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Earthlink Teams Up With SK-Telecom 93

Posted by timothy 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..."
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Earthlink Teams Up With SK-Telecom More

Earthlink Teams Up With SK-Telecom

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  • This could be Huge (Score:5, Interesting)

    by EggMan2000 ( 308859 ) * on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:38PM (#11481195) Homepage Journal
    Here is a snip from the press release that is really exciting. I used to read Justin's Links [links.net] 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 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bugbeak ( 711163 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:40PM (#11481221)
      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?
      • Here! Here!

        I just want a nice phone to TALK on. The picture-phone thing is OK, but just give me amazing coverage and good audio quality.

        I don't want (or need) my phone to do anything else.

        • Heck, I used to have a free voice phone, but it got stolen. I replaced it with a free (after rebates, which I got none of) camera phone (because it could also do data), and the signal and audio quality is BETTER (esp. signal). I actually didn't care about the camera, FWIW. Battery could be better, but if I plug it in every night, I'm fine.
      • Maybe that's because that's all Americans need?

        No, because obviously Americans have to be told what they need. The man on the magic picture box in my living room said so!
      • the american lifestyle is so different from asia and europe, and naturally, the products people use are designed and marketed for the region. my uncle and his wife were visiting from korea and the cell phones they have is insane. the plans and coverage they have is even more insane. if you are as mobile as korean people are and use public transportation en masse as they do, do you REALLY want to be carrying around a separate cell phone, pager, mp3 player, digital camera, pda, etc., etc., etc.? for their

    • Re:This could be Huge (Score:5, Insightful)

      by FrYGuY101 ( 770432 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:54PM (#11481401) Journal
      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 (Score:3, Informative)

        by peragrin ( 659227 )
        >>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,
        • So you're saying they have more disposable income because housing is so expensive?
        • A $100,000 house in the US is worth several million in Japan. The majority of the people live in small apartments.

          This is a racist statement that is not really true. Did you read this someplace, or have you actually been to Japan? I think you read it someplace.

          • Okay it's not quite, but it's not racist but based on space.

            Japan has a large population on a small land mass. the united states could double it's population, and the only thing that would be a pain is food, and personalities.

            the statement was relative for value of property. At least in NY the trend is for large 2500-4000 square foot(232 m2-370 m2) Homes For a family of 4.

            My friends first house is 1700sq feet (158 m2) He paid $80,000 for it. Let's see how much it is in japan. www.japanhomesearch.com
      • Besides, how many times have you hear people pining for a cell phone that was JUST a cell phone?

        Personally, I like my technology to do one thing and do it well (see iPod, the). I don't need a low-res camera inside my phone when my pocket-size Canon can do a much better job. If my cell phone can make calls without dropping them, allow me to hear the other person and vice versa, maybe store a few hundred phone numbers and names, then I'm a happy camper.

      • I agree with you. I am a Korean-American who lived first half of my life in Korea and last half in America. Lifestyle in Korea is very different from here.

        The biggest difference has got to be that Koreans spend a lot of time walking on the streets and using public transportations. Whereas in the states, people have their own cars and they drive themselves. So it explains why phones with mp3 capability are popular in Korea... so they can listen to music while walking, on the bus or on the subway train.
    • Aren't "Americans" being blamed for the greediness and shortsightedness of a handful of telecom monopoly CEOs ?

      Can't I buy a nokia 3620 if I want or get a radio headset if I really wanted to ?

      Isn't the real problem just pricing? Could you imagine someone doing BitTorrent downloads to their cell phone and getting charged 5 cents per 1k by Cingular if they went over the 1 meg limit ?

      Also, if due to my specific interests, if I think I'd be better off with a laptop with highspeed wireless access than a dopey

    • looks like sky, ol' boy, has brought the boingo boots back to earthlink.

      how weird it is to see him blathering on about wireless, duh. point a. but then, 'wireless in asia'... umm.. yeah, sky, the US is behind. point b. asia rocks the techno ass, dude.

      i truly hope SK-earthlink has some decent manufacturing principles in its portfolio, anyway, and not just pretty-logo's screen-printed on things.

      if you want to give americans a boost in the techno pants, give them their own, american-made-cheap, hardware
  • 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!!
  • Hopefully they won't cripple any features, unlike someone else and what they did with Bluetooth...
  • EarthLink will sell phone services using the networks of Sprint Corp. and Verizon Wireless, while SK Telecom will be a technical partner in the venture, the paper said, quoting an executive close to the deal.

    Unfortunately that means not in my neck of the woods

  • Just what we need. Hear yet another of those blokes talk out loud in public places and show off the cool features to the whole population.

    Not to mention those irritating ringtones.

    While the service may have its benefits, to imply that these would just mean cool phones is a tad disturbing, really.
  • Isn't Sprint kind of "owned" the Earthlink?
  • ...we had affordable, widespread cross-network texting way before it was big in America. Strange.

  • Korea is a different frequency than the US (Score:5, Informative)

    by winkydink ( 650484 ) * <sv.dude@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:46PM (#11481305) Homepage Journal
    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 (Score:5, Informative)

      by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @01:07PM (#11481564)
      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.
    • Actually, it's not. Korean CDMA is the same as US CDMA, and the lower band (800 MHz) is the same. You can actually use many Korean phones on Verizon's network if you know the right settings. And with a little hacked firmware, even the caller-ID and text messaging can be made to work.

      Now, the advanced features are incompatible, such as web, photo messaging, and video, but that's no different than Sprint vs. Verizon here in the U.S., and it's just a software issue. The basic CDMA protocol, and even the more

  • Meh (Score:2)

    by hsmith ( 818216 )
    I have never been able to get into using a cell phone like that, mine sits in the cradle except for when i use it to call someone. Yeah I do think having mapquest on my cell is cool for when i get lost, but there is an overload.

    I hate speaker phones on cell phones, i want to choke nextel users whenever i see them rambling on their "touch to talk" phones. games on cell phones? never sitting still long enough to be using those. I would rather read a book then play a game on a damn phone. Amusing our selves
    • You forgot the children [timesonline.co.uk]...

    • Re:Meh (Score:3, Informative)

      by ihavnoid ( 749312 )
      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), le
  • 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...
  • 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... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:53PM (#11481392)
    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 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Thunderstruck ( 210399 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:58PM (#11481473)
    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 (Score:3, Funny)

    by confusion ( 14388 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @12:59PM (#11481476) Homepage
    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/ [syslog.org]
    • 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.

      How many freeways are there in Japan? I think that the vast expanse of the US prohibits anything like this from catching on. You can't even get reliable service in many major cities, how is something cool going to take off? Public transportation is lacking, people drive everywhere, and for the most part we

  • Dropless carrier? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @01:05PM (#11481549) Homepage Journal
    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 [wirelessreview.com], so much the better.
    • add GSM and you might be on to something
      • GSM connections seem to get dropped in the US as much as our CDMA. While Japan has dropless CDMA. What makes you want GSM?
        • GSM is in it's infancy in the US. Once it catches on more (and they have to build more transmitters) the quality will approach the quality I have experienced in Europe and the South Pacific.

          GSM works somewhere around 30-40km from a transmitter
          CDMA works somewhere around 100-150km from a transmitter

          Therefore GSM requires more transmitters. (But I hear the operating cost is lower once the infrastructure is set up)

          Basically, dont let it's US behavior sway your opinion... it is better in most other countri
          • W-CDMA (and it upgrades) are so much better than GSM for data that most European GSM carriers' long-term plans are to switch to it. Or at least their long-term GSM plans are either unfeasible, or depend on an unknown "GSM breakthru" to perpetuate new features on the GSM platform. Most of GSM's features that are more robust than CDMA's, like SMS and SIMcards, are deployable on CDMA in layers atop the media layer - they're not inherently GSM, and are actually inappropriate in the media layer. For example, in

  • Any spam leverage for Earthlink? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2005 @01:14PM (#11481655)
    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.
    • Class B? Hell, I used to block out 210.*.*.* and 211.*.*.*

      I switched ISPs and cant use spamassassin (or any server-side software) now, but that did a good job of reducing spam while it lasted.
  • I will have to say this... This might be off topic though.

    Earthlink (or should I say old Mindspring) used to be one of the best corporations out there, but before I quit in 2003, it had turned into one that I pitied every single customer I talked to.

    Yes they had made some inter-corporate changes that seemed to be fairly poor (but I've worked for worse companies and worse PHBs), but I really pitied the customers as they called in.

    So many issues of hodged podged equipment patched together.

    But things might

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