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Cellphone Industry Sees Evolution of the Smart Phone as Fashion Statement
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Not long ago, a mobile phone was just an instrument to make calls and send messages on the move. Now, the small electronics gadget is growing more and more feature rich to include multimedia, camera, games, e-mail and live news at all.
In an era of ``digital convergence,'' a phone call is merely one function of what users can do as there's lots of more things in the mobile world. Things will keep getting better for consumers as mobile phone companies try to differentiate themselves on the basis of ``content.''
```Convergence' impacts on a huge range of things,'' says Salvatore Iacono, senior vice president of production solution marketing at the Bell Enterprise Group.
``It now involves not just voice and data on a single network but also the applications that sit on those networks, the way we deliver services and the way people are using IT.''
``I can simply say the definition is expanding and evolving,'' says Kim Eun-young, a product designer at Samsung Electronics.
``The ability to deliver all services based on either voice or data through a single network to any device a consumer wants to use ― a desktop, a PDA, a mobile phone and a television set,'' she explains.
By riding on such radical changes in the global phone industry, leading phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Motorola and LG Electronics are busy introducing highly-functional ``smart phones'' by applying more eye-catching application technologies.
Ringtones, SMS, music files, gaming and information are the traditional parts that phone producers are focusing on. But embedded content is defining most of the new phones as `digital convergence' takes precedence over traditional features.
Samsung's Omnia ― meaning `everything' in Latin and `wish' in Arabic ― phone brings, together with a higher performance, business content, top of the range style and a fun, dynamic multimedia experience, to ensure that consumers are always connected both at home and at work.
The Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Operating System also means that users can download additional programs as they would on their PCs and customize them for their own needs.
``As mobile phones are developing further amid an era of `digital convergence,' the PC business must break down barriers and be armed with technology competitiveness,'' Park Jong-woo, president of the digital media business for the world's No. 2 mobile manufacturer recently told The Korea Times.
``We are positive that the Omnia will be loved by possible consumers as one of the top Infotainment handset,'' Park added.
Nokia phones are equipped with navigation tools. The Finnish company, which has claimed itself a ``solution provider,'' has already tied up with music companies like EMI, Saregama and Venus to enhance its music edition phone with popular songs.
LG and Sony Ericsson phones allow users to access some sports and TV videos and boasts of mobile commerce and banking services.
LG says its Secret phone is an iPhone killer. It has already launched its touch-screen Vu and Shine models in Canada.
``Surely, content is a major differentiator for mobile phone. The global phone market is moving from `what phone I have' to `what call can I do with my phone','' Kim from Samsung said.
As Apple's new iPhone cost half as much as the prototype at $200, competition in the smart-phone market, which has been very strong the last six months, is widely expected to get more intense.
Industry experts say now more than 150 million smart phones are already in the hands of users, with that number expected to grow to more than 1 billion by 2010.
Debate
Analysts agree that the smart phone has emerged the fastest-growing segment of the mobile business and as consumers trade in their aging mobile phones, many are choosing Internet-enabled ``smart'' variety as replacements.
But one of the bigger debates in ``convergence'' is probably the question of who should supply services.
``For me, it is very interesting to have flexibility to pick applications from multiple suppliers. But to many users, it has become a rather bewildering,'' Park Jin-hyun, a software developer for mobiles at a local company.
She added lines between media companies and telecom companies are blurring, as are those between telecom companies and media services companies such as Yahoo, Google and even Microsoft and between telecom companies and IT companies.
Companies that started as Internet search engines are offering communications service such as messaging and location-finding services.
``The only thing is that the impact of the drive toward `convergence' is profound,'' according to the official.
```Convergence' is bound to change the way we live, the way we work and the way we entertain ourselves. The faster evolution of cell phones will result in a revolution in communications.''
yckim@koreatimes.co.kr
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