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Earthlink Teams Up With SK-Telecom

Posted by timothy on from the about-time dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a press release issued today, EarthLink, Inc and SK Telecom (Korea's leading mobile communications company) announced a definitive agreement to form a joint venture to market wireless voice and data services in the U.S called SK-Earthlink Hopefully this means we here in the US will finally get some of those cool phones we hear so much about in other countries..."

5 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Korea is a different frequency than the US by winkydink · · Score: 4, Informative

    CDMA, but different. Japan is totally different. If you're hoping to see neato features from either of those countries, it's unlikely. AT&T had some sort of partnership with DoCoMo that resulted in very little over here.

    The growth market in the US is GSM. CDMA (Verizon & Sprint) aren't going away but their market will erode over time as GSM coverage becomes more widespread.

    The biggest GSM feature in the rest of the world is SMS, which has never really taken off in the US the way it has elsewhere. This is primarily because the pricing structure in the US doesn't strongly favor using SMS over voice as it does in other parts of the world.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:Korea is a different frequency than the US by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Informative

      The key point here is price. SMSs are usually free or very very cheap compared to calls; here (Arg) everyone uses SMS regularly, instead of brief calls when needed. In that sense, i use my cellphone as a glorified pager most of the time.

  2. How much will it cost? by Poromenos1 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Usually these services come with significant charges... Here in Greece we have the ability to use 3G phones to watch tv, but I don't even watch TV on my TV, why would I want to pay lots more to watch it on my mobile? Sure, there are many great services (email on the mobile through GPRS, accessing webpages using Opera), but most are not that useful considering the prices...

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  3. Re:This could be Huge by peragrin · · Score: 2, Informative

    >>couple that with the fact that most people have significantly more disposable income since people live with their parents for much longer, and you've got people willing to pay much more than Americans

    You right but for the wrong reasons. in Japan Housing is expensive. A $100,000 house in the US is worth several million in Japan. The majority of the people live in small apartments. In the US it's common to have parties in your own home. In Japan it's common to have parties in specific restraunts, because of space.

    You live at home because it's the only way to afford to live.

    --
    i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
  4. Re:Meh by ihavnoid · · Score: 3, Informative

    The problem is, there *do* exist people who do other things using cellphones. There are *a lot* of people who do many other things.

    I live in Korea, and actually I also use my phone only for phone calls and some text messages. However, I find that cellphone gaming is becoming a killer app over here. Unlike mp3s or any sort of video application, it doesn't require so much bandwith(download once' and you're done), it's cheap (somewhere around $3 per download, which you can play for any number of times), less piracy (compared to PCs or consoles), and many more advantages.

    It's easy to find cellphone game ads on cable TVs, and there even are models that claim to be 'phone for gamers'. There are many people who plays games with their cellphones on most public transportation.