HDTV Comes to Cell Phones

HDTV Comes to Cell Phones

The cell phone industry is working to build phones able to receive high-definition television signals over the air, even though HDTV has yet to make its way into most American living rooms.



Texas Instruments, the largest maker of computer chips for mobile phones, plans to announce Thursday that it is developing technology that will allow wireless handsets to receive hundreds of high-definition channels. The phones will not be marketed until 2007.



...Another question is whether consumers who have become accustomed to watching television on huge sets at home would be interested in watching shows on tiny screens.



The concept of miniature televisions is not new. Sony, with its Watchman, and other consumer electronics makers have for years sold portable televisions with small screens, but those devices have had very limited markets.



Rich Templeton, the chief executive of Texas Instruments, conceded that the appeal of the tiny appliances has not been vast. But he said the phone-based television would be more widely used because most users will be carrying them anyway.

This is what it's all about. It's not hard to put the pieces together. This is our biggest market. Microvision's virtual displays can have a tiny form factor while projecting an HDTV widescreen image that appears to be just as big as your living room TV. This is not lost on the cell phone companies. They know all about how key our technology is for what they need to accomplish.



Thanks to drift00007.