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To: slacker711 who wrote (39028)	8/30/1999 6:44:00 PM
From: Don Edgerton	Respond to of 152472

Dick Tracy would be proud.

To: slacker711 who wrote (39028)	8/31/1999 2:23:00 AM
From: Mr. Sunshine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

I don't speak Korean, but I did just get back from 3 weeks over there. Most of the time in Taejon, some time in Seoul and Osan. A few random observations: 1) Cell phones are a huge craze, particulary in the 15-25 year old age group, and particularly among the girls. Maybe others had phones, but the young women were the ones who were constantly on them. Seemed like everytime I walked into/out of a nightclub, there were 2 or 3 women who had stepped outside to talk on their phone. (The places I had to go to complete this research!) A cell phone is a huge status symbol for the young crowd, and being without one is getting to be unacceptable. I cannot estimate how many have cell phones, since most would have them out of sight unless they were actually talking on them, but it does seem like there is still a lot of room to grow. They are also popular with the many U.S. Military personnel. 2. The phones were all very small. I saw nothing nearly as big as my QCP-820. Mostly Samsung, LG, some Motorola, and a few others. Not sure what sacrifices they make for the smallness, but they probably have much shorter battery lifes and not as many features. One phone I looked at rather closely did not seem to have many of the features that I consider standard. No speed dial or other method to access a menu that I could see. 3. They had a public cell phone battery charger in the bus terminal! Capacity of about 15, 3 were using it at the time. Probably would not work in the U.S. because of theft. Surprised that there are that many people in a bus terminal long enough to make charging worthwhile. Are repeated short term (less than 15 minutes) charges bad for the battery? 4. The emergency roadside assistance phones along the highways were cell phones. Most had "PCS" and "SOS" as the only Roman alphabet letters, and had a large "pipe" about 12 feet high from which the phone hung and from out of which a two foot attenna extended. 5. They were selling cell phones everywhere. Many cell phone stores and some tables set up on sidewalks or in front of major stores/malls. They were even renting them. I seriously considered renting one for my time period there, but did not. Just had no one to call, other than long distance. This research was expensive. Several times I had to buy young ladies drinks in the nightclubs with the ulterior motives of asking them about their cell phone and getting a chance to look at it. Donations to help fund this and future research may be given at the next annual meeting, or contact me by PM! Great investing to all! Steve