Korea to play leading role as tech evolution unfolds

Evolution was the key word yesterday at iMobicon Korea 2006, an international conference for industry leaders in the mobile sector. Heads of major telecom firms presented the trends, visions and challenges for future mobile services at the Sheraton WalkerHill in eastern Seoul. The event ends today and was co-hosted by the Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA) and England’s Informa Telecoms and Media. In its second year, it featured 60 speakers from around the world. Korea is expected to play a leading role in the tech advances. Kim Shin-bae, chief executive officer of SK Telecom Co., Korea’s largest mobile service provider, said in a keynote speech that digitalization accelerates the advent of convergence services and products. He gave examples, such as Apple Computer’s convergence of the iPod digital music player with the iTunes digital music downloading service and mobile phone makers creating Web portals with downloadable contents, such as Nokia’s Club Nokia and Samsung’s Fun Club. Mr. Kim also pointed out that strategic alliances and mergers and acquisition deals on a global scale cause new business models to develop. The service Bridge Mobile, for instance, includes participation of 17 companies, including telecom companies such as Singapore’s SingTel, Nokia,and HP. Lee Young-hui, senior vice president of KT Corp., said the development of convergence is expected to evolve to home networking services and personalized multimedia services. For instance, satellite and cable television programs received at home will be transmitted to remote laptops, personal digital assistants, and in-car TVs. These mobile devices, however, will not only be able to receive information, but also to process information, such as mobile banking, tax services, and distance-healthcare services. Hideo Okinaka, vice president of Japan’s KDDI, presented the challenges and opportunities for fixed and mobile operators in the new converged landscape. Citing figures by Japan’s Information Communications Ministry, Mr. Okinaka showed that the number of calls has gone down since 2000, but mobile usage will increase, through fusion of telecom and broadcasting, and networked home appliances. KDDI also offers FM radio to cell phones through interactive Web sites, and terrestrial digital television has been broadcast for mobile since April 2006. The company is hoping to extend the idea to cell-phone TVs. Other speakers included Eda Lindqvist, vice president of Sweden’s Teliasonera, and Simon Bureau, founder of Canada’s Vectis, who spoke on the role of capital and investment in mobile markets. by Wohn Dong-hee