Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd., (Samsung) affirmed its global leadership in the burgeoning mobile TV category by demonstrating Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) mobile handsets at a meeting held today between the South Korean and South African Ministries for Telecommunications.
James Munn, Samsung South Africa's Vice President for Mobile Phones, said that the handsets have the capability of crossing multiple mobile broadcasting platforms - Satellite DMB (S-DMB); Terrestrial DMB (T-DMB); Media FLO and DVB-H. These various mobile broadcasting standards will bring large-volume multimedia, television and radio content direct to consumers via their mobile handset.
"Samsung is at the forefront of the mobile TV revolution and is currently in talks with operators in the U.S., Europe and China to bring mobile TV technology to the market in preparation for commercial launch of mobile TV services this year".
"DMB technology is different to watching television via 3G services, as currently offered in South Africa. DMB operates on a dedicated network that provides entertainment content at the same quality as that of your conventional home television set".
In addition, he said Samsung has just unveiled the SPH-B4100, the world's first dual DMB phone, enabling consumers to enjoy both S-DMB and T-DMB in one phone. With its unique landscape view design, the B4100 will give consumers a more ergonomic device for experiencing mobile TV. The phone also has a Picture-in-Picture (PIP) function allowing consumers to view S-DMB and T-DMB channels at the same time. The B4100 is expected be on the market during the first half of this year.
"Samsung continues to develop the premium mobile handsets that give consumers the ultimate multimedia experience and allow them to fully realize the power of mobile broadcasting," said Munn.
Samsung was the first in the world to invent the S-DMB chipset in February 2004 and succeeded in applying the chip to the world's first S-DMB phone, SCH-B100, in May 2004. When the trial service for S-DMB began in January 2005, Samsung was the sole provider of the S-DMB handset. Samsung has introduced five S-DMB phones (SCH-B100, SCH-B130, SCH-B200, SCH-B250, SCH-B360) to date in the Korean market and will continue to introduce more S-DMB phones.
Samsung also completed the development of its first T-DMB phone, SPH-B1200, in February 2005. Once the T-DMB service for mobile phones begins in Korea, Samsung will be ready for the commercialization of the T-DMB phones. Samsung is in collaboration with Germany's T-Systems to bring T-DMB phones to the German market in preparation for World Cup 2006.
(For more information, please contact Lerato Moeletsi at GGi Communications on phone 011 728 1363)
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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of US$55.2 billion and net income of US$10.3 billion. Employing approximately 113,600 people in over 90 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones, and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com