NTT DoCoMo and five vendors have announced plans to jointly develop a next-generation mobile phone platform for dual-mode handsets supporting HSDPA/W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Development of the platform is targeted to complete during Q2, FY2008 (July-September). The goal of the group of six — which includes Renesas Technology, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications — is to provide a platform with advanced functionality for 3G mobile phones based on the SH-Mobile G3, a single-chip system LSI that supports second and third generation GSM.

The platform would eliminate the need for handet makers Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson to develop common handset functions, reducing development time and costs and allowing the manufacturers to invest more time and resources in developing distinctive handset features and expanding their product portfolio.

Renesas plans to provide the platform to the worldwide W-CDMA market, in addition to customers in Japan, aiming to further reduce costs.

NTT DoCoMo and Renesas have already jointly developed the SH-Mobile G1, a first-generation single-chip LSI for dual-mode handsets supporting W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS, and is now in mass production and handsets built around it first appeared on the market in the fall of 2006.

The second-generation successor, the SH-Mobile G2, and a mobile phone platform integrating core software are currently under development by NTT DoCoMo, Renesas, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, and Sharp. Handsets employing the G2 are scheduled to appear in the fall of 2007.