Thursday sees the start of the CeBIT, the world's biggest expo for the IT, telecom, software and services industries, in Hanover, Germany. This year's CeBIT 2006 is unique in its focus on ¡°convergence¡± of digital devices and in targeting consumers ahead of the football World Cup in Germany 100 days hence. Electronics firms are betting especially on their digital TVs to take advantage of the special demand created by the event.
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On the eve of the opening of the CeBIT 2006, a Samsung Electronics staffer puts the finishing touches to a booth in the exhibition hall in Hanover, Germany.
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Mobile phone companies are vying for the lead in the HSDPA phone market. HSDPA is a 3.5 generation mobile phone technology which enables users to access the Internet at speeds of up to 14.4 Mb per second, higher than ADSL. When the service becomes available, users will be able to download video clips with high definition quality without problems to their mobile phones. European mobile carriers including the U.K.¡¯s Vodafone and Germany¡¯s T-Mobile will start providing commercial HSDPA services this year.
Another focus of attention is fierce competition among Korea, the U.S. and Europe to lead the market in mobile TV technologies, which has emerged as one of the hardest-fought battles this year. The heat is on between terrestrial/satellite DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting), already commercialized in Korea, Nokia¡¯s DBV-H out of Finland and Qualcomm¡¯s Media FLO in the U.S.
Among convergence products, 'Origami', a new portable PC introduced by Microsoft is receiving consumer's attention. Origami, which means 'folding papers into various figures' in Japanese, is a new kind of PC which combines digital camera, MP3 player into one. It is said that Microsoft deveoped Origami to catch up with Apple which has emerged as a major player in the digital music market.
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On the eve of the opening of the CeBIT 2006, People look at LG Electronics¡¯ 102-inch plasma display panel TV at a booth in the exhibition hall in the northern German town of Hanover. /Yonhap
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Among Korean firms, Samsung Electronics has set up stands which measure some 6,000 sq. m, where it is exhibiting its 3.6 MB HSDPA mobile phone and a handset with an 8GB storage device allowing users to store up to 2000 MP3 music files.
LG Electronics is trying to reinvent itself as a high-end brand at its 2,000 sq.m stand. The company is putting most of its efforts into promoting a ¡°time machine¡± TV that enables viewers to stop live broadcasts while they nip off to the toilet. It also has high hopes for its third-generation mobile phones, which have already sold more than 5.3 million units around the world.
As more and more small and medium-sized companies participae in the event, MP3 player manufacturers Cowon and Mpio also have their own stands, while Hyundai ImageQuest is exhibiting various digital TV products.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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