vB Easy Archive - Some good news from Philips

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Some good news from Philips
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Posted by: pho

They are working on a $20 cell phone....

LONDON — Royal Philips Electronics expects to sample a sub-$5 hardware and software platform for making ultra-low cost mobile handsets by the end of this year. The move is part of an initiative announced Wednesday (June 29) to make handsets more widely available, especially in developing countries.
The Nexperia cellular system platform — including integrated hardware and software constituting the electronics needed in a mobile phone — should drive GSM handset costs below $20, according to Thierry Laurent, Philips Semiconductors' executive vice president of business development. The long-term goal, said Laurent, is to drive down total handset cost to below $15 by 2008.

The company said "ultra low-cost" handsets will fuel fast-growing demand in regions like China, India, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.

The initiative will be based at Philips' facility in Shanghai, China.

Earlier this year, at the 3GSM World Congress, the GSM Association kick-started an effort to develop mobile phones that would retail in emerging countries below $40. At the event Motorola launched the first such phone, which the group said represented the first step towards a sub $30 handset target.