NEC to Use USB On-The-Go in Phones

TransDimension Corp. has licensed its USB On-The-Go wireless technology to NEC Electronics Corp., which said it will use the technology in a forthcoming chip powering its future 3G phones.

The agreement represents the third major wireless supplier that has said it will use the technology, although TransDimension has yet to strike deals with either Nokia or SonyEricsson, the worlds largest cell phone makers. Motorola and Qualcomm have also licensed the technology, and USB On-The-Go is shipping as part of two Qualcomm wireless chipsets.

“The decision by NEC to include this in its next-generation phones is further proof that USB will be the prevailing technology for point-to-point connectivity,” said Bill McInerney, a product manager at TransDimension, in an interview.

USB On The Go (USB OTG) was designed as an extension to the USB 2.0 specification, which connects a PC via a USB cable to assorted peripherals. USB OTG adds a small amount of additional logic, however, which allows a device to serve either as a host or peripheral. In practice, this allows USB devices to talk to other peripherals without the need of a host PC.

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