Korea's videophone market growing fast
Korea's major handset makers and mobile carriers are staging aggressive marketing and promotions to increase the portion of high-tech wireless videophones, taking full advantage of the solid mobile infrastructure.
Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest mobile handset maker, and LG Electronics, the sixth-largest player, have focused on videophones and multimedia mobile phones this year amid signs of heightened demand for high-tech information gadgets.
Samsung and LG officials said that they plan to roll out their high- powered videophones and multimedia-oriented handsets in coming months as mainstream subscribers are about to embrace the concept of exchanging video clips over the mobile network.
Korea has more than 32 million mobile phone subscribers, with three carriers - SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom - offering reliable voice call and a variety of multimedia data services through CDMA, or code division multiple access, technology.
SK Telecom and KTF already launched cdma2000 1x EV-DO services last year, boosting the average data transmission speed drastically. Under ideal conditions, EV-DO users can download data off a mobile network at a maximum speed of 2.4Mbps, sharply up from 144Kbps offered by the previous network service known as cdma2000 1x.
The upgrade of the mobile networks, however, did not spark a boom for videphones last year. Although mobile carriers have installed necessary equipment and solutions, handset makers dragged their feet in rolling out compatible handsets.
Carriers and handset manufacturers pointed fingers toward each other for the delay in the implementation of EV-DO. Fortunately, things are now stabilizing fast.
Late last year, SK Telecom launched its EV-DO brand, "June," and made progress in letting people know the power of videophones delivered through faster network and better handsets.
Although the number of EV-DO users is not that significant, mobile carriers and handset makers expect the figure to go up at steady pace in coming months.
Handset outlet operators said more and more people are picking up videophones, or otherwise known as "camera phones" here. "When camera phones first came out, people found it too much expensive, but the prices have gone down and people are actually buying camera phones," a local dealer said.
In addition, the related technologies and parts are becoming more sophisticated, accelerating the penetration rate.
For better picture display, mainstream handsets are migrating from 65,000 color pixels to 250,000 color pixels. The so-called m- commerce phones, designed to allow subscribers to use handsets as a virtual credit card, are also expected to gain a momentum later this year.
According to industry sources, some 1.3 million videophones were sold last year. While early models were limited to still pictures, latest videophones are powered to record not only images but also video clips, taking the role of a mini camcorder.
Pantech&Curitel, a major handset maker in Korea, unveiled its flagship videophone model late last year, drawing keen interest from users.
"Among mobile handsets purchased by existing and new KTF users, our model ranks second, which shows the product's competitive edge," a Pantech&Curitel spokesman said.
LG recently unveiled three videophone models in a bid to take a bigger share in the fast-growing multimedia-oriented mobile phone market here.
Korea is also set to have dual mobile standards this year. KTF and SK Telecom are scheduled to launch W-CDMA 3G services in June and September, respectively, offering another momentum to spur the sales of videophones, analysts said.
(insight@koreaherald.co.kr)
By Yang Sung-jin Staff reporter
2003.01.22
koreaherald.co.kr
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"KTF and SK Telecom are scheduled to launch W-CDMA 3G services in June and September, respectively.."
Really?
LOL! |
