First come chips, then come the products. Two major vendors--Texas Instruments and Broadcom--in the last two weeks announced cell phone chips that offer wireless local area network, Bluetooth, and FM transmitter/receiver technology on a single piece of silicon.

The chips could make it possible to put more features on low-end phones. WLAN-enabled cell phones can share video, photos, and other large files with other WLAN-enabled devices, including phones, laptops, and digital cameras. Bluetooth allows similar short-range connections, and FM capability lets people listen to MP3 files on their cell phones on any FM receiver. Combining three different radio cores in a single chip has stymied companies in the past, because of interference problems.

TI's announcement came a week after Broadcom disclosed a similar triple-threat chip.

TI says its goal is to bring the technology to the mass market, where cost is key. TI's pitch is that device makers can embed the WiLink or BlueLink chips into cell phones without extra cost, since they contain all the technologies on a single chip. TI won't say which mobile device makers plan to use its chips, but business manager Amir Faintuch says it's "highly engaged" with several.