Ericsson Mobile Platforms was the name of the company within the Ericsson group that supplied mobile platforms, i.e. the technological basis on which a cellular phone product can be built. EMP was one of the leading suppliers of 3G technology to various brands of phones. EMP did not manufacture chips themselves, but partnered with manufacturers that made them based on their reference design and Intellectual Property Rights. These chips were then only sold to EMP customers. According to the company, EMP held the world’s largest 2G, 2.5G and 3G IPR portfolio, with more than 20,000 granted patents worldwide.
Within Ericsson, EMP evolved through a process of separating the technology development, the platform, from the product development, the mobile phone. The process started back in the early nineties, and in 2001 the handset division was separated and the joint venture together with Sony, creating Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, was formed. Ericsson decided to keep the platform technology within the company, forming EMP.
During August 2008, it was announced that EMP would be merged with ST-NXP Wireless, a mobile phone system solution provider, to create a 50/50 joint venture owned by Ericsson and STMicroelectronics. The combined company has a customer base including Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson -- four of the top five mobile phone vendors.[1] The companies later announced the joint venture would be named ST-Ericsson and with this Ericsson Mobile Platform disappeared as a legal entity early 2009.
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A platform has a life cycle of about one and a half to two years. New platform versions build on previous designs, making the transition to a new version easier. EMP technology has been used for over 250 million phones.
In 2001, Ericsson Mobile Platforms became one of the first companies to license 3G technology platforms to mobile phone manufacturers. EMP was the first platform provider to have commercially launched handsets containing their WCDMA, EDGE and GPRS technologies.
Manufactures such as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Amoi, Sagem, Sharp, LG, Samsung, and NEC, have signed licence agreements with EMP.
For 2006 Ericsson Mobile Platforms started deliveries of the U350 and U360 platforms, which was the smallest HSDPA/EDGE platforms yet. U350 is a quad-band EDGE and single-band HSDPA platform, whereas the U360 adds triple-band HSDPA capabilities.