Korean firms taking center stage at CeBIT

Korean firms are soaking up the limelight at CeBIT 2005, Europe’s biggest technology fair, as their cutting-edge technologies and sleek designs appeal to international visitors. Samsung drew throngs of visitors for its array of phones, which include the world’s smallest phone for wideband code division multiple access, or WCDMA; its 7-megapixel camera phone; and its smart phone that supports the Windows operating platform and contains a 3-gigabyte hard disk drive. “Mobile phones aren’t just phones now ―they are MP3 players, cameras, and camcorders all rolled into one,” Samsung Electronics president Lee Ki-tae said. “Soon, Samsung will introduce nano-technology and bio-technology into the cellphone manufacturing process. Some day, we may be able to stimulate brain cells or read emotions with our phones. The development speed of information technology is as fast as the speed of sound,” he added. LG displayed the world’s first terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting handset, along with the world’s largest commercialized 71-inch plasma display TV. The British press reported that LG’s clamshell 3G mobiles “are about the most popular handsets in the U.K. at the moment.” Boosted by its success at the fair, Pantech and Curitel, the seventh-largest cell phone maker in the world, announced that it will establish a European headquarters in Frankfurt in May. “Later this year we will begin third generation mobile communications services with European service providers,” said Pantech’s president Lee Sung-kyu. The company has 29 types of cell phones on display, mostly those supporting special features like body temperature measurements, fingerprint recognition, and digital multimedia broadcasting. Samsung, LG and Pantech also won awards for product design, given out by the International Design Forum, a top design organization based in Germany. The forum hands out its “iF Design Award” each year for innovative product designs. by Wohn Dong-hee