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Digital music player makers to aggressively launch Windows CE 6.0-based products
Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Emily Chuang, DIGITIMES [Thursday 13 December 2007]
Digital music player makers are competing to launch new products based on Windows Embedded CE 6.0 (WinCE) technology, according to makers. Apple's launch of the iPod touch has stimulated demand for devices featuring touch panels and as such has increased the desirability of the WinCE platform to digital music player chip suppliers and assemblers. Taiwan-based brand Ergotech will have a new digital media player available in the market in January 2008. In the past, Texas Instruments (TI), Freescale and ADI all pushed chips that support the WinCE platform, according to makers. However, as production costs are high, the technology is still mainly limited to PDA, GPS and other portable devices, said the makers. Nevertheless, with improved software integration and reduced development time for the products to two to three months, many digital music player makers have been developing WinCE-based digital music, and digital video players since the second half of 2007. The makers that currently ship chips suitable for WinCE platforms in mass volumes include Samsung Electronics, Telechip and China-based Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Technology. More China-based chip suppliers will release new products as early as the first quarter of 2008, according to the media player makers. The price for a traditional digital music system-on-chip (SoC) solution is around US$3-4 while chips that support WinCE are around US$7-8. Thus, the new digital media players will still target the mid-range and high-end markets, said the makers.
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