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QUALCOMM Fiscal Third Quarter 2004 Earnings Release and
Conference Call
Earnings Release
QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) will release its third quarter 2004 results on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 at approximately 1:00 p.m. (PDT). After the release has been issued, QUALCOMM Investor Relations representatives will not be available to return phone calls until the conclusion of the conference call at approximately 4:00 p.m. (PDT).
Earnings Conference Call
QUALCOMM will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2004 earnings results on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (PDT). The conference call will be web cast live on QUALCOMM's web site at www.qualcomm.com. Financial and statistical information to be discussed in the conference call will be posted on QUALCOMM's Investor Relations web site at www.qualcomm.com immediately prior to the commencement of the conference call.
The conference call will include a discussion of non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial measures. Information reconciling these non-GAAP financial measures to QUALCOMM's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP will be posted on QUALCOMM's Investor Relations web site at www.qualcomm.com immediately prior to the commencement of the conference call.
Rebroadcast
A rebroadcast of the call will start on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 beginning at approximately 4:30 p.m. (PDT). The rebroadcast will be available through July 26, 2004 at 4:30 p.m. (PDT). To hear the rebroadcast, U.S. callers may dial (800) 633-8284 and international callers may dial (402) 977-9140. Please use reservation number 21199227. Audio replay of the conference call will be available on QUALCOMM's web site at www.qualcomm.com .
Questions during the live call will be taken from investment professionals only.
Historical news releases and financial documents are available on the Company's web site at www.qualcomm.com
For further information, please contact Julie McClure of QUALCOMM Incorporated, +1-858-658-4854, jmcclure@qualcomm.com.
SOURCE QUALCOMM Incorporated
-0- 06/22/2004 P
/PRNewswire -- June 22/
/Web site: http://www.qualcomm.com /
(QCOM)
CO: QUALCOMM Incorporated ST: California IN: CPR TLS ITE SU: CCA MAV -0- Jun/22/2004 13:15 GMT
Last Updated: June 22, 2004 09:15 EDT
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=QCOM:US&sid=aCCqRs...
Wi-Fi's Wobbly Future
John Dobosz, 06.21.04, 12:10 PM ET
NEW YORK - George Gilder's following approached cult status during the tech-bubble days of the late 1990s. Gilder termed his vision of the new wired and digital world the "telecosm" or convergence of computers, communications devices and even appliances in a seamless global web of high-speed interconnectivity. The paradigm never really broke down, but the portfolio did when the tech and telecom sectors fell hard in the 2000-2002 bear market.
Forbes Gurus just released a new FREE Special Report, "12 Stocks for the Summer of 2004." Click here to download..
But now Gilder is back, and with flourish. The model portfolio of his Gilder Technology Report, as tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest, returned 123.5% in 2003, and 51% in the last 12 months--thanks to a resurrection of some of his legacy technology names, and Gilder's increasing interest in the resurgent wireless sector. Gilder's vision of a wired world is still on track, minus the wires. "Cheap abundant storage and infinite bandwidth seem to be coming into reach," he says, "The rub is connectivity across the murky micro-tundras between all that storage and fiber."
SPECIAL OFFER: South Korea currently has more wireless bandwidth per capita than the United States. Check out the Gilder Technology Report to find out which companies stand to benefit from the growing U.S. adoption of high-speed wireless connectivity.
Due to what Gilder calls "regulatory sclerosis," demand for last-mile broadband fiber is going unmet in the United States. Instead, high-speed wireless access services can leapfrog the fiber lines directly to your computer and provide even higher rates of data transmission-- over the same CDMA network that's already in place to route cell phone traffic. In fact, wireless bandwidth may soon surpass the bandwidth of broadband to the home, and the Centrino chips from Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) that enable wireless access on PCs, will become obsolete.
Because of its progress with chip technology to handle so-called "3G" services like high-speed wireless access, Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) is a core holding of Gilder's. He calls Wi-Fi a "mirage" of connectivity because of its non-continuous zones of coverage, and says that Qualcomm's CDMA technology will render Wi-Fi "superfluous." Companies like Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) are already rolling out 3G wireless connectivity, and soon AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ) is likely to do the same in a reconstituted form of AT&T Wireless on the Sprint (nyse: PCS - news - people ) network.
http://www.forbes.com/investmentnewsletters/2004/06/21/cz_jd_0621adviser.html?partner=yahoo&refe...
Pharos Joins QUALCOMM as an Elite BREW® Developer
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TORRANCE, CA – Pharos Science & Applications Inc., a leading provider of portable GPS navigation and location-based services, today announced the company has become an Elite BREW Developer, highlighting Pharos' work in creating the innovative Smart TrafficTM service now available for BREW-enabled handsets. The Smart Traffic service was recently named as a finalist for Best Productivity/M-Commerce application in the BREW 2004 Developer Awards being held at the BREW 2004 Developer’s Conference in San Diego, June 7-9.
Aggregating up-to-the-minute highway monitoring data from various State Transportation Departments and other Pharos partners, Smart Traffic gives consumers real-time traffic-flow information in both color-coded graphics and text for ease of use. Smart Traffic takes advantage of the wireless data capability of the BREW solution to deliver traffic incident and speed information directly to the user. Travelers equipped with BREW-enabled phones can receive Smart Traffic updates on demand, allowing them to see what traffic is like ahead, find out how fast traffic is moving and where lanes are blocked, and how to route around congested areas before they get stuck.
“Pharos is excited that the Smart Traffic real-time traffic information service is being offered to wireless subscribers in the United States, and we are thrilled with the selection of Smart Traffic as a finalist in the BREW 2004 Developer Awards,” said James Oyang, Ph.D., president of Pharos, Inc. “Technically robust and reliable, the BREW solution is the ideal platform for delivering vital information such as traffic alerts. QUALCOMM also provides a useful business component that allows Pharos to focus our efforts on delivering the best application possible. We look forward to our continued work with QUALCOMM as an Elite BREW Developer.”
“Pharos is taking full advantage of the benefits mobility gives a wireless subscriber, and is delivering a truly useful service that allows users to make the best use of their time, instead of sitting in a frustrating traffic jam,” said Mike Yuen, director of BREW Developer Relations for QUALCOMM Internet Services.
QUALCOMM's BREW solution provides products and services that connect the mobile marketplace value chain, which includes publishers, application developers, content providers, device manufacturers, operators and consumers.
Publishers and developers worldwide are generating revenue from BREW-based applications and content, and 26 manufacturers have offered more than 135 BREW-enabled device models to consumers. BREW is successfully enabling the commercial wireless data services of many successful operators, including Verizon Wireless, ALLTEL, Cellular One, MetroPCS, Midwest Wireless, NTELOS and U.S. Cellular in the United States, China Unicom, KDDI in Japan, KTF in South Korea, Hutch in Thailand, Telstra in Australia, VIVO in Brazil, BellSouth Chile, BellSouth Colombia, BellSouth Ecuador, BellSouth Guatemala, BellSouth Nicaragua, BellSouth Panama, BellSouth Perú, Telefónica Móviles in Peru, Movicom in Argentina, Telcel and Movilnet in Venezuela, Verizon Dominican Republic, Verizon Wireless Puerto Rico, Pelephone in Israel and Zapp in Romania.
Smart Traffic is part of a larger Web-based location and navigation service from Pharos, called Smart Navigator™, the first service to integrate real-time traffic data and dynamic points-of-interest lookup (in the form of Smart Finder™) with GPS positioning and navigation routing. Subscribers to Smart Navigator can create travel routes, receive voice-, text- and graphics-prompted driving instructions; follow and react to real-time traffic information specific to their location; and designate and navigate to nearby banks, hotels, restaurants, Internet hotspots, or other local businesses or venues.
The timesaving Smart Traffic real-time traffic information service is available to consumers on the nation’s leading wireless operator for just $3.99 per month, invoiced on their monthly statement.
About Pharos
Pharos Science & Applications, Inc. is a leading provider of portable GPS navigation and location-based services for a variety of markets. Pharos is a QUALCOMM Elite BREW Developer, a charter member of Microsoft’s Mobility Partner Advisory Council, and member of ITS America and CTIA. The company’s products are sold through a network of leading national retail locations and online stores including CompUSA, Fry’s Electronics, Dell, Toshiba, Amazon, SkyMall, MobilePlanet, Buy.com, Verizon and others. For more information, visit www.pharosgps.com.
http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2004/jun/21/news4.html
SK Telecom Offers Cellular Anti-Virus Service
By Beatrice Arnfield
Enterprise Security Today
June 21, 2004 2:41PM
Anticipating future mobile virus attacks -- and hoping to gain an edge on its competitors -- South Korea-based SK Telecom is offering an antivirus service for cell phones and smartphones.
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SK Telecom, South Korea's largest cell-phone operator, is looking for a competitive edge over its rivals by offering an antivirus service for cell phones and smartphones . With 75 percent of South Korea's population already subscribing to cell-phone services, the competition between the three main operators is intense.
In total, the three South Korean carriers, SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom, have 36 million subscribers.
Middleware Platform
The virus-protection service, which SK Telecom expects to offer from the third quarter of this year, will protect phones using the WIPI (wireless Internet protocol interoperability) platform. Developed in South Korea, WIPI is a middleware platform that allows users to download games and music to mobile terminals.
The Cabir worm that appeared recently attacked the Symbian cell-phone operating system and spread through Bluetooth-connected cell phones.
Competition BREWing
WIPI competes with Qualcomm's software-downloading technology known as "BREW" (binary runtime environment for wireless). The Korean government intends to require the three cell-phone companies to use WIPI.
The anti-virus service from SK Telecom will use V3 Mobile software, which has been developed in collaboration with South Korean Internet security firm AhnLab. It will allow users to download virus definitions through wireless Internet connections and check all files that are downloaded or executed.
http://wireless.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=SK-Telecom-Offers-Cellular-Anti-Virus-Service...
Momentum Building As 3GSM Matures
21st June , 2004
US : With more than forty operators already delivering advanced mobile services to customers in 22 countries and territories across Asia, the Middle East and Europe, 3GSM is asserting itself as the global 3G standard.
Delivering a wealth of innovative new services to consumers such as video on demand, high-speed multimedia and mobile Internet access, 3GSM exploits the potential of content rich information and communication around the world.
3GSM also brings substantially enhanced capacity, quality and speed of data transmission. Incorporating a radio interface based on Wideband-CDMA, 3GSM is the 3G-upgrade for GSM, developed jointly by standards bodies from China, Korea, Japan, the United States and the European Union.
3GSM is the technology choice of 98 percent of operators who have been granted spectrum in the 2GHz band identified by the International Telecommunications Union for 3G. As 3GSM rolls out across the world, customers in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia are already enjoying its many benefits, with launches to follow in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan this year. In addition, Indonesia and New Zealand are moving toward launch.
“All 70 networks that will be delivering 3GSM services by the year-end are utilizing the 2GHz band in which China intends to deploy 3G,” said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association and a member of its Board. “Only one operator anywhere in the world has so far deployed an alternative 3G technology in this band. This global commitment is fundamental and demonstrates where economies of scale in the 3G market will be found.”
Growth is expected to accelerate from the current 3GSM global customer base of more than five million, as the number of commercial networks increases to at least 70 by the year-end and handset launches by all the world’s leading manufacturers eliminate supply issues.
“The greater availability of 3GSM handsets in China’s 3G trials programme is a further reflection of 3GSM’s superior maturity in the 2GHz 3G spectrum available in China,” said Conway.
Craig Ehrlich, GSMA Chairman and board member of Hutchison Mobile, said: “The opportunities for China with 3GSM are immense. Operators benefit from international roaming and economies of scale; manufacturers gain equal access to global markets; IT, software, application developers and content players are not locked out as in other systems, and ultimately consumers enjoy value from a greater variety of globally compatible products and services. These benefits can only be delivered by an open system and a non-proprietary philosophy.”
Made up of board-level representatives of 21 operator groups, including the world’s 12 largest operators by subscriber count, the GSMA Board met this week in Beijing to acknowledge China’s contribution to the success of GSM, and to demonstrate the Association’s commitment to supporting China’s Government, operators, vendors and customers during the transition to 3G. China Mobile and China Unicom both sit on the Board.
The world’s billionth GSM user was connected in February 2004. China’s unrivalled contribution to this milestone was reiterated when the Chinese GSM user base passed the 250 million mark in April.
“The impact of GSM in China has been profound,” added Ehrlich. “It has been the primary driver of mobile penetration and has propelled China Mobile to the status of the world’s largest mobile operator and China Unicom to the number three position. China Unicom’s GSM customer growth in 2003 exceeded that of its CDMA network. Also during 2003, China’s GSM users made a staggering 585.4 billion minutes of voice calls and sent 131.2 billion text messages. GSM accounted for 93% of Chinese mobile revenues.”*
China alone has more GSM users than the global customer base of the next most widely used mobile technology - CDMA. China Unicom’s GSM customers base is bigger than the combined customer bases of the world’s three largest CDMA operators – Verizon Wireless, China Unicom & SKT.
“GSM is unique among mobile technologies in having a clearly-defined user benefit – international roaming – at the heart of its design,” said Rob Conway. “Roaming creates a discipline amongst operators and their suppliers to comply with open standards, promoting inter-operability and creating economies of scale that benefit end-users. 3GSM builds on this heritage.
“3GSM is changing the mobile world. Users in Japan and Korea will benefit from improved roaming services as their deployment of 3GSM brings them into the GSM community. There will also be wider economic benefits as their manufacturers will gain greater exposure to the global GSM/3GSM market, concluded Rob Conway.”
“As we look toward the Beijing Olympics of 2008, the opportunity for China to serve a worldwide audience, and many millions of inbound visitors with compelling next generation mobile services has never been so apparent,” concluded Craig Ehrlich.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2004/7906.htm
Taiwan handset makers express little optimism about 3G handset ODM orders
Max Wang, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DigiTimes.com [Monday 21 June 2004]
As the launch of 3G (third-generation) mobile communication services by global telecom carriers has begun, Taiwan-based handset makers are somewhat pessimistic about receiving ODM orders for 3G handsets in the near future, according to sources at the makers.
Irwin Chen, president of BenQ’s wireless business unit, said that Taiwanese makers will likely see ODM orders for 3G phones increase sometime in the next three years. Chen said that the makers should first seek out telecom providers and sell their products as part of a service package deal or conduct own-brand business sales if they want to enter the market earlier.
BenQ has begun manufacturing 3G handsets that use Qualcomm’s Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets, according to a May 13 Qualcomm’s press release.
Alex Sun, assistant manager of Asustek Computer, also agreed that the ODM business in Taiwan will have a difficult time until services have been completely implemented. Due to a current lack of 3G technologies, makers in Taiwan are not likely to receive orders until the second half of next year, he predicted.
Asustek and UK-based TTPCom announced they would cooperate on the development of 3G phones on February 23.
High Tech Computer (HTC) started using Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) to supply 3G mobile platform system solutions in the second half of last year, according a June 18 press release.
BenQ, Asustek and HTC will reportedly unveil their first 3G phones by the end of this year, according to sources at the makers.
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article5.asp?datePublish=2004/06/21&pages=A1&seq=1
Data key to mobile revenue growth until 2008 - report
June 21, 2004
Mobile data will generate all mobile revenue growth in Western Europe until 2008, according to the Yankee Group's new EMEA Wireless/Mobile Data Forecast. The forecast projects mobile voice revenues stagnating at around $124 billion, while data revenues will more than double over five years to approximately $50 billion. Fueling this data market growth will be quadruple revenue growth in wireless entertainment revenues as well as a doubling of enterprise data users.
"Data is what it's all about for Western European wireless carriers," said Declan Lonergan, director, Wireless/Mobile Europe. "Voice markets are saturated and voice ARPU is declining. Data ARPU, however, will more than double over 5 years, representing 29% of total ARPU. This is significant both in terms of absolute numbers, and the applications behind the numbers as well. Entertainment revenue will be key to long-term growth and video, music and games will be growing at an impressive rate compared with more nascent data applications such as messaging, which will have begun to stagnate by 2008."
The Yankee Group EMEA Wireless/Mobile Data Forecast, a 5-year prospective view of key indicators for the EMEA wireless data application markets, including total market, messaging, entertainment, information, M-commerce, enterprise and value-added voice segments. The forecast includes metrics for the total region plus regional European segments, as well as country specific metrics for 16 major national markets.
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/jun_04/news_4625.shtml
Mobile user base to exceed 1.78 billion by end of 2007 - report
June 21, 2004
Asia's enormous potential and Latin America and Africa's growth opportunities will drive the penetration of wireless and mobile services to 27.4 percent of the world's population by 2007, according to the Yankee Group report, Europe, Middle East, and Africa to Remain the World's Largest Regional Wireless Market.
This customer growth, combined with stabilizing or improving average revenue per user in most regions, will drive a compound annual growth rate of 8.7 percent in global wireless service revenue between 2002 and 2007. The highest growth rate (13.6 percent) will be in Asia-Pacific, which will account for 38 percent of total revenue by the end of the forecast period. However, EMEA will remain the largest regional market with almost 40 percent of revenue in 2007.
Mobile data services will make an important contribution to service revenue in all territories. In 2002, data accounted for only 8.5 percent of global revenue but by 2007, it will have increased to 25.9 percent. Asia-Pacific will be the most significant contributor to data revenue. In 2007, data will account for more than one-third of all wireless revenue in the region.
"The mobile communications industry is on track to reach its target of 2 billion customers worldwide," says Declan Lonergan, Wireless/Mobile Europe director. "The only uncertainty that remains is the timing for this next major milestone. At projected growth rates for the remainder of this decade, the industry will struggle to achieve 2 billion subscribers by 2010, but it will come close."
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/jun_04/news_4621.shtml
Japan's NEC extends its reach
Aloysius Choong
CNET News.com
June 21, 2004, 11:45 BST
NEC wants to move into phone markets outside its native Japan, where it is one of the largest handset manufacturers
NEC, already big in Japan, is ready to make a big move into overseas phone markets.
According to Yasushi Yoshikawa, general manager of NEC's Mobile Business Development division, 30 percent of NEC's total phone shipments in 2003 were to overseas markets, a figure that is expected to increase.
"In the next two to three years, NEC will try to have 50 percent from overseas and 50 percent from the domestic market," he said.
The Tokyo-based electronics and computer maker is currently one of the largest handset manufacturers in Japan. But according to research company Gartner, NEC had less than 3 percent of the overall global market in 2003.
"When Japanese operators adopted the PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) standard, NEC slowed down the overseas GSM business to concentrate on PDC," Yoshikawa said. "But now, we attack the global market."
In particular, the company is eyeing the burgeoning Chinese market. It also hopes to crack the European market with its third-generation phones. Already, NEC is an important handset partner for Hutchison's high-speed networks in the United Kingdom, Australia and Hong Kong.
NEC's appetite for market share has risen for a couple of reasons, Yoshikawa said. First, the high penetration of mobile phones in Japan means that phone makers like NEC and Toshiba have to look beyond their shores.
In addition, the convergence of Japan to CDMA (code division multiple access)-based standards has lowered the barriers of entry for overseas manufacturers. Global handset leader Nokia, for example, has released both of its Wideband CDMA models in Japan.
"Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other global handset vendors are coming into the Japanese market," he said. "So I have to go out."
Aloysius Choong of CNETAsia reported from Singapore.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/mobile/0,39020360,39158229,00.htm
LGC Wireless ships 100th 3G in-building wireless system
June 21, 2004
LGC Wireless, provider of in-building wireless solutions, announced that it has shipped its 100th InterReach Unison 3G system. Major wireless operators worldwide in countries including the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, France, Spain, China, Germany, and Austria have selected LGC's 3G in-building wireless system. LGC's systems can be found in stadiums, shopping malls, office buildings and airports throughout these countries. InterReach Unison is a fiber optic wireless networking system designed to handle both wireless voice and data communications and provide high quality, seamless access for mobile users.
The wireless industry is embracing 3G because it delivers enhanced quality voice calls, similar to fixed-line calls, alongside faster data connections for multimedia services such as video, e-mail downloads, music and interactive games. In-building wireless systems become essential as 3G standards have matured and wireless users require reliable indoor coverage to support their advanced voice and data applications. With Europe and Japan already committed on a long-term basis to 3G and North America moving forward, 3G offers a truly global wireless standard for personal multimedia communications.
"For 3G, InterReach Unison is critical to ensuring the services offered by wireless operators are always accessible. It provides significant advantages over other in-building wireless distribution products and delivers the highest performance for both voice and data applications," said Ian Sugarbroad, president and CEO of LGC Wireless. "LGC Wireless has demonstrated that we are the in-building experts and the source to look to when enhancing in-building coverage for 3G networks," added Sugarbroad. "LGC is delivering on its technology here and now, based on solid experience and a vision that is executable."
LGC's InterReach Unison is a state-of-the-art distributed antenna system providing seamless mobile communication access for public or private venues. LGC's patented technology allows the use of fiber/twisted-pair cabling infrastructure, commonly used in Local Area Network's (LANs), for delivery of wireless voice and data applications. The InterReach Unison system supports all wireless protocols including TDMA, CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, iDEN, 1XRTT, Ev-DO, GPRS, and W-CDMA.
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/jun_04/news_4624.shtml
Getting Religion
With plenty of cool gadgets, LG's Kim Ssang Su is building a global brand
BY MICHAEL SCHUMAN / SEOUL
PAUL HU / ASSIGNMENT ASIA FOR TIME
Called “a commander in the field,” CEO Kim rises at 5:30 every morning, often for a brisk walk in a nearby park
Monday, Jun. 21, 2004
Call Kim Ssang Su a man of the people. On a chilly night in the picturesque mountains south of Seoul, Kim, CEO of LG Electronics Inc., holds aloft a paper cup filled to the rim with soju, a clear, sweet potato-based Korean alcohol with a vicious bite. Surrounding him are a dozen of the 300 LG suppliers' managers whom Kim has spent the day lecturing and rallying. They have also been hiking up a snow-covered mountainside—necessary training, he says, for the grand plans he has for South Korea's second largest electronics firm. At the end of the day, he treats a group of LG Electronics employees to an outdoor barbecue of grilled pork and bowls of fiery red kimchi. "Great people! Great company!" he barks. "Great company! Great company!" they chant back, pumping their fists in perfect unison. Kim downs the soju in one gulp, then marches off to another table for another round of soju and another cheer. Then another, and another.
Eight tables and countless cups later, he is red faced, still screaming chants and bear-hugging an unfortunate reporter. When dancing girls in short skirts and blond wigs start jiggling to ear-numbing Korean pop music, the tireless Kim, 59, cavorts in a mosh pit of drunken workers near a makeshift stage. Later he ascends the stage himself, microphone in hand, to croon out a popular oldie called Nui (Sister). "We love our CEO," says Kim Young Kee, an LG executive vice president. "He shows us a good time."
CEOs rarely stoop to carouse with the common man in an Asia dominated by secretive business clans and élite old-boy networks. But Kim is no ordinary Asian boss. He began his career 35 years ago as a nondescript engineer at an LG refrigerator factory, climbed the ranks, and claimed the CEO post in October. Now he aims to duplicate the same feat with LG—lifting a consumer-electronics company little known outside Asia into the stratosphere of global brands with Sony, Panasonic and Samsung. "I want to go down in LG history," says Kim. "After death, a tiger leaves its skin. A man leaves his name."
LG seems well on its way. While most of the electronics industry, including Sony, suffered sagging growth and profits in recent years, LG's market presence surged. Revenues jumped 18% last year, to $17 billion, and net profits rose 33%, to $556 million. LG has the electronics world bracketed. At the commodity end, low-cost plants in China make the firm a power in developing markets. At the big-bucks, high-tech end, LG's home in broadband-rich South Korea has fostered a focus at LG on design and function that fits perfectly into the emerging digital home. Last year LG was the world's largest seller of mobile phones operating on the CDMA standard (a type of mobile-phone technology). It makes dazzling flat-screen televisions and other leading-edge gadgets. LG.Philips LCD, a joint venture formed in 1999 with Royal Philips Electronics, became the world's biggest maker of the LCD panels used in flat-screen TVs and monitors in 2003, with 22% of the global market. The unit's operating profit soared 307% last year, to $935 million.
The growth has brought LG to the cusp of greatness but not quite into the industry's aristocracy. Still missing is the global brand name crucial for commanding high premiums and outpacing low-cost manufacturers in China. It is an accomplishment hardly any Asian corporations have managed to achieve. "We've had success at the foothills," says Woo Nam Kyun, president of LG's digital-TV operation. "Now we have to climb the mountain."
The climb LG has chosen is Mount U.S.A. This year LG is making its biggest thrust ever into the U.S. market, with a $100 million budget for advertising alone. Last year LG spent $10 million refurbishing a billboard in New York City's Times Square into a giant flat-screen TV, and it helped renovate a Los Angeles concert hall. LG is also buffing up its U.S. product line. Last July, LG began introducing its first LG-branded flat LCD and plasma TVs in the U.S., and next year it will launch its first high-definition TVs with built-in hard-disc drives that can record movies. An LG refrigerator with an LCD TV set in the door is already on the market.
LG faces plenty of competition. Its biggest rival at home and abroad, Samsung Electronics, whose revenues of $36.4 billion are two times as large as LG's, has already hit the U.S.—and scored big successes. Samsung is also ahead of LG in developing a truly global brand. LG executives hope that competition from Samsung will make their company stronger. "Their presence as a very strong competitor in our neighborhood has always kept us alert and awake," says LG's Woo. "This has helped us compete in overseas markets as well. I can be more successful with Samsung's success."
LG's first crack at the U.S. market ended in disappointment. Beginning in the 1980s, LG sold cheap TVs under the brand Goldstar, after the company's former name, Lucky-Goldstar. In 1995, LG purchased American TV maker Zenith Electronics Corp. and began using that moniker on its products. But four years later, Zenith filed for bankruptcy, a victim of cutthroat competition. To avoid a repeat of that failure, LG was content until recently to supply other companies with appliances that sell in the U.S. under their own brands. Chances are, the average American may own an LG-made product but not know it. LG says it sells 43% of all room air-conditioners in the U.S., for example, but many under brand names like GE and Kenmore.
These days, however, a monumental transition is taking place in U.S. living rooms, and LG smells opportunity. Consumers are tossing aside boxy TVs and clunky VCRs in favor of wide, flat screens, DVD players and, eventually, computer-like systems with digitized video and music recorders and Internet services. With this emerging gadgetry, LG is surprisingly well positioned. LG.Philips has been a leader in developing large, flat displays, and LG makes 70% of all set-top boxes for receiving digital satellite TV sold in the U.S.
In this new digital world, LG has a distinct advantage in its ultra-wired South Korean home base. The demanding Korean market, where an amazing 84% of households using the Internet have high-speed access, propels LG to develop more advanced products and provides a testing ground for new technologies. LG has outpaced Nokia and Motorola in cramming the hottest new features into a mobile phone. One of its latest models, the SC8000, which came out in Korea in April, combines a PDA, an MP3 player, a digital camera and a camcorder. The advantage is paying off. In May, LG launched a new mobile phone in Korea with a 2-megapixel color screen simultaneously with Samsung. In the past, LG lagged at least several months behind its competitor's phone launches, missing out on higher prices and margins. LG became the largest supplier of mobile phones last year to service provider Verizon Communications.
It may seem odd that at this crucial time LG has turned over its top job to a farm boy from a tiny village in eastern South Korea. Kim Ssang Su spent his childhood knee-deep in the family's rice paddies. Even now, Kim is a bit of a fish out of water. He took over from the debonair John Koo, a senior member of LG's prestigious founding family. Kim has never worked outside Korea or, before becoming CEO, even at LG's glitzy Seoul headquarters, known locally as the "Twin Towers." He had spent his entire career buried in LG's stuffy bureaucracy at the company's main appliance factory in the industrial city of Changwon. He admits to being more comfortable in the field visiting factory floors and design centers than in his spacious office overlooking Seoul's Han River.
It would be wrong, though, to underestimate Kim, who has become near legend in Seoul for the turnaround he engineered at LG's appliance business. When he took over in 1996, LG was making washing machines and refrigerators that seemed little more than cannon fodder for low-cost Chinese companies like Haier. Kim sliced costs by moving production of low-end products to China. He proved there is room for innovation in basic white goods, introducing, for example, appliances like air-conditioners that can be controlled from the Internet. The result: sales reached $4.7 billion last year, more than twice the number when Kim took control.
Kim is infusing LG's other businesses with the same vigor. Called a "commander in the field" by executives, he storms about LG's factories and offices poring over details, issuing commands and spurring on the staff by giving them what he terms "stretch goals," or aggressive targets. Awake at 5:30 each morning for a brisk walk, he openly prefers "morning people" and holds 7 a.m. breakfast meetings with top executives. "I don't like the expression 'nice,'" Kim says. "I don't want LG to be perceived as nice. None of the great companies in the world are nice." Kim's relentless nature has put some executives on the defensive. "He likes to be heavily involved," complains a top manager. "I would prefer that he delegate a bit more."
Kim is backing up his tough talk with a strategy to augment the company's design and technology prowess. For instance, LG.Philips announced in March it would invest $22 billion with its suppliers in new flat-screen production facilities over the next 10 years. Kim is recruiting engineers at a furious pace, aiming to increase research-and-development teams to 60% of LG's total payroll by 2005, from 40% today. One recent afternoon at the LG Electronics Corporate Design Center in Seoul, young Koreans in jeans and hip black sweaters were packing up plastic models of computer monitors and microwaves to move to new offices. With the number of designers up 15% in the past year, to 390, the center has added an entire new floor. "As we emphasize our brand, design becomes more critical," says the center's president, Lee Hee Gook. "We're making ourselves more competitive."
Can Kim build LG into a global titan? Hurdles abound. LG still sometimes cuts prices to drive sales, softening both profit margins and its brand image. For example, LG sees 5% profit margins on its mobile phones; Samsung earns in excess of 20%. Nor does it help that LG Electronics is a member of one of South Korea's mammoth, family-controlled conglomerates, called chaebols, which are infamous for mysterious and convoluted business practices. In February the company broke a promise to investors by pledging $130 million to buy bonds of a nearly bankrupt affiliate, credit-card issuer LG Card. Kim says his company joined in because a failure at LG Card would have damaged LG's image. Michael Lee, an executive vice president at LG Corp., the conglomerate's holding company, says affiliates had a "moral obligation" to help out and calls the LG Card case an exception. The LG chaebol, he says, has reorganized its shareholding structure to allow affiliates to be managed more independently. Because of concerns relating to its being a chaebol, LG—like many other Korean companies—is valued more cheaply than many of its international competitors.
Still, in Asia, LG has taken on the world's best and proved it can hold its own. In China and India, LG has become a preferred brand. In China, which Kim calls the "toughest marketplace in the world," sales last year rose 40%, to $2.8 billion. In India, LG has beaten out Sony and Samsung to claim the No. 1 market share in everything from TV sets to refrigerators to CDMA phones.
And in just a few months, LG is making inroads into the U.S. Its increasingly popular mobile phones hold fourth place in market share. Lisa Smith, general manager for appliances at U.S. retailer Best Buy Co., began carrying LG refrigerators and washers and dryers last July, and their jazzy designs, such as yellow and blue lights on dryer control panels that look like car dashboards, have made them a hit with younger shoppers. "[LG has] done a fantastic job of raising the bar in the U.S. market," Smith says. "The products are popular, and they continue to gain momentum."
In the end, Kim can take LG to the top only if he manages to solve that pesky branding problem. Its rival did it: four years ago, few in the electronics industry could have predicted the growing dominance of Samsung, despite its solid technology and financial clout. Samsung's surprise was its savvy at brand building. "In terms of the ingredients, LG has everything—the quality, the packaging, the global marketing reach," says Nam Park, an analyst at HSBC Securities in Hong Kong. "What's missing is the magic. It's missing that je ne sais quoi." If Kim finds it, he'll probably pour himself a glass of soju and let go a very, very loud cheer.
—With reporting by Juliane Han/Seoul
From the Jun. 28, 2004 issue of TIME Asia Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501040628-655464,00.html
A quantum leap in cellphone technology
Igsaan Salie
June 20 2004 at 11:14AM
South Africa is taking a quantum leap in cellphone technology; you should be able to make video calls by Christmas and chat to people face-to-face on your cellphone. And watch TV on your cellphone.
The latest cellular technology has arrived, putting South Africa on a par with the highest international standards.
The Third Generation (3G) network is the latest in cellphone technology that allows data to be transferred much faster than current systems. Network operators said this week it should be available to South African consumers by the end of the year.
With the new network you can download video clips of your favourite World Cup goals onto your cellphone, watch television and take part in live high-quality video conferences.
'The previous systems were much too slow'
It also offers faster internet access and advanced interactive gaming capabilities.
Third Generation has already been implemented in countries such as Japan and South Korea, as well as in Europe where the technology started slowly in 2002 but is really taking off this year.
Only the newest cellphones will be capable of video calls and a new billing system will be implemented, as video calls are bound to be more expensive that normal calls. Files that currently take 15 minutes to download will be processed in a mere 20 seconds.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa recently granted temporary 3G operating licences to Vodacom and MTN.
Pieter Uys, Vodacom Group's chief operations officer, said that the network had already been set up and corporate clients were treated to a demonstration in Johannesburg this week.
"We made a call from Johannesburg to London by video call. It was amazing," Uys said.
"The woman we spoke to was walking by the Thames River and the picture clarity was so clear, you could see the clouds in the sky behind her head and her hair blowing in the wind. The picture quality was so good that you could even see the colour of her eyes."
Uys said the speed of the service was the most important element of the new system.
"The previous systems were much too slow and cost too much to make downloading files viable."
At the demonstration the phone was plugged into a satellite decoder, providing live television on the phone. "Now for the first time in South Africa you can enjoy video conferencing, and not just transferring of video files but actually live video," Uys said.
Mandisa Korri, internal communications manager at MTN South Africa, said that the 3G network was the evolution of MTN's network and supported richer and more interactive services.
"3G requires a high initial investment but has a lower long-term cost so will ultimately make data more cost effective and therefore drive new services such as music downloads."
Korrie said that the technologies of today would be sufficiently widespread by the soccer World Cup in South Africa in 2010 to enable information and events leading up to soccer matches to be easily accessible to users.
"A supporter (will be able to) book and pay for tickets by mobile, and to choose a seat from a stadium layout," Korri Said.
Uys said Vodacom also had big plans for the 2010 soccer World Cup and was intent on taking the faster video download times to the next level.
Users will be able to get all the goals of their favourite match sent to them in 10-second video clips.
This article was originally published on page 4 of Sunday Independent on June 20, 2004
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=115&art_id=vn20040620111413717C414794
Cell phone use becomes fun once you download programs
Usable tools available at reasonable price at Web site
By Vanessa Dennis
vdennis@marion.gannett.com Copy editor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apparently all the kids are doing it -- well, at least, all of my friends who are cooler than me.
I recently spent a weekend with about 14 friends whom I haven't seen for a year or so, and I discovered that I was totally missing the party.
Ring tones, screen savers and text messaging.
I thought I hated text messaging, but I gave it a try this weekend.
It wasn't so bad.
I would compare it to smoking: It is just something to do during a lull in conversation to keep you busy. I mean you could just call someone and say what you need to say, but it takes up more time and, lets face it, you are way cool if you just send them a short quip.
So while I have come to the decision that there is nothing wrong with a little fun text messaging banter, there is a limit.
For example, I witnessed people saying mean things about other people who were within the vicinity. It is like passing notes in class, ... sooner or later you will get caught.
Also, there is no need to ignore an actual conversation so you can sit and text message people.
Seriously, it's annoying.
Ringtones and other downloads for your phone are also something I was not fully versed on. I knew you could download games and ringtones directly from your service provider, for a fairly steep price, but I had no idea about all the other options.
It seems the best place to get downloads for your phone is 3gupload.com. For $10 you can get free downloads for a year.
They have almost anything you could want. For example, I wanted a tip calculator on my phone and I found an application to do that. I now have a Radiohead song as my ringer and also a program that can tell me which way is north.
3G Upload is kind of like a file sharing service, except more legit. People can submit their own ringers, screen savers and programs.
For example, I could create my own gif animation and use 3G Upload to download it to my phone. The service will automatically format the file to fit my phone perfectly.
Considering that most of the ringers from Sprint cost about $2.50 each, $10 for a year of unlimited downloads is a great deal.
I tried the ringers out, and it is great fun. I have Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley for my political friend, Sir Mix A lot for my friend with the big behind, and Snoop Dogg for my dorky friend. There's nothing like infusing a little personality into your technology.
Various technology writers have said that Wall Street has not yet caught on to the ringer phenomenon. This could be another chance for someone to make some money off people's tech obsession.
So keep your eye on phone technology, there really are no limits at this point.
Originally published Sunday, June 20, 2004
http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/news/stories/20040620/localnews/681483.html
» 3G phones to become the fixed line killer?
We recently ran a major feature on Fixed-to-Mobile Substitution here where we made the point that...
"Fixed telecom operators need to beware of 3G operators stealing, not so much their subscribers but their conversations that would have been conducted from the home or office wired handset. Observing 3’s pricing strategy you almost hear a distant echo of British Telecom’s old advertising slogan “it’s good to talk”, a classic marketing campaign in how to grow voice minutes. 3's take is now “that it’s good to talk, very cheaply with us!”. "
Now we have read about a 3G handset that is in development that could also become the phone you want to use around the office. It was reported
"...NTT DoCoMo Inc plans to beat its rivals and release this summer a 3G (third-generation) cellular phone that also functions as an internal extension phone in the office, Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.
KDDI Corp has similar plans, but its launch will likely come in November, while Vodafone KK is considering a similar service as well.
DoCoMo's new phone will have a built-in chip enabling use for voice communications via wireless LANs (local area networks).
Thanks to the high data transmission speed of 3G cell phones, the handset will let users instantly download e-mail, schedule and address book data from their personal computers.
In addition, they can check the phone screen to see whether people are at their desks before actually calling them.
Once taken outside, the handset will function as a regular 3G cell phone, and calls will be subject to the same charges used in the company's FOMA 3G service...".
This story together with two other recent stories:
- France Telecom introduces single bill enterprise wi-fi/ADSL/GPRS/PSTN/3G
- 3G applications now start to interest Corporates
- suggests that despite the early focus of 3G launches on the consumer market, there is a new shift of targeting the business market.
Our earlier conclusion remains good, i.e. the road to fixed-mobile substitution doesn’t start with 3G, FMS started ten years ago. But what 3G does is make the issue more complex. Both fixed operators and mobile operators have seen the introduction of high speed wire and wireless data services make the choice of their respective voice service strategies less obvious.
http://www.the3gportal.com/3gpnews/archives/007230.html
Sunday, June 20, 2004
3G applications now start to interest Corporates
Customers with a Motorola’s 3G handsets A920 and A925 handset can purchase more than 35 applications depending on the phone’s model, including instant messaging applications, readers for Word, Excel and PDF’s. Once connected to the “iGo” website , business users can download and view their email attachments from their corporate email accounts or POP3 accounts via the Internet anytime, anywhere.
Full Story & Source: the3gportal.com
http://www.the3gportal.com/index.php/3gnewstoday2004/3g-applications-now-start-to-interest-corporate...
LG Electronics Provides China Unicom with its Dual-mode phone
Sunday, 20 June 2004
LG Electronics provides China Unicom, China’s second largest mobile operator with its dual mode handset, “World phone (LG-W800)” which work with both GSM and CDMA standards, the South Korean handset maker announced on Sunday.
LG explained that the company’s dual-mode phone offers maximum convenience to its users, allowing them to send and receive phone calls regardless of their region by changing receiving mode on the menu screen. The “world phone” model is equipped with 2 inch wide screen featuring 260,000 colors and offers GPS function.
LG Electronics is planning to expand its world phone sales in North and Latin Americas and India.
http://www.telecomskorea.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=206&Itemid=2
For dividends, heed potential of 'single-digit'
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
June 20, 2004
You hear about these "hefty" increases in stock dividends. Then you look, and they're still in the low single digits! That can be misleading, because dividends may rise over time (unlike interest on a bond, which is fixed for the life of the bond), and today's "low" stock dividend can turn into a nice return later if you're a buy-and-hold investor. Today, yields of most blue-chip stocks are between one-half percent and 4 percent, with the average of 1.7 percent. The yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend by the stock price.
Example: Allstate insurance company stock pays $1.12 a year in dividends and sells for about $44, which gives it a yield of 2.5 percent. But if you had bought it when it went public in 1993 at $13.50, your return would be a neat 8.3 percent. With last year's federal tax cut on dividend income, Joseph Keating of AmSouth Bancorp says his firm is emphasizing "stocks that have a long-run history of paying dividends and that also have the potential to boost payouts from current levels."
Keating's list: Bank of America Corp., Coca-Cola., May Department Stores, United Technologies and Johnson Controls.
Rick Keller of Keller Group Investment Management in Irvine, Calif., wants his clients to consider fast-growing companies that may not pay great dividends now, but have the ability to pay much more.
Keller's list: Microsoft, Qualcomm and Goldman Sachs Group.
http://www.newsday.com/business/local/newyork/ny-bztipsb3859359jun20,0,6534259.story?coll=ny-nybusin...
Will Samsung Succeed in CDMA Chip Business?
Sunday, 20 June 2004
[Wrap-up, CommunicAsia 2004] During CommunicAsia2004, Asia’s biggest IT trade show held in Singapore from 15 to 18, Asian information and telecommunication companies showed off their new technologies and services.
For South Korean companies such as Samsung and LG, the exhibition was a competition with Japanese rivals such as Panasonic and Sony Ericsson. In particular, Panasonic introduced a range of new products aimed at beating Korean competitors in the Asian markets. (related article : Panasonic Challenges to Samsung and LG ) To viewers’ disappointment, Nokia did not participate in the show and Motorola set up only one small booth.
There was a report about Samsung Electronics’ attempt to provide India with low-priced cellular phones adopting its own chipset instead of Qualcomm’s. ( related article : Samsung to Provide Low-end Handset adopting its Own CDMA Chipset to India ) It was noteworthy as Samsung was making India exception to the company’s high-price policy. If Samsung’s attempt succeeds, the company can look forward to changes in relations with Qualcomm which controls the world chip market, analysts say.
This year’s CommunicAsia also witnessed companies’ quick shift to the smart phone. Samsung Electronics and Panasonic are gearing up to launch Symbian OS-based smart phones this year. Accordingly, related devices such as keyboards for smart phones also attracted viewers’ attention. (related article : Samsung-Pansonic to Introduce Symbian OS phone )
Thanks to the successful business output starting from this year, KDDI was designated as the best CDMA operator in Asia. (related article : Smartphone Keyboard War ) Meanwhile, Qualcomm forecasted that Korean CDMA operators would achieve remarkable results again in the WCDMA market. (related article : Qualcomm Says, ”Korea will be the Winner Again” )
http://www.telecomskorea.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=205&Itemid=2
Sprint Chases EV-DO?
06.18.04
Sprint Wireless (NYSE: PCS - message board) is considering a surprise $800 million CDMA 1x EV-DO (Evolution, Data Only) network rollout that will play into the hands of domestic infrastructure vendors, according to various analyst sources.
“We believe Sprint will deploy CDMA 1x EV-DO beginning in the fourth quarter of 2004, at a cost of $0.8-1 billion,” notes UBS analyst Nikos Theodosopoulos.
“Our checks indicate that Sprint PCS could be gearing up to announce CDMA 2000 EV-DO contract awards soon,” adds a Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. research note. The financial firm estimates a slightly lower capital expenditure, forecasting “$600-$800 million over 2 years.”
This upgrade from Sprint's CDMA 1xRTT network would be a surprise decision in light of the carrier’s previous plans to leapfrog EV-DO technology and move directly to EV-DV (Evolution, Data Voice) networks (see Lucent Guides Sprint's EV-DV).
EV-DO networks crank up the data rate from current U.S. cellular networks (CDMA2000 1xRTT) to a theoretical 2 Mbit/s, although they offer between 300 and 500 kbit/s in the real world. EV-DV networks -- as the name suggests -- also support voice communications.
Analysts believe Sprint has been forced into an EV-DO upgrade path as a direct response to rival Verizon Wireless’s plans for a nationwide deployment of the technology (see Verizon Repeats on 3G).
“Following Verizon’s lead with EV-DO, we sense that Sprint will move in this direction shortly,” note the number crunchers at Lehman Brothers.
“This step is a competitive response to Verizon’s recent 3G wireless data launch,” concurs Merrill Lynch. “Given time-to-market, competitive pressure, and relative higher maturity of EV-DO technology, Sprint decided, in our view, to use the EV-DO version.”
The network rollout is expected to benefit Sprint’s current bevy of suppliers.
“We believe Lucent, Nortel and Motorola could be early beneficiaries of Sprint’s expected launch, given their current position in Sprint’s CDMA network,” adds Merrill Lynch. “In the CDMA market, operators typically remain with their existing vendors for 3G migration since the EV-DO upgrade involves the deployment of additional line cards and other equipment to the existing base stations.”
Sprint was unable to return calls by press time.
— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=54749
GSM, CDMA fight it out for frequency
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2004 01:57:26 AM ]
NEW DELHI: The road to high-speed mobile data communications is already receiving bad signals. Even before there is a clear policy on the issue, the GSM and CDMA lobbies are drawing battlelines on frequency allocation.
On the day telecom experts — representing the GSM lobby, comprising Bharti, Hutch and Idea — urged the government to ensure a smooth path for them on the road to 3G, the CDMA lobby comprising Reliance and Tatas cried foul.
At the heart of the issue is who should get the 1,900 MHz band. GSM operators want it, and so do CDMA. In India, CDMA mobiles operate in 800 MHz band and GSM in 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
Both need a new band. CDMA operators are opposed to being pushed into 1,700 MHz or 450 MHz, citing technical difficulties including lack of dual/multi mode handsets. At the International Cellular Summit on Friday, Ricardo Tavares, V-P, GSM Association, Americas, and Alan Hadden, president, GSA, urged government to create an enabling environment for the industry’s evolution to high-speed data/video services.
Communications minister Dayanidhi Maran said: ‘‘It will be my endeavour to have a comprehensive spectrum policy as soon as possible so that the growth of the sector is not choked.’’ On broadband, he said its success would ultimately depend on its pricing and content. ‘‘Broadband has the capability of having an even more revolutionary impact on the telecom sector than cellular mobile services because it will offer more services, higher speeds and larger capacity.’’
Trai said it was looking at slashing domestic bandwidth costs by lowering ceiling (about Rs 22 lakh) to make it more affordable and would bring out a consultation paper within a few days.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/745515.cms
LGC Wireless Announces Shipment of 100th 3G In-building Wireless System; LGC's In-building Wireless Solution Chosen by Wireless Operators for 3G
SAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- June 18, 2004 -- LGC Wireless, the market leader in in-building wireless solutions, announced today that it has shipped its 100th InterReach(TM) Unison 3G system. Major wireless operators worldwide in countries including the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, France, Spain, China, Germany, and Austria have selected LGC's 3G in-building wireless system. LGC's systems can be found in stadiums, shopping malls, office buildings and airports throughout these countries. InterReach(TM) Unison is a fiber optic wireless networking system designed to handle both wireless voice and data communications and provide high quality, seamless access for mobile users.
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The wireless industry is embracing 3G because it delivers enhanced quality voice calls, similar to fixed-line calls, alongside faster data connections for multimedia services such as video, e-mail downloads, music and interactive games. In-building wireless systems become essential as 3G standards have matured and wireless users require reliable indoor coverage to support their advanced voice and data applications. With Europe and Japan already committed on a long-term basis to 3G and North America moving forward, 3G offers a truly global wireless standard for personal multimedia communications.
"For 3G, InterReach(TM) Unison is critical to ensuring the services offered by wireless operators are always accessible. It provides significant advantages over other in-building wireless distribution products and delivers the highest performance for both voice and data applications," said Ian Sugarbroad, president and CEO of LGC Wireless. "LGC Wireless has demonstrated that we are the in-building experts and the source to look to when enhancing in-building coverage for 3G networks," added Sugarbroad. "LGC is delivering on its technology 'here and now,' based on solid experience and a vision that is executable."
LGC's InterReach(TM) Unison is a state-of-the-art distributed antenna system providing seamless mobile communication access for public or private venues. LGC's patented technology allows the use of fiber/twisted-pair cabling infrastructure, commonly used in Local Area Network's (LANs), for delivery of wireless voice and data applications. The InterReach(TM) Unison system supports all wireless protocols including TDMA, CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, iDEN, 1XRTT, Ev-DO, GPRS, and W-CDMA.
About LGC Wireless
LGC Wireless is a leading supplier of products for optimizing the deployment of metropolitan cellular, PCS and 3G networks, and for providing mobile users with reliable in-building access to high quality voice and wireless data. LGC is currently shipping product to more than 25 countries, and has provided wireless solutions in some of the world's landmark properties -- Heathrow Airport, the Petronas Towers, the Venetian Hotel, the New York airports, and the 2002 Winter Games venues. Supported wireless access standards include TDMA, CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, iDEN, 1xRTT, Ev-DO, GPRS, W-CDMA, and 802.11. LGC Wireless is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified, ensuring that their quality management systems comply with international standards of excellence.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Jun/1050025.htm
Verizon 'very close' to 911 glitch fix
Last modified: June 18, 2004, 7:47 AM PDT
By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Verizon Wireless is "very close" to fixing a problem that has garbled some cellular calls made to 911, the company said Friday.
The bug, which affects Verizon phones with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology from Qualcomm, fills some 911 calls with static or causes every other word to be dropped. A handful of emergency call centers brought the problem to the company's attention a few weeks ago and are taking appropriate measures, a Verizon Wireless representative said.
Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier and a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, said it has been working on a fix with chipmaker Qualcomm. The companies said they believe a handful of GPS-equipped phones are devoting too much processing time trying to connect to GPS satellites. The chipsets in the phones work with the satellites and with network software to indicate a caller's location.
Qualcomm did not return calls for comment on Thursday.
Sprint suffered similar GPS-related transmission problems with emergency calls last year, involving the same Qualcomm chips. In response, the fourth-largest U.S. cell phone carrier made several changes, including reducing the length of time that its GPS-phones automatically search for a satellite connection after being turned on.
Both Verizon and Sprint were in the midst of upgrading to a more accurate assisted-GPS system at the time of their initial troubles.
Handset makers Nokia, Motorola and Kyocera Wireless, all of which supply either Verizon or Sprint with GPS phones, said they were unaware of the bug and had no immediate comment.
All U.S. cellular carriers are required to pinpoint the location of a phone dialing 911. The top six have created commercial location services, like Friend Finder, to offset the cost of adding enhanced 911.
"This is a new technology for us," Sprint spokesman Dan Wilinsky said.
Have an opinion on this story? Share it with other News.com readers.
http://news.com.com/Verizon+'very+close'+to+911+glitch+fix/2100-1039_3-5239041.html
Glitches seen in Qualcomm cell chips
Phones cut out during 911 calls, Verizon says
By Kathryn Balint
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 19, 2004
Across the country, cell phone companies are beginning to roll out a 911-emergency service that can pinpoint a wireless caller's location.
And Qualcomm, the San Diego-based developer of chips for wireless phones, says its technology can locate callers best of all.
There's just one problem: some calls made to 911 using phones with Qualcomm chips cut in and out.
That's what Verizon Wireless has faced this week in areas of the country where 911 calls from wireless phones can be tracked by location. That capability isn't available yet in San Diego County.
But during some emergency calls in those areas, Verizon found that voices on the line cut out every two seconds for the first half minute.
All of the phones involved were equipped with Qualcomm chips.
Verizon spokesman Ken Muché said no calls were dropped and, at least to his knowledge, none of the emergencies was exacerbated by the glitch. It affected an "infinitesimal" number of customers, he said.
Verizon has turned to Qualcomm for help in solving the issue.
It's the same kind of problem Sprint experienced last year with phones using Qualcomm chips.
In both cases, the interruption of voice calls occurred whenever the phones tried to contact a satellite to determine the caller's exact location.
From Qualcomm's point of view, the problem isn't with its chips.
"There's no product problem whatsoever with our chipset," said Bill Davidson, Qualcomm's vice president of investor relations. "What we have is not a situation that was unexpected."
Qualcomm's chips use both satellites and cell towers to pinpoint a wireless caller's location. So a phone using a Qualcomm chip, Davidson said, can track a caller when other phones can't.
The emergency calls that were interrupted typically occurred on the fringes of a 911 calling area.
"If you're in an area of spotty coverage or indoors, where you don't have a full view of a satellite and where other services might not be able to get a location, we can still get a fix," Davidson said.
Even so, Qualcomm last summer introduced a new chip that can carry voice traffic and contact a satellite simultaneously. Phones with the new chip will begin appearing this summer.
Qualcomm has advised other wireless carriers that have experienced disruptions during emergency calls using the company's chips.
"We have worked with carriers around the world – Japan, China, other operators in the United States," Davidson said. "There are settings that can be done in the network that significantly mitigate these issues."
Sprint fixed its problem by "tweaking" the company's network software, said company spokesman Dan Wilinsky. Instead of its phones trying to reach a satellite for a fix on a location for 32 seconds, the phones now attempt to reach a satellite for just 16 seconds.
"Since then, there has been no problem," Wilinsky said.
David H. Williams, chief executive of E911-LBS Consulting in Wilton, Conn., said he thinks the problem might be Qualcomm's chip.
"I don't think it's a network problem," he said. "I think it's, in all likelihood, a handset problem, and from the initial indications, it would be narrowed down to the Qualcomm chip. It has the global positioning system abilities within it."
About 12 percent of the country has the ability to pinpoint the location of a caller who dials 911 on a wireless phone. The federally mandated service has been rolled out in parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Plans are under way to provide it in San Diego County.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kathryn Balint: (619) 293-2848; kathryn.balint@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20040619-9999-1b19verizon.html
Nokia: Making the Right Noises
Datamonitor 06/16/2004
Among Nokia's most obvious concessions to recent criticism was a fistful of clamshell designs, spanning a number of market segments, unveiled at the Nokia Connection 2004 event in Helsinki. This a clear nod both to mass-market handset trends and to the rival S60 smart phone from Samsung, the SGH-D700. The 6170 breaks with conventional S40 thinking in offering a larger-than-usual 128x160 color display, providing considerably more screen real estate than has been usual for Nokia's mid-range handsets.
Among Nokia's most obvious concessions to recent criticism was a fistful of clamshell designs, spanning a number of market segments, unveiled at the Nokia Connection 2004 event in Helsinki.
From a strategic and technical viewpoint, the more interesting products to be launched were the mid-to-high-end 6260 and mid-range 6170. The most notable feature of Nokia's 6260, which is based on the company's Series 60 (S60) variant of Symbian OS, is its screen-rotating mechanism. This a clear nod both to mass-market handset trends and to the rival S60 smart phone from Samsung, the SGH-D700.
The EDGE-enabled 6170 is decidedly more mid-range and uses Nokia's proprietary Series 40 (S40) handset user interface and applications suite, albeit with a twist. The 6170 breaks with conventional S40 thinking in offering a larger-than-usual 128x160 color display, providing considerably more screen real estate than has been usual for Nokia's mid-range handsets.
The move appears to be an effort to address the emerging market for so-called 'feature phones'. These boast large displays and much of the functionality of smart phones but in a less extensible form, either by limiting the handset to mobile Java (J2ME) applications or by tightly controlling smart phone OSs.
However, it is now clear that Nokia plans to take S60 downmarket, towards the feature phone market, as a further means to bolster its mid-market strength, with the original version of S60 soon to be targeted at the mass market.
Touted by Nokia as "the world's smallest 3G megapixel phone" Nokia's latest 3G phone, the 6630, is also the first 3G phone from the vendor to use S60. The device includes VPN access and EDGE connectivity. It also rectifies the lack of video messaging missing in Nokia's earlier 7100.
Operator interest looks strong and both the S40 and S60 are being bolstered by Nokia's acknowledgement that mobile operators require greater freedom to customize, or 'skin' interfaces to their own requirements. S60 will gain open APIs available through future upgrades to its software development kit (SDK), while S40 will also become increasingly customizable.
©The Record 2004
http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11972600&BRD=1170&PAG=740&dept_id=226964&...
ACS Launches Wireless Broadband Access: Providing Alaska with the Next Generation Wireless Data Network
ANCHORAGE, Alaska--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2004--
Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:ALSK);
Sierra Wireless (Nasdaq:SWIR)(TSX:SW) Mobile Data Service Offers Alaskans Access to Vital Information Outside the Office at Broadband Speeds
Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. ("ACS") (Nasdaq:ALSK) today announced the introduction of Wireless Broadband Access -- a broadband wireless data service powered by its next generation CDMA network. Beginning June 15, 2004, customers in Alaska can purchase wireless broadband access to enable connectivity to the Internet while untethered and from anywhere inside the CDMA footprint, which was recently launched on May 24, 2004..
Using a Sierra Wireless AirCard(R) 580 wireless wide area network PC card and a laptop, ACS customers can improve productivity and company performance by accessing valuable information when on the road -- at customer locations, at the job site, or even in a fishing boat -- all without wires and while traveling. With data transmission speeds capable of bursts up to 2.4 Megabits per second (Mbps), ACS' Wireless Broadband Access is the fastest available wide area wireless data service available to Alaskans today.
Sheldon Fisher, SVP Sales and Marketing for ACS, stated "Trial participants have told us that ACS' CDMA network utilizing 1xEV-DO technology has greatly improved their productivity and their ability to respond in a timely and better informed manner to their customers' needs." Fisher went on to say "ACS' launch of 1xEVDO is proof that we are committed to leading the industry in the delivery of the best wireless data technology, with superior coverage and services -- offering a combination of superior technology and value to our customers."
ACS' EV-DO service is available for a flat rate of $99 a month - all the data you can eat for one monthly price with the PC card. ACS is offering the Sierra Wireless AirCard(R) 580 PC Card for notebook computers for this service. The EV-DO card will retail for as low as $399.00. Cards are available at ACS stores and through ACS business account executives.
"We are pleased to work with ACS to deliver Wireless Broadband Access to mobile professionals in Alaska," said Jason Cohenour, Senior Vice-President, Worldwide Sales for Sierra Wireless. "With an AirCard 580 wireless PC Card and ACS' Wireless Broadband Access, customers can be as available and productive on the road as they are in the office, with fast, reliable wireless access to their e-mail and company information."
Note to editors:
To view and download images of Sierra Wireless products, please visit http://www.sierrawireless.com/news/photos.asp.
About ACS
ACS is the leading integrated communications provider in Alaska, offering local telephone service, wireless, long distance, data, entertainment and Internet services to business and residential customers throughout Alaska. Please visit us at www.acsalaska.com or investor information can be found at www.alsk.com.
About Sierra Wireless
Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ:SWIR)(TSX:SW) is a leader in delivering highly differentiated wireless solutions that enable our customers to improve their productivity and lifestyle. Sierra Wireless develops and markets the AirCard, the industry-leading wireless PC card line for portable computers; embedded modules for OEM wireless applications; the MP line of rugged vehicle-mounted connectivity solutions; and Voq, a line of mobile phones with easy-to-use, secure software solutions for mobile professionals. For more information about Sierra Wireless please visit www.sierrawireless.com.
"AirCard" and "Voq" are registered trademarks of Sierra Wireless, Inc.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/altavista/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040616...
Lucent Technologies Continues to Expand its Presence in Asia Pacific and China
Announces contracts in key growth areas with KT, Tata Teleservice, China Telecom and Vietnam Power Telecom
Wednesday, 16 June 2004
Lucent Technologies announced contracts to help telecommunications service providers deliver next-generation services and solutions to Asian businesses and homes.
Lucent is demonstrating the full scope of its advanced communications technology at CommunicAsia, the region's largest communications trade event. Among the contracts announced the opening day of the show are contracts with Korea's KT, India's Tata, China Telecom (as part of a frame relay agreement announced in January, 2004) and with Vietnam Power Telecom as Lucent continues to deliver a host of next-generation network solutions based on innovative Bell Labs technology.
"With Asia's economies showing a return to growth amidst the broader global recovery, the importance of telecommunications infrastructure to economic development is increasingly being recognized. Communications service providers in this region are seeking ways to provide innovative, reliable and secure new services, especially to businesses, while controlling costs," said Martin Geh, president, Lucent Technologies Asia Pacific.
"The agreements that Lucent is announcing at CommunicAsia illustrate how we are helping our customers to deliver revenue-generating value-added services and manage their networks more efficiently. At the show we will demonstrate powerful new Bell Labs-developed technologies including a portfolio of software, products and applications that focus on accelerating value over VoIP."
Lucent's announcements at CommunicAsia include:
VoIP Solutions
Lucent's Accelerate™ Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Solutions, next-generation solutions for delivering converged multimedia communications spanning wireline, wireless and enterprise networks is being shown at CommunicAsia. It supports differentiated applications and the convergence of wireline and wireless, while offering greater revenue-generating potential, better network return-on-investment and more efficient management of capital and operating expenses enabling better profit margins.
In one of the first Accelerate deployments in Asia, South Korea's largest communications service provider KT will install Anymedia® Line Access Gateway (LAG) systems to provide about 350,000 lines and support cost-effective traditional voice services as well as the rapid introduction of new broadband services. Using a single integrated network management system for both voice and data traffic, the implementation will help KT streamline operations, cut costs and simplify network migration. (Please see the press release "Lucent Technologies to Supply Accelerate™ Solutions for KT's Next-Generation Networks Build-Out.")
Spread Spectrum Solutions
A leader in the development of commercial 3G spread-spectrum solutions and the first to deliver CDMA450 solutions globally, Lucent has deployed CDMA2000 networks with more than 25 mobile operators in Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Americas. In a new contract with India's Tata Teleservices, Lucent will now provide equipment, software and services to increase the coverage and capacity of the operator's CDMA network in Andhra Pradesh. Deploying Lucent Flexent™ base stations that support 3G CDMA2000 1X service, Tata Teleservices will be able to increase voice capacity and deliver a variety of value-added mobile high-speed data services such as video streaming and high-speed Internet access to more customers. (Please see the press release "Tata Teleservices Awards Lucent Technologies Contract Worth Nearly $30 Million for Further CDMA Network Expansion.")
In Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of new subscribers will gain access to world-class wireless voice and data services when Vietnam Power Telecom deploys an advanced wireless network based on an integrated, end-to-end Lucent CDMA450 solution. (Please see the press release "Vietnam Power Telecom Selects Lucent Technologies to Deploy a Wireless Voice And Data Network in Northern Vietnam")
High-Capacity Switches
Lucent's 5ESS® switch-based end-to-end Personal Handyphone System (PHS) has been widely deployed throughout China, serving more than 6 million subscribers in 10 provinces. Now, through contracts worth more than US$80 million (as part of a US$350 million agreement announced in January 2004), five provincial subsidiaries of China Telecom will optimize and expand their Lucent-supplied PHS networks by seamlessly upgrading to 5E-XC™ switch, Lucent's next-generation high-capacity switch. This switch enables service providers to evolve to IP networks and offer a full array of innovative services including short message service, high-speed wireless Internet access and other data services. (Please see the press release "Lucent Technologies Awarded Over $80 Million Personal Handyphone System Contracts by China Telecom.")
http://www.crm2day.com/news/crm/EplZFlZVuEDNvQQrAY.php
ITU TELECOM ASIA 2004 to Explore Dynamic Asia-Pacific ICT Market
Accredit Now
Geneva, 16 June 2004
What: ITU TELECOM ASIA 2004 — the 7th ITU event to be held for the Asia-Pacific region.
When: 7 to 11 September 2004
Where: Bexco (Busan Exhibition and Conference Centre) Busan, Korea (Rep. Of)
Why: With a rapid take-up of next generation mobile services, and position as world leader in broadband penetration, the Asia-Pacific region offers a diverse range of opportunities. The region — the world’s most populous — is at the forefront of the development of cutting-edge new products and services, yet it also encompasses a number of emerging markets, which are experiencing fast telecommunications sector growth and offer tremendous potential.
ASIA 2004 will provide an unrivalled set of opportunities to explore the full scope of the Asia-Pacific region’s ICT (Information and Communications technology) and telecommunications market. The exhibition at ASIA 2004 will offer visitors and participants the chance to explore the technologies that will be shaping the ICT industry of the future. Amongst the exhibitors will be leading players such as ZTE, NTT DoCoMo, Intel and Samsung.
The ITU TELECOM Forum will provide a platform for debate on the key areas driving the growth of ICT in the region, with Plenary sessions along with sessions encompassing the fields of Business and Strategy, Technologies and Markets and Policy. Confirmed Forum participants include Dr Irwin Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, Qualcomm, Mr Takeshi Natsuno, Managing Director of i-mode strategy, NTTDoCoMo, Mr Sean Maloney, Executive Vice-President and General Manager, Intel and Mr Amarendra Narayan, Executive Director, Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT).
The theme of the event will be "Asia Leading the Future" a theme which will highlight the Asia-Pacific region’s vital role at the heart of new ICT developments.
Media Accreditation grants you access to the Exhibition, Forum and Media Centre, as well as:
ITU Reports issued at the event;
Forum Proceedings;
VIP interview availability schedules;
Media and analyst events scheduled by participants;
Contact details for participants’ press officers;
Information and forms for media accreditation are available here
About ITU
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2004/Advisory-10.html
Telecommunications: LatAm to represent 25% of Kyocera sales
The division has seen the importance of Latin America grow from 4% of sales in fiscal 2002 to 10% in fiscal 2003 and now 15%, he added. KWC - which evolved from Kyocera's purchase of the handset manufacturing division from US-based Qualcomm - covers the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India, while other divisions cover Europe, Japan and Asia.
Ittner sees revenues growing more than 100% this year, similar to the growth seen in the year just closed. Latin American sales for the year ending March 2004 were up 135% year-on-year, and units shipped up 173%. Revenues for fiscal fourth quarter were in fact up 300% compared to the previous year, driven mainly by the launch of a new model, the Slider.
The company now has 19 models available in the region and plans to launch three more in the next few months. Operators in Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela are selling up to 11 of the 19 models, while Vivo in Brazil has taken on three Kyocera models since signing with the vendor in November.
Kyocera has a 35% market share of handsets operated by Mexico's Unefon and expects to grow that share, Ittner said. Kyocera ranks third in terms of CDMA handset penetration worldwide and has been told it had a 26% market share in Latin America across all technologies in 2003, regional marketing director Natasha Marvin told BNamericas.
The three models soon to be launched include a high-resolution camera phone, the Koi, a clamshell phone and a handset offering push-to-talk (PTT) capability. Ittner's team has already secured Brazil's Vivo, BellSouth Latin America, Telefónica Móviles and Unefon as clients for the PTT handset and is in talks with most of its other operator partners. Virtually all CDMA operators in Latin America and the Caribbean offer Kyocera handsets, or 31 operators in 19 countries.
A factor behind the company's growing success is its strategy of talking at depth with carriers to learn about their needs and which market tier they are most interested in. Given the importance of the prepaid market in Latin America, Kyocera is developing a very low-end model for CDMA2000 1X networks, working closely with Qualcomm. This handset would be below the US$70-85 range, while current low-end handsets are up to US$100.
Ittner believes the expansion potential of some of Latin America's main CDMA operators should be enough to offset migration of some BellSouth divisions to GSM as part of the takeover by Spain's Telefónica Móviles (NYSE: TEM). Vivo in particular will be important in this respect.
Globally, KWC is the number seven handset manufacturer, across all technologies.
Parent company Kyocera (NYSE: KYO) billed 1.1 trillion yen (US$10.4bn) in the fiscal year just ended. Handset manufacturing is part of Kyocera's equipment group, which includes cameras, printers and copiers, and was responsible for almost half the group's revenues.
Source: Business News Americas (BNamericas.com)
http://www.latinfinance.com/default.asp?page=1234&storyid=2853172&s=Telecommunications
Handset Sales Ringing Again in Western Europe, Says Yankee Group; Improved functionality, design, color screens, and reinstated subsidies strengthen demand
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2004--Mobile penetration in most European markets already exceeds 80 percent, so a natural slowdown in handset sales is to be expected. In 2003, however, saturation was offset by a large number of consumers deciding to replace their mobile phones. The Yankee Group report, Western Europe's Mobile Handset Industry Arrives at a Critical Technology Juncture, reveals that following a disappointing 2002, handsets sales in Western Europe recovered--growing 12 percent in 2003 to 129 million units.
Handset subsidies also contributed to the rise in sales. Mobile operators quietly reinstated subsidies (after slashing them in 2002) because they are anxious to push high-end multimedia handsets into the hands of consumers. Higher retail spending was another factor, as a feared recession stalled and renewed economic confidence swept through the region.
"Mobile phones are rapidly becoming more complex," says Farid Yunus, Wireless/Mobile Europe senior analyst. The next generation of users will be exposed to much more than simple SMS and voice. Although technology has improved significantly to handle the many new added features, future mobile handsets will need to incorporate more powerful processors, greater memory components, enhanced displays and increased battery life to cope effectively.
"Handset manufacturers will need to make successive design improvements," Yunus says. "The wealth of possibilities enabled by 3G, Moore's Law, and the growing pool of mobile developers means that the current upturn in sales can be maintained for at least the next 5 years. However, over the long term, there is the fear of upgrade fatigue among consumers, which may lead to slower sales cycles at least until the next big technology leap."
PRESS CONTACT
For interviews contact Farid Yunus, fyunus@yankeegroup.com
THE YANKEE GROUP (www.yankeegroup.com)
The Yankee Group is the global leader in communications & networking research and consulting. The company helps businesses understand the opportunities, risks and competitive pressures of developing, deploying and consuming products and services that drive communication or information exchange. Now in its fourth decade, the Yankee Group is based in Boston with offices throughout North America and Europe.
What mobile phone users want
Mobile phone users have a clear message, writes Greg Thom
16jun04
INTERNET access, the latest full colour, graphics-laden games, multimedia messaging, the ability to take digital photographs and short videos, and send e-mail across the world.
These are just some of the cutting-edge features used to lure us into buying the new breed of mobile phones. But are they what we want?
Research by mobile phone maker Kyocera indicates the message from the average mobile phone user is: Keep it simple, stupid!
Kyocera asked users to nominate the top eight functions they felt were important to them.
Features that are considered important (in no particular order) include silent mode, caller ID, text messaging and an alarm clock.
It is not just the features that are paramount. It is making access to them as simple as possible.
"We did studies into mobile phone use,", Kyocera senior vice-president for global marketing Don McGuire told Connect. "The key finding was: 'Just make it easy to use'."
Users taking part in the survey were shown a list of 40 features and asked to name five they would use, not use, and consider.
The result was a list of eight indispensable features, none of which included sexy, hi-tech options such as polyphonic ring tones, screensavers downloaded from the internet, or advanced personal organiser functions.
"Technology for technology's sake seems to be ruling," Kyocera senior manager for corporate communications John Chier says.
"It's an engineering-led philosophy. When you ask why do we build it that way, the answer is, because we can.
"We went back and had a look at that."
Kyocera says that in a separate survey of users of mobile phone hand-sets, the brand came out on top in terms of ease of use.
"We knew we had a good foundation to start with. It is time for us to start telling consumers about that ease of use," Chier says.
The company says it hopes to do more than pay mere lip service to this new philosophy: it will focus on the eight features identified by users as important to them, and will make them the easiest to access and use in its next generation of CDMA phones.
A key feature is a radical new "pinwheel" interface, similar in appearance to the giant dial on the TV game show Wheel of Fortune. Users can spin the wheel on-screen, highlight the relevant function, and select. The effect is colourful, clean and easy to read.
"We have actually designed a user interface in which the most common features, such as silent mode, come up first," Chier says.
But features such as digital photography are not being ignored. They are being streamlined in the company's emerging mobile phone line-up.
McGuire says users of the Koi, for instance, will be able to take photographs while holding the phone horizontally. "Research shows people want to be able to take pictures as they would a digital camera (in landscape mode)," Chier says.
Reg Robertson, of consumer website Phonechoice.com.au, agrees many consumers are shifting towards mobile phones that are more simple to use.
"From the 200,000 consumers who visit the Phonechoice website, we continually receive complaints that, because mobile phone manufacturers install additional features on their phones, users are becoming more frustrated with their inability to understand how to use the additional features.
"More and more consumers are contacting us through our website and seeking our advice on how to use all the extra gadgets.
"I think it's important that manufacturers try to simplify their instruction manuals and the services they provide."
Robertson says up to 20 per cent of consumers use their phones only to receive or make calls to family members.
They ignore SMS messaging, games, and snapping pictures using their phone's built-in digital camera.
"Our research also shows there is a big swing away from consumers signing long-term contracts, despite all the benefits and gadgets included," Robertson says.
"This would also indicate the consumer doesn't understand how they would be able to take advantage of these extra benefits."
Chier says that while consumers increasingly want their phones to be simple and easy to use, owning a good-looking phone is still important.
"You can't make an ugly phone that is full of features. A phone is a lifestyle choice now."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9839272%255E11869,00.html
China: In-Stat/MDR Forecasts 118 Million 3G Wireless Subscribers By 2008
June 16, 2004
2004 will be a crucial year for Third Generation (3G) cellular in China, reports In-Stat/MDR.
With over 260 million mobile subscribers and more than 4 million new subscribers added every month in 2003, China is the largest cellular market in the world and a potential hotbed of 3G activities. With so many players involved from Chinese governments, equipment providers, handset manufacturers and content providers, many of them are very focused on making 3G happen.
However, according to the high-tech market research firm, for Chinese wireless operators, the expectation and scale of the promise of 3G has to be tempered accordingly. According to Tina Xu, an In-Stat/MDR analyst based in China, "Operators would prefer to pace infrastructure rollout with the resolution of technical issues, along with the availability of attractive and affordable handsets and relevant content, regulatory requirements." Yet, operators may have little choice in dictating the best time for service availability. According to Xu, "As in most regions of the world where cellular subscriber rates are rapidly increasing, the implementation of 3G in China is critical in order to accommodate a transformation of users' expectations from voice-centric communications to a more complex mixture of voice, wireless data and multimedia services." The availability of Third Generation networks such as CDMA2000, W-CDMA, and TD-SCDMA will give operators improved network efficiency, higher capacity, and the ability to begin offering high-speed wireless data services.
In-Stat/MDR has also found that:
--The number of mobile subscribers in China will grow from 268.69 million in 2003 to 497.86 million by 2008, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7%, reaching a penetration rate of 37.6%. Commercial 3G deployments will begin in 2005, and 3G subscribers will grow to 118.13 million by 2008.
--Through 2008, China Mobile will still hold the leading position in the mobile market in terms of its large subscriber base and operation experience. China Unicom will maintain its position as the second largest carrier during this time, and 2003 and 2004 will see it improve its market share in line with the expansion of its CDMA network. However, with the entrance of new carriers in 2004/2005, both China Mobile and China Unicom will see an erosion of their market share due to increased competition.
--Over the past decade, the China mobile market has gradually entered the digital age, and by the end of 2003, China boasted the world's largest GSM network. Through 2008, GSM will continue to dominate the subscriber base. Operators are also hopeful that a positive user experience with 2.5G will translate into rapid adoption of 3G services. However, many of the outstanding features of 3G technologies are not in demand by most subscribers for the time being and it will take at least 2 to 3 years for 3G subscribers to exhibit high growth after 3G services are launched.
The report, "3G Network Deployments in China" provides five-year forecasts for both total mobile subscribers and 3G subscribers in the Chinese marketplace. Additionally, the overall 3G climate in China, including players, prospective players and government influences is discussed in detail.
http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1335
U.S. shipments of mobile handsets that support Java or BREW device middleware will grow from 62 million in 2004 to just over
Wireless Application Platforms: Java Versus BREW
06/15/2004
Java and BREW are the two leading platforms used to download and run applications on mobile handsets. Java 2 Micro Edition, or J2ME, is the lightweight variant of the Java platform that has been adapted for use on mobile devices. BREW is a Qualcomm platform designed specifically to support a marketplace for applications and application components downloaded to mobile handsets.
Key Findings of this Report include:
- Middleware Goes Mass Market.
U.S. shipments of mobile handsets that support Java or BREW device middleware will grow from 62 million in 2004 to just over 100 million or 90 percent of all handsets that ship, in 2009. These projections assume that variations of these platforms will remain preferred venues for secure download of lightweight applications.
- Java Will Retain a Numerical Advantage.
Current and expected future carrier and OEM support will insure that Java sustains its leadership position. U.S. sales of devices that support BREW will grow from 23 million in 2004 to 38 million in 2009 whereas annual sales of Java-capable handsets will grow from 39 million to 63 million in the same period.
- Device Numbers Don’t Add Up to Subscribers.
The supremacy of wireless Java in terms of global shipment volume is somewhat misleading. The installed base of devices that support Java includes a substantial number that are not provisioned to access download services or that are on devices that can only handle very rudimentary downloads.
- Openness Has a Downside.
The openness of Java, which yields a strong say to OEMs and carriers in shaping the future of the platform, is a primary advantage. However, the politicized standards setting process has slowed development and resulted in inconsistent implementations that has added a significant burden to the development process.
- BREW Defines Implementation Benchmark.
Client-side consistency, coupled with elegant support infrastructure from certification through to settlement, enabled BREW to become a more significant venue for paid content downloads in the U.S. market. With support of Verizon Wireless, the leading U.S. carrier, BREW implementations provide a benchmark for carriers supporting Java.
- Java is Catching Up.
A cluster of technology vendors and service providers are competing to provide the components to support a marketplace for Java applications. Broad market acceptance of specifications such as MIDP 2.0 will provide a viable lowest common denominator for application developers.
- BREW Roadmap Could Take Many Turns.
It is uncertain if BREW will evolve to become an operating system and/or a broader platform for applications provisioning and device management. Meanwhile, the roadmap for Java is better defined. Support for components, classes and a services gateway will make wireless Java a viable venue for enterprise computing in 2006.
- Opportunities Exist for Enterprise Alternatives.
Niche device middleware for consumer applications from vendors such as Synergenix and Infusio will fail to continued support from OEMs or developers. The future for companies like Appforge, which provides a platform for enterprise applications, is more promising.
For a complete index of this report click on http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/127849
About Research and Markets Ltd.
Research and Markets Ltd. are Europe's largest resource for market research. R&M distribute thousands of major research publications from the world's leading publishers, consultants and market analysts. R&M provide you with the latest forecasts on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest market trends.
For additional information on ResearchandMarkets.com, their range of reports or their value-added services, visit their web site at http://www.researchandmarkets.com or mailto:press@researchandmarkets.com
http://networking.press-world.com/v/63339.html
Re: Congress Votes to Keep Options Off P&L
This is a great victory for the US corporations. I share the view that U.S. companies presently don't have to treat stock options as expenses like salaries or bonuses on their income statements. Only footnote disclosures are required.
start-up companies often use the employees stock option plan to attract workers. How can these small companies record a profit if they treat employees stock option as expenses, except a few big companies such as MSFT, CSCO, QCOM, C etc...
Congress Votes to Keep Options Off P&L
Tuesday June 15, 3:48 pm ET
By Susan Cornwell and Kevin Drawbaugh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee on Tuesday voted to curtail a move by America's independent accounting standards setter to require that companies count stock options as business expenses.
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The House of Representatives Financial Services Committee approved 45-13 a bill to restrict any option expensing standard from the Financial Accounting Standards Board to options granted to the top five officers of a company.
The bill would also delay implementing any standard for a year, until completion of an economic impact study by the departments of Labor and Commerce.
FASB recently proposed that options should be expensed and is expected to issue a final rule by the end of this year.
FASB considered requiring options expensing before, but backed away in 1994 under pressure from the Senate.
Headed next for a vote in the full House, the bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where some lawmakers have said Congress should not meddle with FASB, a private panel based in Connecticut that oversees U.S. accounting standards.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Richard Baker, said the measure was aimed at protecting broad-based stock option plans that start-up companies often use to attract workers. These plans might simply dry up if they had to be expensed, he said.
"We're going to let a job-creation tool be continued," Baker, a Louisiana Republican, declared.
Baker argued that requiring the expensing of options issued to a company's top five officers would address concerns about the abuse of option grants by company bigwigs.
But opponents said Congress should not be getting into the business of setting accounting standards, especially just two years after voting to increase FASB's independence in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act cracking down on corporate corruption.
By approving the Baker bill, "we set the precedent of our overruling the FASB. I think that is a mistake," said Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat.
REGULATORS DEFEND FASB
Republican Rep. Paul Gillmor of Ohio, another opponent of the Baker bill, noted that financial regulators from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson had suggested that Congress should stay out of accounting rule-making.
U.S. companies presently don't have to treat stock options as expenses like salaries or bonuses on their income statements. Only footnote disclosures are required.
Forcing companies to expense options would give investors a clearer picture of profitability and executive pay, according to supporters of the FASB proposal.
But expensing is opposed by high-tech companies that issue options liberally. They argue, like Baker, that expensing would cause fewer options to be issued.
"We think it's a significant step toward preserving broad-based employee stock options, particularly for rank and file workers," said Bill Calder, a spokesman for Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - News), the world's largest chip maker, after the vote.
"Obviously we've got to continue to work the issue in the Senate. We've got an uphill battle there," he said.
Baker's bill, introduced last November, is co-sponsored by more than 100 other lawmakers from both parties. Baker hopes for a floor vote before the August recess.
A similar bill has been filed in the Senate by Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael Enzi. But Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who chairs the Banking Committee, said earlier this month that FASB should be left to determine accounting standards free of political interference from Congress.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/040615/congress_stockoptions_3.html
Success and Future Opportunities for CDMA2000 Examined at 2004 CDMA Latin America Regional Conference
Event focused on migration to broadband CDMA2000 technologies, advanced data applications and CDMA450
COSTA MESA, Calif., June 15, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) today announced that more than 325 wireless industry members attended the 2004 CDMA Latin America Regional Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The theme of the conference was the commercial success and future opportunities for CDMA2000(r) in the Caribbean and Latin America. Topics included evolving to broadband data, providing universal access and developing and delivering innovative advanced services.
"CDMA2000 is the leading 3G technology in Latin America and an excellent platform for data and affordable voice services now and in the future," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "One of the emerging opportunities in Latin America and many parts of the world is CDMA2000 at the 450 MHz frequency because it facilitates universal access, allowing governments and operators to provide voice and data services to millions of people living in remote areas who previously had no access to communications."
The conference began with keynotes from Antonio Carlos Valente da Silva, vice president of ANATEL, and executives from the senior sponsors of the conference, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Nortel Networks, and QUALCOMM. Mr. Valente da Silva shared positive results from the CDMA450 trial that ANATEL is conducting, which has the ultimate goal of providing voice and broadband services to schools, libraries and health institutions, as well as rural and remote areas. The sponsors' keynotes focused on the market opportunities and benefits of CDMA2000 for delivering high-speed data, evolving to an all-IP core network and the convergence of various communication services and technologies.
Leading off the second day of the conference were keynote addresses from B. B. Anand, president, regulatory affairs, Reliance Infocomm (India) and Gustavo Guzman, CEO, Iusacell (Mexico), who presented their companies' deployment experiences with CDMA2000, services offered and planned, and customer feedback.
Other operators presenting during the conference were Sprint (U.S.), Telefonica del Peru, Tmais (Brazil), Verizon Wireless (U.S.), Vesper-Embratel (Brazil), and VIVO. VIVO, the largest carrier in Latin America with more than 24 million subscribers, also endorsed the event and announced at the conference that it will launch CDMA2000 1xEV-DO in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Presenters spoke on the advantages of CDMA2000 in delivering both voice and broadband data, developments in handsets and devices, strategies for building a successful suite of services and applications, and the latest advances in CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and 1xEV-DV technologies. In addition to plenary sessions, the conference featured a number of interactive workshops, a half-day forum on regional roaming challenges and opportunities, and an operators meeting on roaming.
Latin America and the Caribbean have more than 33 million CDMA users in 20 countries. The region boasts the largest number of CDMA2000 networks commercially deployed, with 26 CDMA2000 1X and two CDMA2000 1xEV-DO networks in 16 countries.
CDMA2000 leads in 3G deployments worldwide, with more than 85 million users and 81 operators in 40 countries across six continents. CDMA2000 has 97 percent market share for 3G services. Over 42 percent of the global CDMA subscriber base uses CDMA2000 networks.
About the CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies. The more than 100 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA-related matters. For more information about the CDG, contact the CDG News Bureau at +1-714-540-1030 or visit the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org
Note to editors: cdmaOne is a trademark of the CDG. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA).
CONTACT:
Antony Bruno or John Votava
CDG News Bureau
(714) 540-1030 ext. 11 or 25
(714) 540-1060 fax
abruno@bockpr.com
jvotava@bockpr.com
http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news_releases.mhtml?d=59116
Vietnam Telecom Taps Lucent
June 15, 2004 / 9:56 AM email story / print view / feedback
HANOI, Vietnam — Lucent Technologies today announced that Vietnam Power Telecom (VP Telecom) has selected Lucent to deploy an advanced wireless network to provide voice and high-speed data services in the northern provinces of Vietnam. This is the first customer contract in Vietnam for Lucent.
Under the agreement, Lucent will supply VP Telecom with equipment and services to deploy a commercial wireless network based on Lucent's CDMA2000 1X solution for the 450 MHz spectrum band, known as CDMA450. The network will provide access to high-quality voice and high-speed data services at speeds of up to 153 kilobits per second to both consumers and business customers.
"We look forward to helping VP Telecom introduce world-class wireless voice and data services to hundreds of thousands of new subscribers in both rural and urban areas of Vietnam," said Cindy Christy, president of Lucent Technologies' Mobility Solutions Group.
Lucent, the first to deliver CDMA450 solutions globally, has deployed commercial networks in 450 MHz spectrum for Delta Telecom and Moscow Cellular Communications — both part of the SkyLink initiative in Russia — Zapp Mobile in Romania and Uzbek Telecom in Uzbekistan, and is conducting numerous CDMA450 trials with customers around the world.
A global leader in the development of commercial 3G spread-spectrum solutions, Lucent's Mobility Solutions Group has deployed CDMA2000 networks with more than 25 mobile operators on the continents of North and South America, Asia, Europe and in the Australia/New Zealand region. Lucent also is collaborating with major UMTS/W-CDMA operators in Asia, Europe and North America on the development of their 3G networks. Lucent has deployed more than 90,000 spread-spectrum base stations for mobile operators worldwide, of which 50,000 are already supporting 3G services.
http://www.wirelessiq.info/content/newsfeed/1232.html
Samsung, LG Show Latest Cell Phones at Biggest Asian Telecom Fair
, 06.15.04, 10:26 AM ET
SINGAPORE, June 15 Asia Pulse - South Korean electronics manufacturers Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. today showcased their latest mobile phone lineups at a Singaporean high-tech trade show, strengthening their push to capture more of the Asian market.
Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest mobile phone manufacturer, plans to unveil 20 new models during CommunicAsia 2004, which runs from Tuesday through Saturday.
Primarily aimed at catching up with market leader Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, Samsung Electronics is focusing on selling camera phones, the industry's hottest segment.
The company's lineup includes phones with two-megapixel resolution that offer a similar picture quality to entry-level digital cameras, based on both code division multiple access (CDMA) and global system for mobile communications (GSM) standards.
Samsung also exhibited a dual-mode phone that can receive CDMA and GSM calls, allowing customers to use the device regardless of technical standards.
"The CommunicAsia telecommunication trade fair presents a good opportunity to showcase the high-end camera phones to Asia's fashion-conscious customers," a Samsung Electronics executive at the show said.
"In particular, the fair will set the stage for us to expand our presence in the regional market for megapixel camera phones," he said.
Samsung's local rival, LG Electronics, which has leapt to No. 6 in the global cell phone market from No. 10 in just two years, unveiled 40 new different models, including two-megapixel camera phones, smartphones and handsets with MP3 audio players.
The company is betting on sales of third-generation (3G) phones.
In early May, LG Electronics signed a contract with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa to supply three million 3G cell phones worth US$100 million.
The Asian region, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, is seen as an important emerging market for the South Korean handset manufacturers to sell camera phones.
According to a recent report by International Data Corp. (IDC), a technology research house, camera phone sales in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan are predicted to grow from 6 million units last year to 16 million or more in 2004.
Worldwide, camera phone shipments are expected to total at least 93 million units this year compared to 57 million in 2003, IDC said.
As more customers are looking at camera phones when they replace their phones, Samsung and LG hope to expand their presence in the global market.
The fair will also address attempts to find a way for the 3G service, which promises to offer faster Internet access and facilities such as video conferencing through mobile phones, to take off.
So far, 3G service phone sales have proved disappointing, mainly because of the scant availability of handsets and poor network quality, analysts said.
Around 50 domestic small- and medium-sized companies joined the CommunicAsia exhibition, led by the Korea Association of Information and Telecommunication.
The event is expected to draw nearly 40,000 visitors from 79 countries, according to organizers.
CommunicAsia has a history of more than 25 years with a host of sub-exhibitions, offering a comprehensive range of mobile networks and applications, network technologies and satellite communications.
More than 80 per cent of the fair's exhibitors are international companies. High-tech heavyweights exhibiting include Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, France Telecom, Siemens, Sony, Telekom Malaysia, and Telephone Organization of Thailand, among many others.
Last year, the fair was called off following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
(Yonhap)
http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/feeds/infoimaging/2004/06/15/infoimaging01087308974978-20040614-20...
We Are Just Beginning to Experience the Benefits of Mobility,' says Ericsson's President and CEO at CommunicAsia
STOCKHOLM, Sweden --(Business Wire)-- June 15, 2004 -- "We are just beginning to experience the benefits of mobility," says Ericsson's (NASDAQ:ERICY) President and CEO at CommunicAsia
At today's media briefing at CommunicAsia in Singapore, Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson, the world's leading telecom supplier, spoke about Asia's important role in the development of communications trends, services and applications for the benefit of consumers worldwide.
"We regard Asia Pacific as the world's greenhouse for mobile communications," said Carl-Henric Svanberg at CommunicAsia. "Asia is a very exciting region with one of the world's lowest mobile penetrations as well as the world's most advanced mobile users."
"With Ericsson Expander we can offer operators a solution for meeting consumer demands in new growth markets. With our leading position in new services and 3G roll out we support our customers in introducing advanced mobile services. We have done business in Asia for 120 years and we are looking forward to continue to bring mobile communications to this region."
"Convergence of fixed and mobile networks will radically change communications behavior. We have a very strong position in the converegence area with deep knowledge and a broad portfolio in the mobile as well as the fixed area. Converged networks allow consumers to be always best connected."
"We see a growing interest by operators toward our managed services offering, the most comprehensive in the industry. Managed services are a means to more efficient network operations and for more effective hosting of platforms, applications and content management."
With Ericsson's hosting offering, operators can deliver services to the market quickly, simply and most cost efficiently. The high interest for hosting is confirmed by the four hosting contracts announced by Ericsson today in the United States, Chile and Hungary.
Ericsson has the leading role in the ongoing 3G roll out. Ericsson is also strengthening its CDMA market position, and by providing a common 3G platform for WCDMA and CDMA, Ericsson gains economies of scale, not available to any other 3G vendor. With 3G, new services and applications are becoming a reality.
Evolved 3G, so called HSDPA, which is quickly moving to the top of many operators' agenda, will enhance this development. With HSDPA high speed downloading will be possible. This opens up for a lot of new exciting services and consumer benefits.
The media briefing will be available as an on-demand webcast on the Ericsson website later today.
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.
Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/press
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Jun/1048814.htm
MOMENTUM BUILDING AS 3GSM MATURES
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Beijing, 15 June 2004: With more than forty operators already delivering advanced mobile services to customers in 22 countries and territories across Asia, the Middle East and Europe, 3GSM is asserting itself as the global 3G standard.
Delivering a wealth of innovative new services to consumers such as video on demand, high-speed multimedia and mobile Internet access, 3GSM exploits the potential of content rich information and communication around the world.
3GSM also brings substantially enhanced capacity, quality and speed of data transmission. Incorporating a radio interface based on Wideband-CDMA, 3GSM is the 3G-upgrade for GSM, developed jointly by standards bodies from China, Korea, Japan, the United States and the European Union.
3GSM is the technology choice of 98 percent of operators who have been granted spectrum in the 2GHz band identified by the International Telecommunications Union for 3G. As 3GSM rolls out across the world, customers in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia are already enjoying its many benefits, with launches to follow in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan this year. In addition, Indonesia and New Zealand are moving toward launch.
"All 70 networks that will be delivering 3GSM services by the year-end are utilising the 2GHz band in which China intends to deploy 3G," said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association and a member of its Board. "Only one operator anywhere in the world has so far deployed an alternative 3G technology in this band. This global commitment is fundamental and demonstrates where economies of scale in the 3G market will be found."
Growth is expected to accelerate from the current 3GSM global customer base of more than five million, as the number of commercial networks increases to at least 70 by the year-end and handset launches by all the world's leading manufacturers eliminate supply issues.
"The greater availability of 3GSM handsets in China's 3G trials programme is a further reflection of 3GSM's superior maturity in the 2GHz 3G spectrum available in China," said Conway.
Craig Ehrlich, GSMA Chairman and board member of Hutchison Mobile, said: "The opportunities for China with 3GSM are immense. Operators benefit from international roaming and economies of scale; manufacturers gain equal access to global markets; IT, software, application developers and content players are not locked out as in other systems, and ultimately consumers enjoy value from a greater variety of globally compatible products and services. These benefits can only be delivered by an open system and a non-proprietary philosophy."
Made up of board-level representatives of 21 operator groups, including the world's 12 largest operators by subscriber count, the GSMA Board met this week in Beijing to acknowledge China's contribution to the success of GSM, and to demonstrate the Association's commitment to supporting China's Government, operators, vendors and customers during the transition to 3G. China Mobile and China Unicom both sit on the Board.
The world's billionth GSM user was connected in February 2004. China's unrivalled contribution to this milestone was reiterated when the Chinese GSM user base passed the 250 million mark in April.
"The impact of GSM in China has been profound," added Ehrlich. "It has been the primary driver of mobile penetration and has propelled China Mobile to the status of the world's largest mobile operator and China Unicom to the number three position. China Unicom's GSM customer growth in 2003 exceeded that of its CDMA network. Also during 2003, China's GSM users made a staggering 585.4 billion minutes of voice calls and sent 131.2 billion text messages. GSM accounted for 93% of Chinese mobile revenues."*
China alone has more GSM users than the global customer base of the next most widely used mobile technology - CDMA. China Unicom's GSM customers base is bigger than the combined customer bases of the world's three largest CDMA operators - Verizon Wireless, China Unicom & SKT.
"GSM is unique among mobile technologies in having a clearly-defined user benefit - international roaming - at the heart of its design," said Rob Conway. "Roaming creates a discipline amongst operators and their suppliers to comply with open standards, promoting inter-operability and creating economies of scale that benefit end-users. 3GSM builds on this heritage. "3GSM is changing the mobile world. Users in Japan and Korea will benefit from improved roaming services as their deployment of 3GSM brings them into the GSM community. There will also be wider economic benefits as their manufacturers will gain greater exposure to the global GSM/3GSM market, concluded Rob Conway."
"As we look toward the Beijing Olympics of 2008, the opportunity for China to serve a world-wide audience, and many millions of inbound visitors with compelling next generation mobile services has never been so apparent," concluded Craig Ehrlich.
About the GSM Association:
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association that exists to promote, protect and enhance the interests of GSM mobile operators throughout the world. In June 2004, it consisted of more than 630 second and third generation mobile operators and 130 manufacturers and suppliers. The Association's members provide mobile services to more than 1 billion customers across more than 200 countries and territories around the world. The GSMA aims to accelerate the implementation of collectively identified, commercially prioritised operator requirements and to take leadership in representing the global GSM mobile operator community with one voice on a wide variety of issues nationally, regionally and globally.
http://www.wirelessdevnet.com/news/2004/jun/15/news3.html
Nokia lags despite new design
By Nic Hopkins
NOKIA, the world’s largest maker of mobile handsets, looks unlikely to halt a decline in both its market share and value, despite unveiling five new models, including some in the clamshell design that it had previously shunned.
Analysts said yesterday that the latest handsets would not stop Nokia, based in Finland, from conceding more market share to emerging rivals such as South Korea’s LG and Samsung, which are fast winning over customers with advanced and stylish models.
Analysts described Nokia’s latest offerings as “underwhelming” and said the delay in getting the phones into stores meant that newer models of its rivals would eclipse them. The negative reaction sent Nokia shares down more than 2 per cent in Helsinki.
Jorma Ollila, Nokia’s chief executive, said that the company had “sharpened our product portfolio in key areas” by unveiling flip-phones as well as a handset that he described as the world’s smallest for fast third-generation services.
Per Lindberg, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said: “If Nokia could ship them today it would be selling more units . . . The problem is they aren’t selling them today, and as a result their market share will continue to slide.”
The latest models include the 6260, boasting a flip-top that swivels, and the 6630 3G with wireless e-mail, web browsing, and video calling. “It’s a step in the right direction but still a couple of paces behind the competition,” Ben Wood, an analyst at Gartner, said.
Nokia, which has had more than a third of the global market, said in April that it had begun to lose ground. Since then, its shares have fallen by more than a third. They were down to €11.71 yesterday.
For the first three months of 2004, its share was 28.9 per cent, down from 32 per cent in the same period last year. Motorola, its nearest rival, has risen to 16.4 per cent from 14.7 per cent, while Samsung is up at 12.5 per cent.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9076-1146368,00.html