(Source: MocoNews) TU Mediax92s S-DMB service in Sth Korea has signed up 950,000 payingcustomers who watch an average of 62 minutes per day, according toPresident and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Young-Kil Suh. x93TU Media istargeting 2.2 million customers by the end of 2007, according to Suh.By the end of the decade it plans to have 6.6 million customers,generating more than $1 billion in revenue, he said. South Korea hasmore than 40 million mobile phone users.x94This compares with the competing T-DMB service, which has picked up 1.8 million viewers but its advertising model is bringing in less than 10% of the revenue required to break even.

(Source: Digital Media Asia) SK Telecom has launched ‘Korea-China Korean SMS services’ allowingtransmission and reception of text messages in Hangul with China Unicomsubscribers.Korean mobile phone subscribers have been sending and receiving SMSor MMS messages in English to or from overseas mobile phonesubscribers. However, Korean text messages could only be exchanged withroaming customers in countries where automatic roaming with SK Telecomis possible (US, China, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand). Withthe launch of the new service, China Unicom’s CDMA subscribers in Chinawill also be able to exchange SMS messages in Hangul with SK Telecomsubscribers in Korea. Also, subscribers to China Unicom’s CDMA serviceswill be able to exchange Korean text messages with one another.Subsequently, users in China will be able to use their handset and mobile number to send and receive Korean text messages.Along with the new SMS Service, SK Telecom plans to provide Koreanlanguage text services to subscribers of China Mobile by the end of theyear. By early next year, the company plans to enable the transmissionof SMS in not only Korean but Chinese characters as well.

(Source: Chosun Ilbo) LG Electronics will join hands with the global coffee chain Starbucksto market its mobile phone. LG said Sunday it will open an x93experiencezonex94 where customers can test LG Electronicsx92 pocket TV phone whilesipping coffee at 10 Starbucks stores in Seoul until Nov. 12. With thecollaboration, LG aims to promote its 10.95 mm pocket TV phonesequipped with the terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB)technology. LG Electronics said customers can experience x93the stylishdesign and superb image qualityx94 of the firmx92s DMB phones there.

(Source: Webuserblog) It had to happen sooner or later: the world’s firstten-megapixel camera phone. Just launched in Korea by Samsung, theSCH-B600 promises to be the ultimate mobile snapper (at least until aneleven-megapixel model arrives). Besides that incredible resolution, the phone features a 3xoptical zoom, 5x digital zoom and an autofocus for sharper images, evenin poor light. There’s also white balance, manual focus, continuouspicture-taking and movie recording.Other notable functions include an MP3 player, Bluetooth connectivity and a business card reader.

(Source: DigitalMediaAsia) SK Telecom and China Unicom are understood to have decided on a ‘jointhandset sourcing’ in order to target the markets of South Korea andChina. This is reportedly the first time that any conspicuousachievement has been announced since the alliance between the twocompanies. On 21 June, SK Telecom established a contract for purchase of CBs(Convertible Bonds) worth $1bn issued by China Unicom. Also, throughthe establishment of a ‘Strategic Alliance for CDMA Services’ withChina Unicom, SK Telecom announced alliance and co-operation in jointhandset sourcing, joint development of additional services, jointplatform development, marketing/distribution, CRM and network. As a result, for specific implementation ofthe six areas of alliance between SK Telecom and China Unicom, aconsultation group and task force consisting of 50 working levelmembers from both companies are in operation, with discussions onspecific ways of cooperation through mutual provision of consulting ineach area, sharing of expertise and provision of market information. SK Telecom and China Unicom have agreed to source joint handsets ofsix types in the first half of 2007 for the South Korea and Chinamarkets, and plan to continue expanding the supply of model types andvolume by 2008.

Korea Telecom has announced that it will buy Olive9 for $21.9 million. Olive9 is a digital media company specialised in next-generation delivery of entertainment services. The company produces and supplies media content for DMB, portable internet and IP-TV. This is another step in the value chain integration started by the Korean carriers. In the past, SK Telecom has invested in TU Media, started up a joint venture in Warner Music and purchased a share in the media company IHQ. Korean operators believe that content ownership benefits the uptake of wireless data services, since carriers can offer better prices and reduce conflicts of interest.

Research and Markets, in its ‘Mobile Device Convergence Report 1H,2006′, has said that South Korean consumers prefer slide-type handsets,while clamshell is the most popular in Japan and bar-type has thebiggest market share in China.The aim of this half-yearly report is to present the futuredirection of the markets by providing periodical analysis on new mobiledevice launches in Japan, South Korea and China, which are leading thetelecom and mobile markets in Asia and reveal the differences betweenthese countries. The report provides information on mobile deviceslaunched in each country.
The handsets analysed in this report include all the modelslaunched in the first half of 2006. These include 269 models by 21manufacturers.

(Source: Reuters) KTF,  Korea’s second-biggest mobile operator, cut its 2006 earnings forecast on Tuesday to reflect a fall in interconnection rates and higher marketing costs, sending its shares 2 percent lower. KTF said its 2006 EBITDA margin (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) would be 33 percent, down from a previous 37-39 percent range, and against its 2005 EBITDA margin of 39 percent. The revision, slightly shy of forecasts by analysts of around 35 percent, follows bigger rival SK Telecom cutting in August its 2006 EBITDA forecast by 9 percent to 4 trillion won ($4.24 billion). South Korean mobile carriers are trapped in margin-crushing competition that has intensified after the reintroduction of partial handset subsidies in March, while revenue growth is stalled in a country where four out of five have a mobile phone. "We expect second-half marketing costs to edge down from the first half, but they will be certainly higher than a year earlier," said No Mi-won, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities. "A wider-than-expected fall in interconnection revenue is also negative."

LG Electronics has unveiled the world’s first talking phone capableof reading books to blind users, officials said on Wednesday. The LF-1300 model hit the domestic market this week, priced at around 400,000 won ($417). "The LF-1300 is the world’s first mobile handset capable of readingbooks for the blind. This is part of our efforts to contribute tosociety," said  Song Keun-Yong, spokesman for the world’sfourth-largest cellphone vendor. The blind, visually impaired and dyslexic can buy the talking phoneafter presenting a government certificate. The phones are being offeredat a special low price. Users can download about 300 audio books free of charge through LG’sdigital library website on a computer specially designed for the blind,Song said. They can also download the digital books directly onto cellphonesthrough the wireless network by touching a hot key on the handset, hesaid.   

(Source: Chosun Ilbo) Subscribers with Koreax92s largest mobile carrier SK Telecom on averagespend about 200 minutes per month on outgoing calls and 110 minutes onincoming calls. The average monthly bill is W44,000 (US$=W956). Thereare plenty of four-person families spending W200,000-300,000 per monthon mobile phone charges, which can become a hefty burden. With KTF andLG Telecom the situation is about the same. The Ministry of Information and Communication and the industryinsist the phone rates are cheap compared to other countries, and thereason for hefty bills is that people spend a lot of time on the phone.But a survey of the billing programs and consumer habits in the U.S. bythe Chosun Ilbo found that supposing subscribers in both countries usetheir handsets for a similar amount of time, the amount spent per monthwas more than W10,000 greater here. Park Il-geun lives in Austin, Texas, where he no longer has alandline, only using his cell phone. Last May, Park signed up for a300-minute plan with mobile carrier Sprint, which costs him US$29.99(tax not included) a month. Calls at night — from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. –and on weekends are free. x93The free call benefit covers a long periodof time, so I rarely use up my 300 in-plan minutes.x94 The major U.S.carriers — Verizon, T-mobile, and Cingular — offer similar programs.If you want to talk a similar amount in Korea, you better be preparedto fork over significantly more in fees.

The 190-minute plan from SK Telecom is W36,000: around 20percent more per minute than Sprint. Minutes used on nighttime callscount against the plan. Again, the situation is similar at the nationx92sother mobile carriers, who offer comparable plans for W34.500-36,000.