德州儀器推出一種材料清單(BOM)成本只有70美元的平板電腦參考設(shè)計(jì)，面向多種嵌入市場(chǎng)。德州儀器的這種Electronic Tablet (eTab)價(jià)格可能只是蘋果iPad Mini或Kindle Fire的一半，針對(duì)從醫(yī)院到零售商的多種垂直市場(chǎng)。 eTab基于德州儀器的Sitara AM335x SoC——單核ARM Cortex-A8，速度最高達(dá)720 MHz，批量成本只有5美元。這款7英寸平板電腦還包含一些德州儀器模擬芯片和一個(gè)德州儀器的Wi-Fi/藍(lán)牙組合器件。其所含德州儀器元件的總成本約為13美元。 德州儀器的市場(chǎng)主管Troy Coleman表示：“這不是傳統(tǒng)平板電腦，它可以用于任何應(yīng)用，從家庭自動(dòng)解決方案到取代飯店的印制菜譜。” Sitara SoC包含一個(gè)觸摸屏控制器、圖像引擎、Ethernet MAC和工業(yè)通訊子系統(tǒng)，支持Profibus等標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。該系統(tǒng)搭載安卓4.0和Linux。 德州儀器委托印度設(shè)計(jì)服務(wù)公司AllGo Embedded Systems來(lái)生產(chǎn)上述參考設(shè)計(jì)(見下圖)。Coleman表示，對(duì)于想添加自己的定制特點(diǎn)和軟件的OEM來(lái)說(shuō)，這個(gè)參考設(shè)計(jì)“已完成了80%的工作?！?

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AllGo Systems在首席執(zhí)行官K. Srinivasan在新聞稿中表示，eTab“允許工業(yè)市場(chǎng)中的開發(fā)者快速對(duì)其平板電腦進(jìn)行定制和差異化，而且風(fēng)險(xiǎn)極低?！? 工業(yè)市場(chǎng)+客制化？看來(lái)就是這么回事了！ 上個(gè)月早些時(shí)候，以色列財(cái)經(jīng)新聞網(wǎng)站《Calcalist》曾報(bào)導(dǎo)，亞馬遜正與德州儀器(TI)洽談收購(gòu)TI旗下移動(dòng)芯片部門，以強(qiáng)化垂直整合。一時(shí)間謠言四起說(shuō)TI將放棄移動(dòng)市場(chǎng)，TI隨后辟謠，稱只是將重心轉(zhuǎn)移到嵌入式領(lǐng)域。（請(qǐng)點(diǎn)擊這里查看《沒(méi)有基帶的OMAP能撐多久？TI重新調(diào)整AP策略》） TI并沒(méi)有要退出的意思，只是不走消費(fèi)電子這條路，改走一條別人很少走的路，不會(huì)擠破頭，也許還是捷徑。 這項(xiàng)消息剛好發(fā)生在TI今年9月下旬宣布打算停止為智能手機(jī)與平板電腦開發(fā)OMAP芯片之后。TI認(rèn)為，這種移動(dòng)芯片在未來(lái)能大量銷售的機(jī)會(huì)有限，根據(jù)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》(The WallStreet Journal)報(bào)導(dǎo)，“在我們持續(xù)向前邁進(jìn)時(shí)，這一市場(chǎng)商機(jī)并沒(méi)那么大的吸引力了，”TI資深副總裁Greg Delagi在與分析師的會(huì)議上說(shuō)，“垂直整合已經(jīng)成為市場(chǎng)上的重要的因素?！? 那么亞馬遜(Amazon)呢？他的這些動(dòng)作是想跨足移動(dòng)芯片領(lǐng)域？進(jìn)軍智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)？ 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，EBN Online，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 本文下一頁(yè)：亞馬遜：蘋果和三星都自己做處理器，我也要！

相關(guān)閱讀：
• 沒(méi)有基帶的OMAP能撐多久？TI重新調(diào)整AP策略
• 英特爾，重構(gòu)一個(gè)智能的嵌入式世界
• 巨頭論劍移動(dòng)設(shè)備硬件，加速供應(yīng)鏈垂直整合yI7esmc

{pagination} 亞馬遜的心理可以解讀為：“蘋果(Apple)和三星(Samsung)都為自家的智能手機(jī)和平板電腦制造處理器，我也要?！蹦憧赡苓€記得，蘋果在2008年收購(gòu)了P.A. Semi。擁有自己的微處理器設(shè)計(jì)團(tuán)隊(duì)以及掌握制造業(yè)務(wù)，的確有助于一家公司為其產(chǎn)品加入更多特色與提高性能，同時(shí)也降低成本。 因此，這可能是傳言中亞馬遜對(duì)移動(dòng)芯片業(yè)務(wù)感興趣的背后真正動(dòng)機(jī)?！皝嗰R遜對(duì)于TI移動(dòng)芯片業(yè)務(wù)的興趣更甚于智能手機(jī)，”NBG Productions公司分析師Brian Sozzi在Twitter上表示，“因?yàn)檫@關(guān)系到擁有供應(yīng)鏈以降低成本的優(yōu)勢(shì)”。 而這將為平板電腦與智能手機(jī)領(lǐng)域的其它主要設(shè)計(jì)公司帶來(lái)什么影響？Google在去年收購(gòu)了摩托羅拉移動(dòng)公司(Motorola Mobility)，當(dāng)時(shí)的傳言指稱收購(gòu)的目的全是為了專利。但我想知道的是：在此收購(gòu)交易中，Google是否取得了半導(dǎo)體設(shè)計(jì)專業(yè)技術(shù)？ 我無(wú)法從摩托羅拉移動(dòng)芯片業(yè)務(wù)范圍找到任何細(xì)節(jié)，但很想聽聽讀者對(duì)此看法?？纯碐oogle在今年5月的新聞稿中宣布已完成收購(gòu)交易，摩托羅拉移動(dòng)公司新任CEO Dennis Woodside說(shuō)： “摩托羅拉公司在1983年推出第一支商用移動(dòng)電話，從而開創(chuàng)了整個(gè)移動(dòng)通訊產(chǎn)業(yè)。30年后的今天，移動(dòng)終端又成為運(yùn)算革命的核心。我們的目標(biāo)很簡(jiǎn)單：摩托羅拉移動(dòng)公司擁有杰出的人才，我們將集中力量于精簡(jiǎn)宏偉的目標(biāo)上，為世界各地的人們創(chuàng)造出色的終端裝置。” 該新聞稿中還提到聘請(qǐng)加入摩托羅拉移動(dòng)(Motorola Mobility)團(tuán)隊(duì)的幾位新任高階主管。其中之一是先前曾經(jīng)在亞馬遜和諾基亞擔(dān)任供應(yīng)鏈副總裁的Mark Randall。 當(dāng)移動(dòng)平臺(tái)制造商走向垂直整合時(shí)，處理器供貨商可能必須仰賴像智能電網(wǎng)等更多其它的工業(yè)應(yīng)用，才能取得銷售與利潤(rùn)了。TI的Delagi說(shuō)，該公司的目標(biāo)將 針對(duì)更多采用其OMAP技術(shù)的嵌入式應(yīng)用。TI已經(jīng)擁有約4,000家嵌入式產(chǎn)品的客戶，每年可帶來(lái)約4億美元的營(yíng)收，他說(shuō)。 這 樣的趨勢(shì)可能使英特爾不斷推動(dòng)Atom處理器落實(shí)于移動(dòng)應(yīng)用的策略成為一步壞棋嗎？事實(shí)上，這一市場(chǎng)上還會(huì)有許多的手機(jī)和平板電腦供貨商都還需要第三方微處理器供貨商的支持。至少，我們希望會(huì)如此?；蛘?，也許我們最后會(huì)看到市場(chǎng)上只剩兩到三家全部都能自行控制供應(yīng)鏈的移動(dòng)平臺(tái)OEM。 編譯：Luffy Liu 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，EBN Online，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文：Will Vertical Integration in Mobile Shut Processor Vendors Out?，by Tam Harbert, Freelance Journalist；TI shows embedded tablet with $70 BoM, by Rick Merritt

相關(guān)閱讀：
• 沒(méi)有基帶的OMAP能撐多久？TI重新調(diào)整AP策略
• 英特爾，重構(gòu)一個(gè)智能的嵌入式世界
• 巨頭論劍移動(dòng)設(shè)備硬件，加速供應(yīng)鏈垂直整合yI7esmc

{pagination} Will Vertical Integration in Mobile Shut Processor Vendors Out? Tam Harbert Amazon, in the chip business? That's the rumor that's zinging around the Internet this week. Specifically, Israeli financial news site Calcalist reported on October 15 that Amazon was talking with Texas Instruments about acquiring TI's mobile phone chip division. That follows TI's announcement in late September that it plans to stop developing OMAP chips for smartphones and tablets. TI thinks the chance of selling large volumes of such chips in the future are limited, reports the Wall Street Journal: "We believe that that opportunity is less attractive as we move forward," said Greg Delagi, a TI senior vice president, in a meeting with analysts, adding that "vertical integration has become a significant factor in the marketplace." Translation: Apple and Samsung both make their own processors for their smartphones and tablets. Apple, you may recall, acquired P.A. Semi in 2008. Owning their own microprocessor design teams and controlling manufacturing has surely helped the companies to embed more features and improve performance while at the same time driving down costs. That could be the motivation behind Amazon's purported interest. "Amazon interest in Texas Instruments' chip business is bigger than smartphones," tweeted Brian Sozzi, an analyst with NBG Productions. "It's about owning the supply chain to drive down costs." Where does this leave the other major design force in tablets and smartphones -- Google? Well, it did purchase Motorola Mobility last year. The buzz at the time was that the acquisition was all about patents. But I wonder: Did Google get semiconductor design expertise as part of the package? I couldn't find any details on the extent of Motorola Mobility's chip business, and would love to hear from readers on this question. But Google's press release announcing the closing of the acquisition in May quoted the new CEO of Motorola Mobility, Dennis Woodside: Motorola literally invented the entire mobile industry with the first-ever commercial cell phone in 1983. Thirty years later, mobile devices are at the center of the computing revolution. Our aim is simple: to focus Motorola Mobility's remarkable talent on fewer, bigger bets, and create wonderful devices that are used by people around the world. The release also named the new executive team at Motorola Mobility. One was Mark Randall, a former supply chain vice president at Amazon and Nokia. As the makers of mobile platforms become more vertically integrated, microprocessor vendors may need to rely more on more industrial applications like the smart grid for their sales and profits. TI's Delagi said the company would target more embedded applications with its OMAP technology. TI already has about 4,000 customers for such embedded products, generating about $400 million in annual revenue, he said. Do these trends make Intel's continual quest to get the Atom processor into the mobile space a bad move? There will certainly be plenty of phone and tablet suppliers out there who will need a third-party microprocessor supplier. At least, let's hope there will be. Or maybe we'll be down to two or three mobile platform OEMs, all controlling their own supply chains. TI shows embedded tablet with $70 BoM Rick Merritt SAN JOSE, Calif. – Texas Instruments slashed the cost of tablets for a broad range of embedded markets with a reference design that has a bill of materials of just $70. TI’s Electronic Tablet (eTab) could cost halve the price of an Apple iPad Mini or Kindle Fire and is aimed at a laundry list of vertical markets from hospitals to retailers. The eTab is based on TI’s Sitara AM335x SoC, a single core ARM Cortex-A8 running at up to 720 MHz that costs as little as $5 in volume. The seven-inch tablet also includes a number of TI analog chips and a TI Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo device, in total about $13 in TI parts. “It’s a non-traditional tablet that could be used as anything from a home automation solution to a replacement for a printed menu in a restaurant,” said Troy Coleman, a marketing director at TI. [Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.] The Sitara SoC includes a touch screen controller, graphics engine, Ethernet MAC and industrial comms subsystem with support for standards such as Profibus. The system runs Android 4.0 and Linux. TI commissioned AllGo Embedded Systems, a design services company based in India, to build the reference design (below). “Its 80 percent of the way there” for OEMs who want to add their own custom features and software, said Coleman. The eTab “allows developers in industrial markets to quickly customize and differentiate their tablets with minimal risk,” said K. Srinivasan, chief executive of AllGo Systems in a press statement.