New Linley Group Study Predicts $1.9 Billion Application Processor Market by 2012

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - December 9, 2008) - Citing the growing popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices, The Linley Group predicts that application processor sales will nearly double by 2012. Based on the company's trademark in-depth technical and business analysis, the forecast is contained in its latest report, "A Guide to Mobile Processors, First Edition." The guide assesses the overall competitive landscape for application and mobile multimedia processors, providing detailed coverage of both large and small vendors targeting this market. The report also provides in-depth product comparisons and recommends which products the firm believes are best suited to a variety of mobile applications including smartphones, personal media players (PMPs), personal navigation devices (PNDs) and mobile Internet devices (MIDs). These processors are also used in automotive in-dash systems, digital photo frames, IP security cameras, and other rapidly growing markets.

"Mobile devices span a wide range of price points and feature sets, making it impossible for any single processor, or even a single vendor's products, to satisfy all applications," said Linley Gwennap, principal analyst of The Linley Group. "As one of the few high growth sectors we are seeing over the next five years, the mobile processor market has attracted many vendors vying to maintain or grow their market positions. Our mobile processor guide contains the insights needed by a wide range of professionals to identify the products and companies that will drive the market for the foreseeable future, and it provides a critical tool for identifying growth opportunities in these difficult economic times."

The Linley Group expects the application processor market to grow to $1.9 billion by 2012, nearly double the size of the market today. Smartphones, which are the largest consumer of application processors, have been growing at more than 50 percent per year for several years and are expected to continue growing sharply through 2012.

The Linley Group defines application processors as those used to run an operating system and application software in a mobile device, and multimedia processors as those that act as coprocessors, offloading multimedia functions from the host CPU. The firm believes that the rapid transition from "dumb" phones to smartphones will be the primary driver for application processor demand. Application processor vendors, however, will face challenges over time as handset manufacturers begin using single-chip devices to combine the application and baseband functions. Similarly, the group expects a decline in the multimedia processor market due to increased integration. Successful vendors will be those that differentiate their devices in terms of performance, power efficiency, integration, and software support. The report uses these criteria to analyze vendors and products, and to determine which will succeed.

The report highlights the collision occurring in the emerging MID market between PC-like processors and processors traditionally used in smartphones. MIDs offer many of the same features as smartphones but use a larger screen and faster CPU to enhance the Internet experience. Although Intel touts its Atom processor for this market, the report debunks the myth of the Atom processor's low-power consumption, while showing that Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, the dominant handset chip suppliers, must improve their software support to succeed in the MID market.

Availability

"A Guide to Mobile Processors, First Edition" is currently available directly from The Linley Group and is priced at $2,995 for a single-user license. For further details, visit the web site at http://www.linleygroup.com/Reports/application_processor_guide.html.

About The Linley Group

The Linley Group, the leading provider of independent technology analysis on semiconductors for networking, communications, mobile and wireless, covers emerging areas such as high-speed embedded processors, Gigabit and 10G Ethernet, security processors, application and baseband processors, and more. The company provides in-depth technology reports and interactive seminars as well as strategic consulting services tailored to the individual client. To get free access to The Linley Group's analysis of recent news and events in these markets, subscribe to our e-mail newsletters. More information about The Linley Group is available at http://www.linleygroup.com.

Note to editors: To speak to an analyst from The Linley Group about this report, please contact: Erika Powelson, Orr & Company, 831.424.1811 or email erika@orr-co.com.

Contact Information: Company Contact: Candace Doyle The Linley Group 408.370.7631 candaced@linleygroup.com Web site: www.linleygroup.com Public Relations Contact: Erika Powelson Orr & Company 831.424.1811 erika@orr-co.com