ARM

LAS VEGAS--The unthinkable has happened: the tiny ARM processors that power the world's cell phones will assail the Intel-dominated desktop and server segments--with Microsoft making it possible.

Nvidia's "Project Denver" will build ARM processors for desktops, servers, and supercomputers. Significant on its own, but it takes on a bigger meaning with Microsoft moving its next version of Windows to ARM.

"Microsoft's announcement [Wednesday at CES] that it is bringing Windows to ultra-low power processors like ARM-based CPUs provides the final ingredient needed to enable ARM-based PCs based on Denver," Bill Dally, Nvidia's … Read more

All signs point to the next version of Windows running on ARM, the emerging global silicon standard for smartphones and tablets. But don't get too excited--it won't happen until 2012 at the earliest and just as likely not until 2013.

For now, let's call the next major release from Redmond Windows 8--though I'm hearing that Microsoft will call it something else. More importantly, I'm also hearing that Windows 8 isn't due until the fourth quarter of 2012, at the earliest.

So that means tablets running Windows 8 won't appear until 2013. Microsoft could … Read more

So, what happens to Intel in the age of a version of Windows running on top of ARM chips from companies like Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Apple, Freescale, and Nvidia?

A report today is fueling speculation that Microsoft will bring a more full featured version of Windows to ARM--arguably the most widely used chip architecture in the world. This comes after Microsoft announced in July that it has gotten an architectural license from ARM.

The most obvious impact is that Windows runs on more devices, many of which do not necessarily use Intel processors. The Zune HD is probably the best … Read more

Qualcomm's Snapdragon silicon made a sweep of all of the Windows Phone 7 smartphones announced today, rendering the hardware from various manufacturers relatively homogeneous inside.

Against a backdrop of phone announcements from companies such as Samsung, HTC, and Dell, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer posted a video today discussing the relationship between the two companies.

"Qualcomm and Microsoft have a long history of working together to optimize the mobile operating system for Qualcomm chips and platforms...We're excited to bring a new generation of Windows phones exclusively featuring Snapdragon mobile processors," Ballmer said.

"This really shows...what can happen when people bring together great software and great hardware," said Jacobs in the video.

But this collaboration also brings Windows PC-like hardware uniformity. Just as the PC world has the Windows operating system and Intel processors, this first crop of Windows Phone 7 smartphones feature a Microsoft OS and Qualcomm silicon.

"If all of them feature the same hardware (internal) and same operating system, what happens to the differentiation?" asked Ashok Kumar, managing director and analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. Other smartphone processor suppliers include Texas Instruments, Marvell Technology, and Samsung, who provide chips for Android and BlackBerry phones, among others.

And it remains to be seen if Windows Phone 7 devices can find a place in a very crowded market. "I think one of the biggest questions is what are the prospects of Windows Phone 7," said Kumar. "Most of the resources are targeted toward Apple and Android and then you have RIM and the QNX (operating system). There are many questions here, not least of which is what will the receptivity of the consumer be?" Kumar said.

Windows Phone 7 smartphones include the Dell Venue, HTC 7 Mozart, HTC 7 Trophy, HTC HD7, HTC Surround, HTC 7 Pro, LG Quantum, LG Optimus 7, Samsung Focus, and Samsung Omnia 7. Inside these products is Qualcomm's 1GHz application processor, a 3D graphics function, support for high-megapixel cameras, and the requisite 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, among other functions..… Read more

The second-generation Apple TV went under the knife again. This time iSuppli tore the TV down to reveal its cost to Apple at just less than $64.

The "Cadillac" of set-top boxes carries a bill of materials of $61.98, including additional items boxed with the product, according to a preliminary teardown analysis firm iSuppli. When adding the manufacturing costs, the Apple outlay rises to $63.95, iSuppli said. The assessment does not take into consideration other expenses such as R&D, software, licensing, and royalties.

As reported previously, Apple TV's internal design and key components are remarkably similar to those of the iPad. "The first Apple TV was built like a net top computer. The architecture was basically a stripped down, small-form-factor desktop PC," said Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst at iSuppli. "The second-generation Apple TV is more like an iPad or iPod Touch with no display. The Apple TV's A4 processor core, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip, and power management chip are the same building blocks used in the iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch," he wrote.

And Apple has improved the profit margins this time around. The original Apple TV was sold at prices that weren't much more than the underlying hardware costs. But, at $99, the second-generation product's price is well above its bill of materials and manufacturing cost, according to iSuppli.

Hardware of note includes the Samsung-manufactured Apple A4 application processor and accompanying DRAM ($16.55), the Toshiba flash memory ($14), the Panasonic and Broadcom Wi-Fi/Bluetooth component ($7.65),… Read more

So, who makes the processor humming under the new BlackBerry PlayBook's hood? That important question was not answered yesterday when RIM announced the 7-inch tablet.

Yesterday, when Research In Motion co-CEO Michael Lazaridis unveiled the BlackBerry PlayBook during the opening keynote event at the DevCon developer conference, the dual-core processor was touted by Lazaridis as a marquee feature. But little else was revealed about what is probably the single most important piece of internal hardware.

Here's what we know about the tablet, due early next year in the U.S.: The PlayBook uses "1 gigahertz dual-core processors that take advantage of built-in symmetric multiprocessing," according to Lazaridis during the keynote speech. In symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), the operating system handles all allocation of threads, or tasks, to the processors. Most current high-level operating systems have built-in support for this mode of operation, according to a description of SMP on ARM's Web site.

That open-ended statement by Lazaridis presents a few possibilities that could fit the bill. Nvidia is shipping a dual-core Tegra processor and Texas Instruments has a dual-core OMAP processor due soon. Both chips--technically referred to as application processors--are based on the ARM Cortex A9 design and support symmetric multiprocessing. And Qualcomm will offer a chipset with a dual-core processor running at up to 1.5GHz next year.

Linely Gwennap, principal analyst, the Linley Group, said the only dual-core 1GHz ARM processor that is in production today is Nvidia's Tegra 2. He also cited TI's OMAP 4, which is due to enter production in Q4 this year as a candidate.

But RIM is a longtime user of application processors from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Marvell Semiconductor.… Read more

A Gartner forecast on Friday showed Android's market share surging past Apple's iPhone operating system by 2014. Who knows if this is an accurate assessment of the future, but one simple example in the present demonstrates that Android has the potential for more market reach than Apple's iOS.

This mini epiphany happened when I was boasting about a great app (BirdsEye Lite) I had just downloaded to my iPhone. One of the people I was talking to, however, was thoroughly unimpressed. The reason: he had just snapped up a Nextel Motorola i1 phone for his business and, … Read more

Global PC microprocessor shipments saw a healthy rise in the second quarter, though the outlook is cautious for the third quarter, IDC said.

Worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues in the second calendar quarter of 2010 increased 3.6 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, compared with the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC, in a report released Thursday.

The average sequential change in unit shipments between calendar-year first quarter and second quarter is an increase of 1.6 percent. For revenues, the average sequential change is a decrease of 2.8 percent, IDC said. So, the percentages … Read more

Silicon start-up Smooth-Stone has received $48 million from a syndicate of investors including ARM, Texas Instruments, and Highland Capital Ventures.

Smooth-Stone's goal is to bring the virtues of low-power cell phone technology to servers and, as a result, bring down the staggering power consumption at large data centers. Mega data centers can house tens of thousands of servers and the largest can use between 5 and 20 megawatts of power. One megawatt, equal to 1 million watts, can power about 1,000 homes.

Smooth-Stone joins other start-ups such as U.S. Department of Energy-backed SeaMicro, which is using Intel'… Read more