A Chinese mobile phone software vendor has licensed a suite of A/V (audio-visual) codecs for its Linux smartphone software stack. China MobileSoft (CMS) says A/V technology from InterVideo will enable users of phones based on its Linux smartphone stack to record and play “high-quality, jitter-free video clips.”

InterVideo is best known as a supplier of PC software, including “WinDVD” playback software and other products that allow users to “capture, edit, author, burn, distribute, and play digital video.” However, the company is no stranger to device computing; it also markets an embedded Linux multimedia OS environment that turn Windows laptops and PCs into fast-booting multimedia environments.

CMS sells mobile phone stacks for smartphones based on Linux and other embedded OSes, along with an embedded Linux OS product. It was acquired a year ago by PalmSource, which said “PalmSource Asia” (as the acquisition is known internally) would expedite its transition to Linux, and help it gain a foothold in the Chinese mobile phone software market.

China represents the world's largest mobile phone market, according to IDC, which says mobile phone shipments in China jumped nearly 16 percent between 2003 and 2004. IDC expects Chinese mobile handset sales to rise from 92 million units in 2005 to 400 million units by 2009 (figures supplied by CMS). CMS says it currently has 10 licensees shipping CMS software on more than 30 phone models in China.

After acquiring CMS in January, PalmSource itself was subsequently acquired in September by Japanese mobile phone software vendor Access.

CMS says its forthcoming Linux smartphone software design will use “iMobi multimedia codec technologies” from InterVideo. iMobi appears to be a new video codec product from InterVideo aimed at 3G cell phones, with few details available as yet. The companies have stated that the combined CMS/InterVideo solution will provide phone designers with a “complete solution” for adding entertainment features to Linux-based smartphones.

InterVideo CEO Steve Ro stated, “The new CMS designs will turn smart phones into true entertainment solutions.”

CMS CEO Jiping Wang stated, “We selected InterVideo because it is known worldwide for the quality of its products, and [it] has extensive experience in developing Linux multimedia software for some of the industry's leading manufacturers of high-end CE devices.”

 
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