US : QUALCOMM Incorporated and Toshiba Corporation's Mobile Communications Company today announced the selection of QUALCOMM's MSM6250™ Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) chipset and system software for Toshiba's multimode third-generation (3G) handsets.

The MSM6250 announcement is Toshiba's first selection of a WCDMA (UMTS) chipset solution from QUALCOMM. With the MSM6250 chipset, Toshiba will provide cost-effective, feature-rich multimedia-enabled handsets to WCDMA (UMTS) markets worldwide using a proven solution for faster time to market.

"We are very pleased that Toshiba has selected our unique chipset solution to help them address the significant WCDMA (UMTS) market opportunity," said Luis Pineda, vice president of marketing and product management for QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. "Through our close working relationship, we will ensure that Toshiba's leading capabilities in handset design are strongly supported by our proven, cost-effective multimedia solution to enable even greater choice for 3G wireless users."

"Toshiba is excited by the opportunity to work with QUALCOMM in order to build a strong presence in the 3G device marketplace," said Seiji Yasunaga, chief marketing executive of Toshiba's Mobile Communications Company. "With this agreement, we are committing to provide consumers worldwide with a variety of affordable, exciting 3G multimedia handsets that support attractive data features."

Building upon QUALCOMM's previous WCDMA (UMTS) solutions, the MSM6250 chipset includes the fully integrated multimedia features of the Launchpad™ suite of applications. This single-chip solution eliminates the need for an external applications processor and associated memory, significantly reducing bill-of-material (BOM) costs, board size and power consumption.

The MSM6250 solution supports the advanced feature set of QUALCOMM's Launchpad suite of technologies - including MPEG-4 video encoding/decoding, JPEG encoding/decoding, MP3/AAC audio decoding, a 2D/3D graphics accelerator for advanced gaming applications, a MIDI synthesizer and a digital camera interface that supports up to 2-megapixel resolution. The MSM6250 solution also integrates gpsOne™ functionality, featuring SnapTrack® enhancements, to support assisted and standalone GPS - enabling a wide variety of location-based services and applications, including points of interest, personal navigation and friend finder. Also integrated into this solution are Bluetooth® wireless connectivity and USB On-The-Go (OTG) host controller to communicate directly with printers, digital cameras, keyboards and other accessories.

As with all members of the MSM6xxx family of chipset solutions, the MSM6250 solution features QUALCOMM's radioOne™ Zero Intermediate Frequency (ZIF) architecture, which eliminates the need for Intermediate Frequency (IF) components. With radioOne technology, the MSM6250 chipset requires less printed-circuit-board area than previous generations and reduces time-to-market development and BOM costs.

The MSM solutions also include QUALCOMM's BREW™ system. QUALCOMM's BREW system provides products and services that connect the mobile marketplace value chain, which includes application developers, publishers, content providers, device manufacturers, operators and consumers. The MSM chipsets are also compatible with the Java® runtime environment; the J2ME™ solution can be built entirely on the chipset's BREW software layer.

QUALCOMM's MSM6250 chipset solution helps enable worldwide roaming for WCDMA (UMTS) terminals. The MSM6250 system solution consists of the MSM6250 baseband processor, the direct conversion RFL6200™ and RFR6200™ receive devices, the direct conversion RTR6250™ GSM transceiver and WCDMA (UMTS) transmit device, the direct conversion RGR6200™ GPS receiver, the powerOne™ series PM6650™ power management device and a complete WCDMA(UMTS)/GSM/GPRS protocol stack. The MSM6250 system solution supports dual-mode, quad-band GSM transceiver operations [GSM 850, GSM 900, Digital Cellular System (DCS) 1800, and GSM 1900] and WCDMA (UMTS) transmit operations for 1900 MHz and 2100 MHz. Now, with minimal board design modifications, operators can offer a single device that can roam anywhere in the world.

Toshiba Corporation is engaged in a diverse range of businesses, from electronic components to power plant. The company has 166,000 employees worldwide, and generates consolidated annual sales of over US$47 billion. One of Toshiba's five in-house companies, the Mobile Communications Company develops and delivers innovative cellular phones offering multimedia capabilities and full support for the diverse new services that will emerge alongside broadband networks and ubiquitous computing. The company supports both major 3G platforms, WCDMA and CDMA2000 1X, and has pioneered such advances as moving picture mail. From firm bases in the Japanese and North American markets, the company is now reinforcing its presence in Europe and China.