Hardware
China’s Shenzhen Coship plans to set up STB making unit in India
KOLKATA: China’s Shenzhen Coship Electronics Co Ltd, a cable television and broadband equipment maker, plans to set up a set-top box (STB) manufacturing facility in India.
“We are planning to set up a set-top box manufacturing facility with a capacity to make 2.5 lakh units a month in India to start with and the scale up the operations on the back of demand,” Vipan Kumar Sharma, Country Manager, India, Coship, told indiantelevision.com, on the sidelines of Cable TV Show 2014, an exhibition of cable television industry in Kolkata.
“We will see and evaluate the benefits and policies of the government”, he said.
Sharma further said the company might look at a place near Delhi, in Chennai or around Pune. “We already have our technical office at Chennai and our commercial office is in Delhi,” he said.
The proposed STB manufacturing unit would employ about 1,000 workers, he said.
Sharma did not disclose the investments that would be required for setting up the STB manufacturing facility but said the average cost of producing one STB would be around $22.
Shenzhen Coship, which has already supplied 10 million STBs in India since 2007, is planning to export to India another 5 million STBs by the end of 2014.
The company’s clients include Siticable, Kerala Communicators Cable Limited (KCCL) and Sun Direct DTH.
Sharma said it is also in talks with Videocon d2h for supplying its STBs.
He said demand for STBs in phase III and phase IV of digitisation would be the growth driver for the company in India. He, however, said in rural and semi-urban areas, availability of funds is an issue for the multi-system operators (MSO) and local cable operators (LCOs).
As per the Information and Broadcasting Ministry estimates, a total of 75 million STBs would be required for installation in the third and fourth phases of digitisation. The deadline for the third phase of digitisation is 30 September and for the fourth phase is 31 December.
Shenzen Coship has three factories in China with combined capacity to manufacture 25 million STBs — both SD and HD — a year.
Hardware
Specs Inc. partners with Qualcomm for next-generation smart glasses
Snap subsidiary to power future Specs with Snapdragon XR platforms.
MUMBAI: Snap’s Specs are about to get a serious upgrade and this time, they’re teaming up with Qualcomm to make sure the future looks crystal clear. Specs Inc., a Snap subsidiary, has announced a multi-year strategic agreement with Qualcomm Technologies to power future generations of its advanced smart eyewear with Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology.
This marks the first flagship engagement for Specs Inc., which is preparing to launch its standalone, see-through smart glasses for consumers later this year. The Specs are designed to seamlessly blend digital experiences into the physical world, allowing users to see, hear, and interact with digital content as if it were part of their real surroundings.
By integrating Snapdragon XR platforms, the glasses will benefit from edge AI and high-performance, low-power computing. This combination enables intelligent, context-aware experiences to run directly on the device, delivering faster and more private interactions.
The partnership builds on more than five years of collaboration between Snap and Qualcomm, during which Snapdragon platforms have powered multiple generations of Snap’s Spectacles.
Snap Inc., co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said, “We believe the future of computing will be more human and grounded in the real world. Our work with Qualcomm provides a strong foundation for the future of Specs, bringing advanced technology and performance that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Qualcomm Incorporated president and CEO Cristiano Amon added, “The next era of computing will be defined by devices that understand what you see, hear and say, and respond instantly to the world around you. Our collaboration on Specs will enable power-efficient interactive AR devices that feel natural and intuitive.”
The agreement establishes a scalable foundation for developers and partners building experiences for Specs, supporting a predictable product roadmap and increasingly sophisticated digital interactions over time.
In a world racing toward augmented reality, Specs Inc. and Qualcomm are ensuring that the next pair of smart glasses doesn’t just look good on paper, they perform brilliantly in real life. The future of wearable computing just got a powerful new lens.
