http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/11/14/business/14reuters-texasinstruments-jobcuts.html
So... it's not likely the Pandora 2 will use one of those.
So... it's not likely the Pandora 2 will use one of those.
TI shutting down OMAP group
- Thread starter larry
- Start date
Link
ithic.com
Bummer
But:
"This year, the Kindle runs on the OMAP 4 and next year's Kindle is slated, we believe, for OMAP 5. We believe that program is well along to completion and do not expect that the termination of OMAP will disrupt those plans," said Longbow Research analyst JoAnne Feeney.
But:
"This year, the Kindle runs on the OMAP 4 and next year's Kindle is slated, we believe, for OMAP 5. We believe that program is well along to completion and do not expect that the termination of OMAP will disrupt those plans," said Longbow Research analyst JoAnne Feeney.
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craigix
Mega GP Mania
This apparently does not actually have any impact on getting the omap5 or using it. Allegedly.
Exophase
Nothing good will ever come of Exophase.
This made the rounds here a while ago and I gave my opinion on it then (that the reaction was exaggerated, especially for those who thought it meant OMAP5 was getting cancelled) but at this point I have to say it all looks like it was inevitable. TI used to be in first place in ARM SoC manufacturing. Right now they're in last place, at least amongst the big vendors outside of China and Taiwan, who are on the cusp of surpassing them too. Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, nVidia, and even Freescale all have either quad-core A9s or better cores. They all also have better GPUs.
I thought this was just a consequence of timing and would be quickly changed with OMAP5.. but I think it's clear TI hasn't been as aggressive in updating their products. And have had increasingly worse time to market. They just can't keep up.
And it's not really hard to see how this happened. Almost everyone else has either unique CPU cores (Swift, Krait), unique GPU cores (Adreno, GeForce ULP), manufacturing advantages (Samsung's 32nm), integration benefits (Qualcomm and nVidia both own baseband IP), or vertical strategies (Apple is able to make huge tablet SoCs because they make the tablets and have huge volumes/margin on them). The only other odd one out is Freescale who is struggling with this market even worse than TI is, and have just announced they cut a ton of engineers and their apps processor division.. so you probably won't see an i.MX7 either. Their market advantage over TI was that they were selling for less, which may have also been unsustainable.
TI got a big last hurrah in cheap but mainstream tablets, probably bolstered by being the reference platform for Ice Cream Sandwich.. but they're quickly giving way there.
That's the last thing they should even consider. There are several other vendors making ARM SoCs. If they really wanted x86 they should either wait for dual core Medfields or the lowest power Jaguars. Pandora 2 should definitely not be using a 40nm chip.
If TI doesn't have the resources to release an almost finalized device they're in even worse shape than they appear. If OMAP5 is far from finalization they are also in worse shape than they appear, but unfortunately that could easily be the case.. if it takes another half a year before OMAP5 can make it anything then they're going to look pretty weak.
But I would expect that less mainstream devices like Pandora is going to be exactly where TI will want to boost appeal for OMAP5.
I thought this was just a consequence of timing and would be quickly changed with OMAP5.. but I think it's clear TI hasn't been as aggressive in updating their products. And have had increasingly worse time to market. They just can't keep up.
And it's not really hard to see how this happened. Almost everyone else has either unique CPU cores (Swift, Krait), unique GPU cores (Adreno, GeForce ULP), manufacturing advantages (Samsung's 32nm), integration benefits (Qualcomm and nVidia both own baseband IP), or vertical strategies (Apple is able to make huge tablet SoCs because they make the tablets and have huge volumes/margin on them). The only other odd one out is Freescale who is struggling with this market even worse than TI is, and have just announced they cut a ton of engineers and their apps processor division.. so you probably won't see an i.MX7 either. Their market advantage over TI was that they were selling for less, which may have also been unsustainable.
TI got a big last hurrah in cheap but mainstream tablets, probably bolstered by being the reference platform for Ice Cream Sandwich.. but they're quickly giving way there.
That's the last thing they should even consider. There are several other vendors making ARM SoCs. If they really wanted x86 they should either wait for dual core Medfields or the lowest power Jaguars. Pandora 2 should definitely not be using a 40nm chip.
If TI doesn't have the resources to release an almost finalized device they're in even worse shape than they appear. If OMAP5 is far from finalization they are also in worse shape than they appear, but unfortunately that could easily be the case.. if it takes another half a year before OMAP5 can make it anything then they're going to look pretty weak.
But I would expect that less mainstream devices like Pandora is going to be exactly where TI will want to boost appeal for OMAP5.
What does this entail? Making lower volume orders available? Better driver support for linux?
