CSR plc has announced its 2006 financial with the company showing revenues for the year up 45 percent to $704.7M ($486.5M in 2005) and operating profits up 33 percent to $149.0M ($11.9M in 2005). CSR is already successfully executing on its strategy to diversify beyond supplying its Bluetooth technology to mobile-phone customers. More than 50 percent of the company's revenue in 2006 came from applications beyond handsets and prominent design wins included Sony's Playstation 3 (with CSR's FastStream low-latency Bluetooth technology), Motorola S9 stereo headset, the Sony Ericsson MBR100 music receiver, a Samsung Plasma TV, and Samsung's Yepp T9 MP3 player.
In the mobile-phone market in 2006, CSR won 99 out of 226 phone designs from top-tier phone makers. To ensure that CSR maintains the lead in this market, some of CSR's recent technology developments have included BlueCore5-FM (Bluetooth silicon with integrated FM radio); and CSR's software GPS offering (technology acquired via the acquisitions of Cambridge Positioning Systems and NordNav Technologies), which is to be integrated into CSR's Bluetooth silicon this year and will ultimately provide an embedded GPS solution for mobile handsets with a cost adder of less than $1.00.
The Bluetooth market overall grew from 310 to 320 million units in 2005 to over half a billion units in 2006. In 2006, 43 percent of all qualified Bluetooth products were in the non-cellular sector (as listed on the Bluetooth SIG website). CSR believes that strong growth in the Bluetooth market will continue in 2007 and, in particular, will be seen beyond the cellular sector in applications including PCs, gaming, music, and automotive.
As part of its convergence strategy, CSR launched two products: UniVox, a low-cost, low-power Voice over IP solution for DECT-replacement handsets for the home; and UniVox Mobile, a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth subsystem for converting mobile handsets into dual-mode Voice over IP handsets.
In the automotive segment, CSR won 75 percent of all products qualified in this market in 2006, with notable design wins including TomTom in Europe and Garmin in the US.
For further information, visit the CSR website at www.csr.com