<IT WORLD> US calls, Asia answers
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - It may not seem that long ago that people were carting around huge rectangular lumps of plastic and silicon with the pride that comes with knowing they were one of the few mobile-phone owners at the time. This week marked 40 years since the first cell-phone call was made by an engineer at Motorola who pioneered a device that is now used by around 93% of the world's population.
On April 3 1973, Martin Cooper used his Motorola DynaTAC cell phone prototype to place a call in downtown Manhattan. The call to an engineer at a rival company lasted around 20 minutes before the battery ran out. The race to manufacture the first mass market mobile phone was on and Motorola became the market leaders
ten years later with the one kilogram DynaTAC costing around four thousand dollars.
US pop culture drove appeal for the device, which lead companies on a path of miniaturization and evolution of the mobile phone, which today is more of a mobile computer - the smart-phone. Today Motorola is well behind market leaders Samsung and Apple in terms of units sold but under parent company Google it continues to play a pivotal role in cell-phone technology and innovation.
Samsung this week stepped up its campaign to maintain market supremacy by opening a new battlefront inside stores across the US. In a partnership with struggling consumer-electronics retailer Best Buy, the Korean tech giant will be setting up dedicated departments to offer its own products.
The move is a timely one as the Galaxy S4 goes on sale in the second quarter and the company wants as much exposure as it can get for its flagship phone. The new boutique ''Samsung Experience Shops'' will serve as an opportunity to educate consumers about its products and sell some of its less-well-known gadgets. Assistance will show shoppers how to operate Samsung devices such as controlling the TV with the Galaxy S4.
Unlike Apple and Microsoft, Samsung has no stores of its own in the US, and the partnership gives the company a big impact without a huge outlay.
Telecoms
Myanmar has long been a closed book in terms of open and affordable communications technology, but with recent reforms things are slowly opening up. The government will start offering low-cost SIM cards this month on the CDMA 800 MHz network. Previously costing as much as US$225, the cards will be reduced in price to around $2 for each of the estimated 350,000 that will be made available nationwide per month.
Local vendors claim that a black market will emerge in face demand that is likely to be very strong following years of digital isolation amongst the population of 60 million. The move follows last month's visit by Google chief Eric Schmidt, who advocated advances in technology and freedom of communication.
At the beginning of this year, only 9% of the population in Myanmar had a cell phone. The figure is 70% in Cambodia and, according to government figures in neighboring Thailand, there are more mobile phones than citizens.
Industry
In an extremely unusual move for the US company, Apple apologized to Chinese consumers this week following a string of complaints regarding its repair and warranty services for iPhones. A two-week campaign by the government-controlled media branded Apple as ''arrogant'' and encouraged netizens to voice their distain about the company's failure to address issues with the iPhone.
Chief executive Chris Cook's extraordinary open letter to Chinese customers offered policy changes regarding warranties: ''We are aware that insufficient communications has led to the perception that Apple is arrogant and disregards, or pays little attention to, consumer feedback. We express our sincere apologies for any concern or misunderstanding arising therefrom. Meanwhile, we also realize that we still have a lot to learn on operating and communicating in China. Here, we assure you, Apple's commitment and enthusiasm for China is not different than any other country.''
Gadgets China's search giant Baidu may not be Google's greatest fan but it certainly like the ideas that come out of the US rivals research labs. So much so that the company is working on its own ''smart-glasses'' technology, mimicking the Google Glass project.
Internally dubbed the Baidu Eye, the frames consist of a small LCD screen attached to a slim headset that will enable search by facial recognition. A user's voice would control functions on the device such as making phone calls and doing basic web searches. It would also recognize gestures to take and send photos.
Campaign groups and privacy advocates have called for limits on the use of the technology, claiming that there should be a clear way to let people know they are being filmed. The Beijing-based company holds a 70% share of China's internet search market and has been trying to diversify its business model along the lines of Google and Apple.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
Telecoms
