MPEG 4 video playback will be built right into the heart of next-generation Palm PDAs - if the company (or any of its licensees) choose Motorola's upcoming ARM-based DragonBall MX1 processor.

Motorola this week agreed to license MPEG 4 codec from Finnish wireless multimedia technology company Hantro for inclusion in the MX1.

MPEG 4 is designed to allow video and multimedia content to be received, played back and even transmitted by mobile devices.

Motorola's interest is clear: now that it is taking DragonBall into the ARM world, it must compete directly with other, compatible ARM-based CPUs, including Intel's StrongARM and upcoming X-Scale processors.

Motorola licensed ARM technology some time ago, but was forced to make more of the rights when Palm committed itself to shifting away from current, 680x0-based DragonBall processors to the ARM platform. ®