NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, July 6, 2005

Sets out roadmap for sub-$5 hardware and software platform to drive handset costs below $20

Royal Philips Electronics today announced a global initiative to develop ultra low-cost mobile phones to bring the benefits of the technology to an untapped global customer base of 3.3 billion people. The first product from the project will be a sub-$5 system solution ? an integrated hardware and software platform constituting all the electronics needed in a mobile phone ? that will drive handset costs below $20, fueling already fast-growing markets in regions including China, India, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. Speaking at the Ultra Low-Cost Handset Conference (Amsterdam, 28-29 June), Thierry Laurent, an executive vice president of Philips? semiconductor division, said that the initiative would be based at Philips? facility in Shanghai, and that it would seek to drive down total handset costs for this market segment below $15 by 2008.
Press release found here.