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Samsung Developing I-Mode Phones



Mar 12, 2003 (Communications Today/PBI Media via COMTEX) -- NTT DoCoMo [NYSE: DCM] will work with Samsung Electronics to develop i- mode handsets for markets outside Japan, with the first products of the collaboration expected in stores in early 2004. The agreement marks the first joint effort between DoCoMo and Samsung, the No. 3 mobile phone vendor and a threat to Japanese vendors' market-share gains.

DoCoMo has had no shortage of handset vendors supplying devices for its 4-year-old i-mode service in Japan, which has attracted more than 37 million users. It has licensed its proprietary technology for use by carriers in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan, but those operations have not achieved similar success with i-mode. Samsung has climbed to the No. 3 spot in mobile phone sales, behind Nokia [NYSE: NOK] and Motorola [NYSE: MOT], and its chances of climbing even higher will grow with this DoCoMo alliance. The South Korean firm's share of the handset market grew from 7.1 percent in 2001 to 9.8 percent in 2002, according to market research firm Gartner Group's Dataquest division.

[Copyright 2003 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]

Communications Today, Vol. 9, No. 45 [Copyright 2003 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]Copyright 2003 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

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