the ODMs are striving to beat out their competition by showcasing their products to existing and prospective OEMs. However what makes this year unique is the opportunity that they see in the diverging PC market and the potential to change what has been the legacy for the last 20+ years.

Taiwan has built its business model of suppliers to a common platform driven primarily by one silicon company. The model runs on razor thin margins with little room for differentiation. Notebook X must have these features; netbook Y must...

The immediate future of mobile devices is visible at industry shows like CES, MWC and CTIA. I want to share my pick of the smart mobile device technology that is going to revolutionise the user experience of Smartphones over the next year. As it happens, on the last day of Mobile World Congress my mobile phone disappeared which means I’m back using my battered and bruised old cell phone for a while and on the lookout for something new and shiny.

If you looked carefully at some of the devices on show at CES in Las Vegas and MWC in Barcelona you would have witnessed the start of what will turn out to be a profound change for the mobile industry. In the thousands of devices on show there were a handful that represented the next generation, with high-performance processors, high-definition video capability and stunning screens. They were generally slim, cool, high-performance, web-centric mobile devices powered by the ARM Cortex-A8 processor or Qualcomm Snapdragon (both ARM v7 architecture). The applications processor represents the brains of the Smartphone, MID or netbook and having a Cortex-A8 typically provides a 3- to 5x jump...