MS, NVidia Team on Mobile Graphics

NVidia released a development kit Wednesday that will allow handheld manufacturers to add support for various multimedia functions, including digital television and 3D graphics, to Windows Media 5.0 devices. Dubbed the MobileMedia platform, the kit includes both hardware and software components.

"Handheld phones today offer great promise as digital, media-rich devices, however the broad range of platforms and standards available to manufacturers has made the development of advanced handsets that deliver compelling content, a daunting and time-prohibitive task," said Philip Carmack, senior vice president of handheld GPUs at NVidia.

Both Microsoft and NVidia say this would speed the development time of advanced handsets using Windows Mobile 5.0.

Jason Lim, Microsoft's Asia Pacific and Japan regional director for Windows Mobile acknowledged that customers had been asking for more robust combinations of lifestyle and productivity applications. Lim said the partnership would help make those requests a reality.

Several devices based on the MobileMedia platform are already in the works, including devices from Samsung, HTC / Modeo, and ReignComm. NVidia is also working with Intel and Freescale on reference designs for devices to be announced later in the year.

"This new product represents a complete solution for device manufacturers, delivering an easy-to-integrate, high-performing multimedia platform for handhelds using the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system," Carmack said.