Music, TV next killer applications for mobiles
HANOVER, Germany - Third-generation mobile services are taking off worldwide and digital music seems to have emerged among its killer applications. At the CeBIT technology fair in Hanover, mobile-phone makers have been tripping over themselves to introduce their latest music-enabled phones they hope will tap a growing audience that made Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod a cultural icon.
Mobile operators believe music file downloads could create significant revenue over their third-generation data networks, with increased bandwidth consumption and more add-on content purchases by users.
The most notable item was Samsung Electronics Co.'s SGH-i300 mobile phone. The model is integrated with a digital stereo player that runs on a 3-gigabyte hard drive, unlike most music-enabled phones that run on flash memory, allowing it to store about 1,000 songs compressed at 128 kbps.
Users can easily create and search playlists with a scroll-wheel controller, a feature similar to iPod models, and move their music files to computers with the plug-and-play feature. The phone also comes with a 1.3-megapixel digital camera and the Windows Mobile wireless Internet software.
"Providing digital music functionality is clearly a significant trend, which provides wireless operators ways to generate new revenues and gather customers for their third-generation services. With people allowed to enjoy third-generation telephony that offers faster data transmission, we believe that there will be an increasing demand among customers to have more multimedia features on a single device," said Seo Gi-young, a senior manager at Samsung Electronics' telecommunications network business.
"We didn't specifically design this product to rival iPod, as the market hasn't decided yet if music phones will compete in the same market with standalone MP3 players. However, it's unquestionable that music phones are increasingly becoming attractive to consumers," he said, pointing out that a number of MP3 player manufacturers, including ReginComm Inc., are now moving to develop music-enabled models after being dismissive early on.
Samsung declined to comment on when their 3-gigabyte phone would soon be available on markets. Samsung Electronics, which developed the world's first MP3 player-equipped phone in 1998, already has a 1.5-gigabyte model on sale that it released six months ago.
Although Samsung Electronics' SGH-i300 garnered rapt attention, Swedish-Japanese handset maker Sony Ericsson was not to be outdone and delivered an impressive lineup of music-enabled phones. The company's collection was highlighted by its much-talked about "Walkman" phone, integrated with a 500-megabyte digital music player.
The mono-blocked phone, named W800, also comes with a 1.8-inch TFT display, a 2-megapixel digital camera, an FM radio tuner and software with CD ripping capabilities that enable users to download songs onto the phones. The phone will be released in the GSM markets of Europe, the Americas and Asia in the second half of the year.
Nokia, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, introduced two models, the 6021 and 6030, with the ability to download and play music. Nokia announced Monday that it signed with German mobile operator O2 Germany to deliver its wireless music download platform it co-developed with Loudeye Corp. Other major handset makers such as Motorola Inc., LG Electronics Inc. and Pantech Co. also introduced their latest music-enabled phones at CeBIT.
"Mobility is a big part of music's future and we are looking to offer operators the comprehensive services that integrate both the mobile and personal computer world," said Jonas Guest, vice president of Nokia's music business.
Another major push in the high-tech sector is to bring television and real-time video to wireless devices. At CeBIT, Samsung Electronics featured a number of handsets with mobile television capability, designed to target the markets for both terrestrial-digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) and digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H), the two major standards for mobile television.
"We prefer T-DMB to emerge as the dominant standard between the two, since T-DMB is mostly a homegrown technology for Korea. However, we have the available technology to deliver DVB-H network systems and handsets to mobile operators anywhere," said Lee Ki-tae, head of Samsung Electronics' mobile communications division.
LG Electronics, the world's fourth-largest mobile-phone maker, featured their LG-LT1000 mobile television handset that works on terrestrial networks. LG Electronics officials said they expect significant demand for T-DMB and said they have no immediate plans to develop handsets for DVB-H. The company said it will deliver mobile television handsets to European operators during the first half of next year.
Other electronic makers such as Siemens AG, NEC Corp. and Pantech also showcased their latest mobile television handsets.
"We are concentrating on our drive to develop advance technologies for T-DMB and DVB-H is not among the company's immediate concerns. There will be markets for both T-DMB and DVB-H in Europe with regional differences, but we are betting that T-DMB will be more preferred among operators considering its easier deployment," said Simon Hahm, vice president and general manager of LG Electronics' Europe and CIS division.
"Mobile television services are an extension of digital television services, which LG Electronics owns a competitive edge over most other companies of the world. Delivering DVB-H solutions on the handset side won't be a tall order for us," he said.
Mobile television services are designed to beam digital television, audio and data broadcasts to handheld devices via satellite, land-based television airwaves or third-generation mobile networks. European mobile operators consider next year's FIFA World Cup in Germany, held in June 2006, as the ideal target period to bring mobile television live to consumers.
Industry analysts are divided on which standard will prevail between T-DMB and DVB-H. Korean electronics manufacturers prefer to back the former based in large part on homegrown technology. The Korean government will award six licenses for T-DMB by the end of this month.
The advantage of T-DMB is that the standard is built on the Eureka-147 Digital Audio Broadcasting spectrum, which already has near-nationwide coverage in countries such as Britain, France and Germany. On the other hand, DVB-H depends on both terrestrial broadcasting and third-generation networks, which could make it a tough sell for mobile operators.
However, DVB-H is designed to deliver data at speeds of 10 mbps, providing data transmission on an Internet protocol-based backbone, while T-DMB manages to offer 1 mbps. This could give mobile operators greater leeway to develop revenue models, which has always been a difficult challenge for T-DMB backers.
Siemens introduced a DVB-H transmission system and handset that delivered interactive television functionality, allowing users to buy tickets, download data, make sports bets and even change camera angles, apparently tailored for consumers looking to attend next year's World Cup. Siemens is running DVB-H trial services with mobile operators Vodafone in Berlin and expects to begin three more field trials later this year. The company said it does not plan to hedge its bets on T-DMB.
"The idea is to bring different technologies of television, network computers and mobile phones onto a single device, a concept that is apparently represented in DVB-H than T-DMB. Being an Internet protocol-based solution, DVB-H brings better broadcasting services to consumers and give operators larger freedom to create added-value data services," said Rainer Grossman of Siemens' information and communication mobile division.
By Kim Tong-hyung Korea Herald correspondent
2005.03.14
