19-Oct-2006 meeting of MVLUG/MerriLUG: Rob Lembree on Cell Phones

[Ted Roche]

Twenty-four attendees made it to Martha's Exchange for the October  
meeting of the Merrimack Valley chapter of the Greater New Hampshire  
Linux User Group. Coordinator Heather Brodeur lead off the  
discussions with a round of introductions. Several members who hadn't  
made a meeting in a few years re-introduced themselves. Heather noted  
that GNHLUG had (one of) its first meetings on that very date 12  
years ago and to celebrate had brought a cake to note the event (have  
we got a picture somewhere?).

Next month's meeting will feature Shawn O'Shea talking about VMWare.  
(http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.org.user-groups.linux.gnhlug/7083)

Rob Lembree was the main presenter, discussing "What's inside a cell  
phone." Rob lead us through the new glossary of the cell phone  
industy: "operators" are the new "carriers, ODMs are Original Design  
Manufacturers, OEMs Original Equipment Manufacturers, MVNO are Mobile  
Virtual Network Operators (like ESPN, which announced recently they  
were out of the phone business). Rob offered a lot of insights into  
the challenges of developing phones, with the key guideline that low  
Bill-Of-Materials is what operators want most. Rob reviewed what GSM,  
GPRS, EDG, UMTS, NAND or NOR Flash and ARM all meant or were used  
for, and showed off several phones and prototypes that his company  
had been involved with.

A very interesting presentation. Thanks to Rob for presenting, for  
Heather and Jim for coordinating and promoting the meeting, and to  
Martha's for allowing us to use their facilities.



Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com