TI, ST, Nokia team up against Microsoft

AMSTERDAM/NEW YORK: Three chipmakers and the world's largest mobile phone group teamed up in an apparent bid to prevent Microsoft and Intel from dominating mobile devices as they do PCs.

STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments said on Tuesday they had formed an alliance to spur development of a wider range of wireless features and to guard against any one industry player dominating the latest generation of phones.

The companies said they would be joined in the alliance by Nokia, manufacturer of more than one-third of the mobile phones sold worldwide, and ARM, a designer of core processor chips used in most wireless phones.

The four initial members of what is being called the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance said they would recruit other phone, hardware and software vendors to help define the technology building blocks of new phone features.

The backers of the alliance are each leaders in their respective fields -- Texas Instruments is the biggest maker of digital processors that are the guts of mobile phones, while diversified chipmaker STM is a top supplier of chips that combine audio and video multimedia features.

The move by the four established players in the global mobile phone industry appears geared to deflect challenges from Microsoft and Intel, two computer industry heavyweights, that are aiming to win a larger share of mobile phone markets.

It could also isolate Qualcomm, which promotes an alternative wireless technology, and emerging players in Asia that are eyeing ways to set their own wireless standards.

RULES NEEDED

As part of the MIPI Alliance, the founders said that 10 working groups will be established to develop technology feature specifications in key areas such as camera and screen display. It will also set rules for other developers to build products that work seamlessly with software, communications and system controls that define the functions and features of phones.

Common rules are needed because the wide variety of phones, networks and software can cause interoperability problems when using advanced services such as picture messaging, email, calendars, games and video telephony.

Proprietary platforms offered by Microsoft and Qualcomm have very few interoperability issues.

The MIPI Alliance expects to announce new members in the third quarter of 2003, its backers said.

The alliance is an evolution of the Open Mobile Application Processor Interfaces (OMAPI) Standard created by STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments which was designed to improve how pictures and graphics look and run on the latest mobile phones and handheld computers.

© Reuters