AMD to move beyond PC

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) says it is pursuing a strategy of developing processors for a wider range of products outside computers and the company called on other industry players to focus on user needs rather than creating "technology for technology`s sake".

Speaking at Comdex yesterday, Hector Ruiz, AMD`s president and chief executive, said the company would shift its focus over the coming years away from the slowing PC market. AMD, which has fought a bitter battle with Intel over the past years, says simply making semiconductors smaller, cheaper and faster is no longer key to an effective strategy.

Ruiz also predicted a new role for the PC, saying that "the time is fast arriving when we will see the PC as the central hub of the home," paving the way for a new generation of PC-based consumer items.

AMD`s strategy shift came on the same day that Standard & Poor downgraded the chip-maker on concerns about its ability to boost profits and weather soft demand. [Reuters]

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), a standards group for the mobile phone and wireless computing industry, said yesterday it had set rules for key applications that should boost sales of wireless data services.

OMA was created in June when nearly 200 telecoms operators and hardware and software companies joined forces to create a global organisation to agree on common, open standards for the wireless world.

The alliance has already set standards for applications such as Internet browsing, picture messaging, video downloads and e-mail alerts. Mobile devices that support these standards should be able to access services or communicate with devices that support the same standards.

OMA also said the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum and the Mobile Games Interoperability Forum would integrate with OMA, and the alliance has started discussions with different mobile payments standards groups.

"Interoperability is the key thing. What happened to GSM could happen again in wireless data with OMA," a Nokia spokesman told Reuters yesterday, referring to the global systems for mobile communications which set a single European standard for mobile voice calls which is now the dominant system in the world. [Reuters]

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