Thu 27 Oct 2011
Broadcom CEO on Low-cost Android Phones, Free Tablets and the Promise of Russian Satellites
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If the headline doesn’t make it clear, I coated a lot of ground in a chat I had right here in Barcelona with Scott McGregor, CEO of chipmaker Broadcom.

For people who don’t know Broadcom, it is an Orange County, Calif.-based mostly company that makes chips that go into all kinds of communications gear, from cable modems to cellphones to set-prime boxes. It has steadily expanded its variety by means of a regular stream of acquisitions.
Just at this week’s Cellular World Congress alone, the firm announced options for a whole assortment of new chips, including a processor that the organization mentioned ought to aid Google in its target of driving Android down into reduce value points.
“The chips we’ve announced permit for Android phones to cover the gamut,” McGregor told Mobilized. Whilst rivals these kinds of as Nvidia and Qualcomm prepare at any time far more powerful chips for the high finish of the telephone and tablet markets, Broadcom is wanting to crack into the Android processor marketplace by driving down cost.
The key, he explained, is that its processors, while maybe not yet competitive at the ultra-large finish of the smartphone industry, integrate far more functions than do rival chips. Far more stuff on a single chip signifies decrease costs, and with Broadcom’s newest chip, Android gadgets ought to be able to stretch all the way down to the center of the feature telephone market.
Touring the firm’s booth, McGregor pointed to a range of other fascinating projects the company has going on in the wireless realm. For instance, the firm is operating on chips that broaden the possible for location-primarily based providers by tapping far more sorts of satellites. Even though GPS utilizes only American whirlybirds, info is also obtainable now from Russian, Japanese and European satellites. The organization is also doing work on technologies to enhance spot data inside buildings wherever satellites normally are of no assist.
Yet another exciting area is in tablets. Even though much of the focus is on the iPad or its would-be rivals, McGregor mentioned there is an emerging marketplace for reduce-conclude home models that can be provided away by company providers like Comcast as yet another screen for users to eat subject material. Even though totally free tablets haven’t hit the U.S., McGregor stated British Telecom and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo are between those providing such goods.
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