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To: slacker711 who wrote (18479)	2/25/2002 11:25:47 AM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: BREW in Korea I understand that someone posted here today that BREW which KTF launched in November is adding $2 or $3 per month revenue from BREW. The individual is either joking, deluded, or confusing US dollars with Won. Meantime the article below is two months old, but I'm not sure that I've seen it posted before and I've added a 3 month old article below it about The GVM OS being used by SKT in Korea. re: BREW at KTF Java under GVM at SKT, and Java at LG. << I was hoping for a detailed breakdown from BREW...but they didn't provide much beyond ARPU's and total number of subscribers. >> Well, KTF at least included a page on "Multi-pack" which includes BREW. No question but that color displays have been a factor, but they would be less so if there was not some color content. As for Java at SKT or LG it is also hard to tell whether it is contributing. So far as I can tell there are currently only 3 Java phones in Korea (ScH-X130 from Samsung and p510 & p520 from LG). This 2 month old article below is kind of interesting. I don't think I posted it earlier. There are some early comments about reaction to BREW application pricing. >> Korea, China to Push for Wireless Net Platform Korea Herald Yang Sung-jin 2001.12.17 South Korea and China may jointly push for developing a wireless Internet platform in the first half of next year, the Ministry of Information and Communication said yesterday. Information and Communication Vice Minister Kim Dong-sun, who is now visiting China, met with Wang Jianzhou, director of China Unicom, to further cooperation in the telecom sector between the two neighboring countries. Kim and Wang agreed in principle on a joint project to set up a standard wireless Internet for mobile services in both countries. The move is expected to spark keen interest in Korea's mobile platform solutions developers and wireless content providers. Although Korea boasts 29 million mobile users as of the end of November this year, the wireless Internet market is yet to take off. Major carriers are pouring investment into their own wireless platforms and yet the reaction so far, even in terms of revenue generation, stops short of high expectations. KTF, the country's second largest mobile carrier, has adopted BREW, a wireless Internet platform developed by Qualcomm Inc. of the U.S., in early November to kick-start its wireless Internet service, named "Multipack." But the scope of downloadable games and other multimedia software is limited and consumers are fretting about the high prices. For the most part, KTF offers a simple arcade mobile game that can be downloaded into users' handset for 2,000 won, which is seen too expensive for users, particularly students who have tight budget for their mobile services. SK Telecom and LG Telecom provide similar wireless Internet services, but the core money-making services are not e-mail and downloadable games, but ring tones and screen images. The sluggish progress of the wireless Internet is galling for carriers, which have already upgraded their network from 2G to 2.5G, or cdma2000 1x. The new network systems could deliver data at a speed of 144Kbps, which is more than enough to handle the traffic of ring tone and image downloads. Analysts said Korean mobile carriers and wireless content makers pin high hopes on the Chinese market as a lucrative market for expansion, particularly at a time when the wireless market is beginning to sprint forward along with the upgrade of handsets and other solutions. In the year to July, China's mobile users grew 42 percent to more than 120 million, stealing the top slot which belonged to the U.S. Vice Minister Kim also revealed to his Chinese counterpart that Korea will complete developing its own standard wireless Internet platform, whose source codes will be provided to China for free. Kim's remark is interpreted as a sign that the Korean government may ignore the U.S-based Qualcomm in its pursuit of the world's largest mobile market in connection wit the fast-evolving wireless Internet platform. When KTF decided to adopt Qualcomm's BREW platform, a host of critics raised the issue about Qualcomm's confusing pricing policy. Korea adopted and fine-tuned Qualcomm's CDMA (code division multiple access) technology while other countries, especially in Europe, went for GSM (global system for mobile communications) standard. As the country's mobile service grew at an explosive rate, Qualcomm raked in enormous profits thanks to what Korean critics called "unfair" royalty contracts. Although Qualcomm insists its royalty agreement with Korea is the best possible, local analysts and industry insiders are still grumbling about the possibility that Qualcomm might trample its earlier promise and offer better terms to Chinese carriers. If Korea opts for its own wireless platform and delivers its core technology to China for free, it may be Qualcomm that will be sidelined. In addition, it may have to cut prices further it wants to export its BREW technology to China in the future, as Korea is willing to provide free platform solutions. The prospect for strong ties between Korea and China in the mobile sector is good news for wireless solutions developers here, but it remains to be seen whether carriers might make good on their promise about the platform development. SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom have agreed to work out a common wireless Internet platform but they are currently going in their own directions, raising the uncertainty. SK Telecom is using a home-grown technology called GVM, while KTF's platform is based on BREW for the time being. LG Telecom is relying on Sun Microsystem's Java platform. The diversified platforms are now putting pressure on content developers, handset makers and solution developers as they have to customize their products to different platforms. The ministry, meantime, is set to introduce a string of standard features for the wireless Internet that could meet the global standard while compatible with existing platforms. << - Eric -

To: slacker711 who wrote (18479)	3/2/2002 4:15:23 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: Preview of the Motorola A820 tri-band GSM/GPRS/WCDMA Mobile * It is not possible to directly compare this model to current GSMs, in size or weight or even price. * ... to acquire one when it arrives on the market, probably in September, you will need a sum between 775 and 1290 euros...not little! <g> * The videophone is very heavy in terms of consumption ... this phone manages 200 hours of standby and 2 hours of conversation. * Accessories that will be available are a video camera to attach to the terminal and a GPS module. >> Preview: Motorola A820 GSMBOX David Cánovas Translated by Miranda Drew February 28, 2002 Motorola has done it again. After being a pioneer in GPRS technology with the Timeport 260, the North American company has the cards stacked in their favour to be the first to introduce a 3G terminal in Europe. In fact, considering the delay in the creation of UMTS networks on the part of the operators, the manufacturer forsees launching this revolutionary model in the second half of 2002, probably in September. While GPRS is still relatively new, Motorola is already preparing a terminal that will be able to send data at a speed of 384 kbps and will have all of the technological features known today. The list of its features sounds like science fiction: the 3G interface already seems to have a name and a face. The A820 was presented two weeks ago here in Milan, with the other models of Motorola’s new portfolio for 2002. Not only is it a 3G telephone, but it also has GPRS technology ( it is a class 8 with 4 slots in downlink and 1 in uplink) and can operate on 3 GSM frequencies (900, 1800 and 1900 MHz). With regards to messaging, the phone is compatible with EMS standards (5.0) and with the brand-new MMS multimedia messages. Navigation on the web is supplied by a WAP microbrowser in version 2.0. Having used it in their renewed models V60, V66 and T280, Motorola is firmly convinced of the potentional of JAVA technology and uses applications created in J2ME in the model in question. IN addition, the user can view albums containing the main graphic formats (GIF, TIFF and JPEG). Video reproduction is available thanks to compatibility with AVI, MPEG4 and ASF formats. These characteristics are in addition to a wide TFT display with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels, 4,096 colours e up to 11 lines of text. The list of theme songs is almost interminable, if you consider the capacity to reproduce musical archives in MP3, WAV and MIDI formats. And we mustn’t forget the polyphonic ring tones. In a device like this you are sure to find features including Bluetooth connectivity and an IrDA port. A lot of memory is required to manage everything we have discussed, therefore, it can be expanded using a slot for added SD or MMC memory cards. This way the video, music and image archives can be increased enormously. Motorola’s new collection has brought with it an important change in the classic aesthetics of this manufacturer. Its shapes are now more angular, except for the V70, naturally. The antenna on this model is the exterior type, but it is almost imperceptible. The dimensions are 135 x 53 x 24.2 mm and the weight is 157 grams. Logically, it is not possible to directly compare this model to current GSMs, in size or weight or even price. As far as autonomy is concerned, this phone manages 200 hours of standby and 2 hours of conversation, thanks to a 800 mAh battery in lithium polymer. As in the Japanese 3G models, the videophone is very heavy in terms of consumption. Accessories that will be available are a video camera to attach to the terminal and a GPS module. To sum up, we cannot do more than afferm that this is one of the most complete models seen up to now. The ball now passes to the operators, given than Motorola has proved their capacity for looking ahead. Although 3G technology will only be available in limited areas at the beginning, the A820, as stated, has the advantage of being able to operate on “traditional” GSM networks, making it usable right away. If we consider all of its features the new offering from Motorola is much more than a UMTS telephone. Technology lovers who want everything now be advised: to acquire one when it arrives on the market, probably in September, you will need a sum between 775 and 1290 euros ...not little! << Not Little! - Eric -

To: slacker711 who wrote (18479)	3/5/2002 7:49:20 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: The First Smartphone announcement for Symbian OS 7.0 (Sony-Ericsson) This "New Generation" WorldSmartPhone has very advanced features and a pretty aggressive availability date of Q3 02. Because it uses (will use) OS 7.0 it is likely that a 1xRTT or 1xEV-DO model could follow. Picture at link below. >> Sony Ericsson P800 - Symbian / GPRS / Tri-Band GSM / Camera / Colour Screen Cellular News March 5, 2002 cellular-news.com The P800 is a multimedia smartphone which has a large color touch-screen, in-built camera, access to the Internet and runs on triple band GSM and GPRS networks. The Operating system is based on the Symbian 7.0 platform. With the P800 it is possible to take digital pictures, view them on the 208 x 320 pixel color screen, store them in the photo album and send them as an e-mail to a PC or as an MMS-message to another phone. The P800 can also show a color picture of the person who is calling, for that personal touch. The P800 offers the possibility of downloading and viewing video clips and is also an organizer, it can handle daily operations such as calendar, e-mail, address book and to-do-lists. All these features can easily be synchronized with the most common office applications on a PC. The P800 enables to take notes and view files such as Powerpoint, Word or Excel. The P800 runs on the latest version of the open operating system, Symbian OS v7.0 and incorporates the recently announced UIQ pen-based user interface. As the P800 is open, one can download applications, such as games, based on Java and C++. This opens up possibilities in several applications areas and it means that consumers will be able to update their handsets regularly with new applications and content. Its integrated browser can access the web (HTML and xHTML), i-Mode and WAP. Furthermore, the P800 can be used across five continents and in around 160 countries as it runs on GSM 900/1800/1900. For the Chinese-speaking markets, the P802 and the P800c also handle Chinese character text input. The P800 will be available during Q3, 2002. Idle gossip moment, NEC also used to sell a ETACS handset called the P800. << - Eric -