By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
In a follow-up measure to nurture the WiBro business, Samsung Electronics has unveiled new advanced equipment that provides terrestrial DMB and high-speed Internet services.
Samsung Monday said it has started shipping the ``WiBro Communicator’’ to local distributors. The model, code-named ``SWT-W100K,’’ enables users to watch high-quality pictures in real time with a speed of up to 13Mbps on a 4.3 inch LCD screen and other multimedia functions such as ``DMB PIP’’ (picture in picture) on the simple terminal.
The 15.7 millimeter thick bar-type device is also equipped with a 2.0 megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0 networking function, according to the company. It will sell for 500,000 won locally.
``We want to use the product to grab more attention from consumers in the U.S. and Japan,’’ an official from Samsung Electronics said.
The governments of the United States and Japan plan to launch full-fledged commercial services from the first half of 2009.
Last week, Samsung was chosen as a supplier of WiBro equipment for UQ Communications in Japan after the company clinched a similar deal with Sprint Nextel of the United States last year.
WiBro is a standard technology for wireless communication led by South Korea with Samsung Electronics and KT at the forefront. It is an improved version of WiMax, which enables high-speed Internet connectivity even when a user is in motion.