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To: Eric L who wrote (18940)	3/14/2002 3:55:41 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 34857

re: Symbian v. Stinger Game on. Still. >> Samsung Confirms Symbian OS Phone Gig John Lettice The Register 03/14/2002 Samsung today confirmed that it is to produce phones using the Symbian OS, as was exclusively alleged here last week, and thus handed Symbian a major and much-needed win in the latest round of the mobile platform wars. Samsung claims agnosticism as regards platforms, and says it will still be working on smartphones in conjunction with Microsoft, but you'll recall that 'twas Samsung that garnered much publicity as a Microsoft development partner a strategy rev or two back, so this one's a big catch for the Symbian crew. Especially when Microsoft has been hinting darkly about impending defections from existing camp members, and especially when Samsung looks like coming out of the other end of the slump as one of the major volume players in the mobile phone business. And especially when Samsung has just - like Nokia and Ericsson - rolled out a raft of deeply compelling-looking new toys. If the company isn't one of the phone big boys yet, it fully intends to be. As we pointed out earlier, Microsoft had very much the best of it at Cannes GSM World. It had new plans and reference platforms to show, the Nordics were keeping their toys hidden, and Symbian was somewhat executively-challenged. But Microsoft didn't have a big name manufacturer, still doesn't have one, and the opposition is now at least sharing one it didn't have before. Game on. Still. ® << - Eric -

To: Eric L who wrote (18940)	3/14/2002 4:07:23 PM
From: JohnG	Respond to of 34857

Ducks get SEX and are to be happy!! I guess there is a shortage in Europe. CEBIT-Japan's i-mode to launch in Europe with soft porn HANOVER, Germany, March 14 (Reuters) - When ``i-mode'' is launched on German mobile phones on Saturday it will offer something even the Japanese can't get on their official mobile Internet service: soft porn. KPN Telecom's E-Plus telecom unit is introducing i-mode to the German market at the annual CeBIT technology trade show in Hanover. Takeshi Natsuno, the man charged with strategy for the world's first and most successful mobile Internet service, can't resist titillating guests with the first i-mode service outside Japan, as he downloads a picture from one of 60 Web sites to be offered by telecoms operator E-Plus. ``I haven't seen any content like this in official i-mode services in Japan,'' he said, feigning shock as he flashed a handset screen displaying a woman's bare breasts. Another service unique to the official European i-mode sites will be chat rooms where users can look for dates. Even companies that may soon compete head-to-head with i-mode's multimedia service for mobile phones acknowledge that the service in Europe is wise to avoid being prudish. ``These are the killer applications,'' Thomas Chambers, the Chief Financial Officer of Britain-based mobile phone software company Symbian told Reuters as he flicked through the images. Killer applications are exactly what E-Plus, and its Netherlands-based parent KPN , need to get rid of a mountain of debt, piled up after buying expensive licenses to run fast, third-generation wireless data services needed to offer video. So far, wireless data services on the so-called Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) have been a disappointment in Europe, because they are slow, in monochrome colours and unexciting. This is why KPN, which is part-owned by i-mode owner NTT DoCoMo from Japan, decided to switch to i-mode. E-Plus kicks off with about the same number of sites that DoCoMo offered in the Japanese debut in 1999, Natsuno said. After a modest start, demand for the service accelerated in 2000 when some 20 million signed up and started using their mobiles to read e-mail and play games. With that success came hundreds of new i-mode services, both on the official site and on parallel, unofficial sites. SEX IN JAPAN Of course, sex has contributed substantially to the success of i-mode in Japan as well, even if it is not part of the official i-mode service. The proliferation of unofficial sites is a key reason why i-mode has amassed a following of 30 million subscribers in Japan in the course of three short years, and helped to keep DoCoMo Japan's dominant wireless carrier. Natsuno is quick to underline that one of the powers of i-mode is the easy-to-use software protocol on which it is based. I-mode sites are built with the same Internet mark-up language used on the normal Internet: HTML. As in Japan, success in Europe will depend on enough companies and software developers deciding it is worth the effort to develop services and content for i-mode phones. Natsuno is confident i-mode can wallop WAP, partly because all i-mode phones in Europe will have large colour screens. Almost all WAP sites are black-and-white. In Germany, i-mode will offer news, weather forecasts, music, games, downloadable ring tones, screensavers, maps and transport schedules. I-mode is also set for launch next month in the much smaller Dutch market, KPN's home turf. But it will still face fierce competition from new players such as Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) and Symbian (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: PON.L), which are also battling for software developers who can write programs and services to run on their software for smart mobile phones. This could make Europe a tougher mobile Internet market for i-mode to dominate than Japan was three years ago, when mobile Web services were nonexistent and DoCoMo set the rules for everyone from handset makers to content providers.