CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) today announced that it has signed 12-month agreements with nine leading component suppliers which will make it possible for CSR to put together a Bluetooth headset solution for less than $14, including CSR's BlueCore silicon and all components including PCB, battery, antenna, microphone, speaker and plastics. This is based on CSR's BlueCore2-Headset application specific chip (BC213159A14) and example design solution. In terms of silicon shipments, over 50 percent of the Bluetooth headsets on the market today use CSR's BlueCore, making CSR the world's leading supplier of Bluetooth solutions for wireless headsets.
The nine partners are major worldwide suppliers with the capability to meet the very rapid growth rate of Bluetooth demand. The components from these companies are all technically approved by CSR allowing OEMs a quick time to market as design time and sourcing are minimized. CSR is cooperating with these companies on the following products: Linear Technology, battery charger; Maxim, switch-mode regulator; Murata, inductors and capacitors; ON Semiconductor, transistors; Soshin, filter; STMicroelectronics, EEPROM; TDK, balun; Torex, LDO voltage regulator; and Toyocom, crystal.
CSR has ensured it selected the best components available and in driving down the costs, is not compromising on technical capabilities in its selection of parts. All of CSR's example application designs are offered free of charge to CSR customers and include full software binaries for the Bluetooth stack, and source code (in this case for headset and hands-free applications). With these example designs and such agreements with leading suppliers, CSR's distribution channels can offer a 'one-stop-shop' for any manufacturer wishing to Bluetooth-enable their product.
Eric Janson, worldwide vice president, marketing, CSR, commented, "By collaborating with this group of highly regarded and technically competent components suppliers, we're confident that our customers can benefit from an assembled expertise in addition to getting their products to market quickly and in the most cost-efficient manner."
The collaboration with these nine companies is the first in a series of agreements that will ensure that CSR's customers benefit from a complete Bluetooth solution without having to source external components for themselves. CSR has initially concentrated on grouping components necessary to enable its headset design, and in the future intends to partner clusters of suppliers to create other application specific complete Bluetooth solutions.