BARCELONA, Spain and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Spansion Inc. , the world's largest pure-play provider of Flash memory solutions, today announced the pre-qualifying of a new family of Spansion(R) Flash memory products with QUALCOMM's handset reference design platforms to accelerate new subscriber growth in emerging markets. The goal of the collaboration is to enable handset OEMs to create simplified, high- performance phones, bolstering efforts to attract new users and market share.
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The reference platforms are designed for regions with rapid new subscriber growth, such as China and India. These markets are expected to continue growing rapidly over the next several years and will account for 12 percent of total global handset sales in 2010, according to Strategy Analytics. The analyst firm estimates that the market for low cost phones will grow annually from 19 million units in 2006 to more than 150 million in 2010.
Spansion expects validation efforts of its new NOR VS family planned for emerging markets to be completed in the second half of 2007. Entry-level phones targeted for emerging markets typically range from basic, voice-only models to color screen handsets equipped with a low-resolution camera and 2D games. Spansion Flash memory solutions enable handset manufacturers to use a single-platform approach to scale their offerings from basic, entry-level phones up to very high-end, content-rich phones, depending on the application needs and requirements for code and data storage.
"Working with QUALCOMM, we are able to take a systems-level approach, bringing added value to handset manufacturers with a complete range of pre- qualified Flash memory solutions that respond to customer needs for new subscribers in both emerging and high-end replacement markets," said George Minassian, vice president of strategic planning and systems engineering, Wireless Solutions Division, Spansion. "Together, we are able to offer our customers the highest performing, most cost-efficient solution that meets handset OEM demands to gain more market share in new regions."
Spansion and QUALCOMM have worked on previous compatibility efforts with Spansion MirrorBit(R) ORNAND(TM) memory and software solutions that recently passed validation with select QUALCOMM Mobile Station Modem(TM) (MSM(TM)) chipsets for advanced multimedia and smartphone handsets.
"QUALCOMM is committed to developing new technologies that address the growing demand for high-performing handsets in emerging markets," said Mike Concannon, vice president of strategic products at QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. "Streamlining the design process enables handset manufacturers to reduce their overall system solution cost and bring phones to price sensitive markets more quickly."
Spansion expects its upcoming NOR VS Flash memory solutions for emerging markets to be sampling at the end of Q2 2007 and in production in Q3 2007. A Software Development Kit (SDK) to aid the design process is planned to sample in the first half of 2007. The Spansion NOR VS memory and software solutions are in the process of undergoing validation for select chipsets from QUALCOMM's single-chip(TM) (QSC(TM)) platform.
About Spansion
Spansion is a leading Flash memory solutions provider, dedicated to enabling, storing and protecting digital content in wireless, automotive, networking and consumer electronics applications. Spansion, previously a joint venture of AMD and Fujitsu, is the largest company in the world dedicated exclusively to designing, developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling Flash memory solutions. For more information, visit http://www.spansion.com/.
Cautionary Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's current expectations. Risks that the company considers to be the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements include the possibility that the parties will be unable to achieve the anticipated technological progress in the indicated time periods. We urge investors to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the company's Registration Statement on Form S-1
NOTE: Spansion, the Spansion logo, MirrorBit and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Spansion LLC. Spansion, the Spansion logo, MirrorBit are registered in the US and other countries. QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Other names used are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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