Hi-tech Korean phones a hit in Japan

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Hi-tech Korean phones a hit in Japan

Four months after arriving in Japan for the first time, Korean cell phones using third-generation mobile platforms are making their mark in the Japanese market. Samsung Electronics Co. said that its folder-type model, the 804SS, which is only 14.9 millimeters (just over half an inch) thick and weighs 98 grams (0.2 pounds), is currently selling 5,000 units per day. Fitted with W-CDMA, or a wideband code division multiple access platform, the phone hit Japan’s shops on March 25. That Japanese consumers, who are used to getting handsets for nothing or next to nothing, have not been put off by the phone’s 52,000-yen ($440) price tag, which is being seen as a major success at Samsung. With an initial shipment of 100,000 phones proving insufficient to meet demand, Samsung is preparing to send more. In addition, Korea’s No. 3 handset producer, Pantech Group, which entered the Japanese market last December, had supplied Japanese mobile service provider KDDI with 300,000 units of the third-generation A1405PT phone by the end of February. Elsewhere, LG Electronics Co. is exporting W-CDMA mobile handsets this month to NTT Docomo, Japan’s top mobile operator. W-CDMA technology is the successor to current industry standard CDMA, and enables users to conduct video phone calls as well as make high-speed transmissions of bulky multimedia content such as MP3 files. Its data transmission speed is 1 to 2 megabits per second, which is similar to most fixed-line broadband services. by Seo Ji-eun, Lee Hee-sung
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