the Mirasol side of that to solve that problem and bring in display technology that is much lower power.
X: Mirasol is the display technology that uses Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to reflect light so specific wavelengths interfere with each other to create color. It emulates the phenomenon that makes a butterfly’s wings shimmer, and Qualcomm boasts that it offers low power consumption and superb viewing quality, even in sunlight. But what is the status?
BD: We’ve had about eight commercial devices launched on it. But very-low volume, black and white or gray-scale devices. And that’s when we were proving out the existing foundry. What we’ve said is that there will be [Mirasol color] e-readers introduced in the first half of calendar 2011. We haven’t said where they’re targeted. The foundry we’re currently operating is optimized based on that 5.7-inch display for an e-reader. The foundry is fairly small. It was there to prove the technology out. We’ve also announced a $975 million capital plan for a new foundry—and that’s where we’ll start to focus on scaling the [Mirasol] technology up to look at tablets and down to look at phones.
X: Mirasol is initially just going into e-readers?
BD: The e-reader market is nice in terms of working out the new foundry because it’s a smaller set of customers than our wireless device, traditional customers represent. And the volume is obviously a lot lower than the handset market. So it’s a way for us to ease into the market with the technology and it’s a dramatic improvement for
