Samsung Unveils WiBro Cell Phone
Samsung Electronics President Lee Ki-tae Tuesday took the wraps off a handset that doubles as a terminal for the high-speed mobile Internet platform, WiBro.
Samsung predicted that the versatile model _ the SPH-P9000, with the moniker Deluxe MITs _ will provide fresh momentum to WiBro, which debuted here earlier this year.
“This is a true convergence device capable of voice and Internet,’’ Lee said in a press conference held on the sidelines of the Samsung Mobile WiMax Summit 2006 in Seoul.
“The SPH-P9000 will help the fledgling WiBro take off in time with the expansion of its service areas,’’ said Lee, who is in charge of Samsung’s mobile phone division.
The SPH-P9000 is equipped with a 5-inch liquid crystal display monitor, a 1.3-megapixel embedded camera module and an MP3 player as well as a 30-gigabyte hard disk drive.
Samsung plans to market the model in the first half of next year and has yet to fix its price.
WiBro, better known as mobile WiMax overseas, refers to Korea’s homegrown technology that allows people to remain connected to the Internet through handheld gadgets or laptops while on the road.
Korea’s top telecom operators KT and SK Telecom launched the Internet-on-the-go service in June, but it is struggling unsuccessfully to take root mainly because of a lack of proper terminals and narrow service ranges.
Lee projected such barriers will be addressed in the near future.
“We will continuously come up with WiBro terminals that deliver the right combination of technology and design. The service areas will be also expanded across the nation next year,’’ Lee said.
The WiBro service is currently available in parts of southern Seoul and Pundang in Kyonggi Province, where KT’s head office is located. KT looks to enlarge the service range to across Seoul this year before offering it nationwide next year.
Citing a report from global market research firm Yankee Group, Samsung said the number of WiBro subscribers will top 27.7 million by 2011, compared with this year’s 3.5 million.