Earthlink Teams Up With SK-Telecom

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..."

Comments

This could be Huge

[EggMan2000]

Here is a snip from the press release that is really exciting. I used to read Justin's Links and was always facinated by the features and funtions of mobile tech in Asia. I know there will could be a wave of enthusiastic early adopters. Especially if SK-Earthlink launches well in big cities.

"The wireless and Internet worlds are colliding, and neither will be the same again," said EarthLink founder and director Sky Dayton who will serve as chief executive officer of the SK-EarthLink joint venture. "In South Korea, kids on the street are using their mobile phones to listen to music, watch TV, videoconference, locate their friends, and access the Internet--as well as make voice calls--as opposed to the U.S. where the mobile experience is primarily about talking on the phone. Americans are living in the past. Utilizing emerging 3G networks and harnessing the explosive growth of Wi-Fi, SK-EarthLink will take the wireless experience in the U.S. to a new level."

I agree that Americans are living in the past, with the small exteptions of the T-Mobile Sidekick and the N-Gage the vast majority of mobile phone users or just talking or texting.

Re:This could be Huge

[bugbeak]

I agree that Americans are living in the past, with the small exteptions of the T-Mobile Sidekick and the N-Gage the vast majority of mobile phone users or just talking or texting.

Maybe that's because that's all Americans need?

Re:This could be Huge

[FrYGuY101]

I agree that Americans are living in the past, with the small exteptions of the T-Mobile Sidekick and the N-Gage the vast majority of mobile phone users or just talking or texting.

It's been said before, and I'm sure I won't be the last to say it, but the "cool phones" we hear about, and are all jealous of, won't sell big in the US market.

I remember when the first MP3 phones came out in the US at about the same time they came out in Japan. In Japan, they sold like hotcakes. In the US, nobody bought them. Why? Because nobody in the US was willing to shell out an extra $300 for a phone just because it has the ability to play MP3's (The ones I saw were around $450). So, the phone companies learned their lessons, and inroduces older models from Japan when the cost of manufacturing them goes down (And the Japanese don't want them anymore).

So why do the Japanese want such phones? In Japan a cell phone is a status symbol. Having a new phone means you're important, and status in Japan is everything. 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 for a phone, as long as it has the new and flashy gadgets. It's nothing special or amazing, and neither is 'better' than the other, it's just a difference in the markets.

Besides, how many times have you hear people pining for a cell phone that was JUST a cell phone?

Re:This could be Huge

[peragrin]

>>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.

Best features I've seen...

[NerdBuster]

Can't wait to get a phone with a coffee maker and microwave that washes my windows while vacuuming the carpet before doing the dishes!!

Even in Britain...

[milohanrahan]

...we had affordable, widespread cross-network texting way before it was big in America. Strange.

Korea is a different frequency than the US

[winkydink]

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.

Re:Korea is a different frequency than the US

[Lisandro]

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.

Ask a earthling...

[Anonymous Cowherd X]

SK-Earthlink sounds like ask a earthling... You're right, it should be ask an earthling, but when the Koreans pointed out the mistake their American counterparts at Earthlink just laughed and said: "Yah, right, now Koreans are gonna teach us American!" Maybe asking an earthling is not such a good idea...

pfff Phones...

[Anonymous Coward]

I know we're supposed to keep it a secret from the americans, but we have flying cars now... with video phones.

Americans Living in the Past

[Thunderstruck]

For all the commentary about "Americans" living in the past, few folks ever take culture or geography into account before they start slinging disparaging remarks. I urge all to consider the following:

1. Citizens of most States* live in sparsely populated areas, areas where the introduction of ordinary cellular service is not even in place because there are simply too few customers to support it. (In fact, only a few miles from my home is a town which bears the honor of being the last municipality in the nation to get access to land-line service, just a few years ago.)

2. In many States, electronic communication is considered impersonal and stand-offish. People are looking for more ways to engage in personal contact rather than through electronic means. This is one reason for 75mph speed limits.

3. Another cultural issue is the common preference for different appliances to do one specific thing. There is a large market for multi-watt "bag-phones" that do not even handle text, in more rural areas. (Largely because you can't operate one of those new phones while wearing thick leather gloves and driving a truck with the window rolled down.)

*The term "Citizens of most states" is used intentionally, rather than "Most Citizens of the States."

Can't wait

[confusion]

I can't wait to get behind someone on the freeway who is now videoconferencing while driving.

I do hope that the US can get it's collective head out of it's butt when it comes to wireless technology.

Jerry
http://www.syslog.org/

Dropless carrier?

[Doc Ruby]

Maybe we'll finally get some of those mobile connections that don't just drop, like we hear about so much in other countries. If that's CDMA EV-DO VoIP, or UMA WiF/3G roaming, so much the better.

Re:Meh

[ihavnoid]

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.

Any spam leverage for Earthlink?

[ScentCone]

One wonders, as domestic ISPs get into bed with Korean data/telecom companies, if there's any leverage there when it comes to the insufferable flood of Korean-originated spam and that peninsula's cracker population. I know, it comes from everywhere, but lately I've been getting crushed by doorknob rattlers and Viagra salesmen from Korea. There are times when the only way to keep down the noise for twenty or thirty servers is to block out a whole Class B of addresses.

This is, of course, going to ultimately trip up legit Korean access to stuff I run for my customers, but the problem is completely out of hand. Anyone else suffering from this, and wondering if people like Earthlink wouldn't also be stomping their feet a bit to clamp down on it? Especially now that there's more money on the table.