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HK Telecom Fair Heralds New Way of Life
The mobile Internet looks certain to become a new way of life throughout the world and its initial charm is being felt at the ongoing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom Asia 2000 in Hong Kong.
The six-day telecom fair, the largest-ever regional show in ITU 's 15-year history, gave its thousands of viewers from all over the world a brand new experience of what the high-tech can bring about and in what direction the telecom industry is heading.
Under the theme of "Beyond Boundaries," the show focused on such key telecom areas as fixed line phones, mobile phones, wireless data communication, Internet, telecommunications, satellite communications and electronic media.
With the booming of the Internet, applications and products related to 3G mobile communications became the hottest items and the model 3G mobile handsets won the most attention.
The mobile Internet is becoming a new trend since people subscribe to mobile networks are growing at a surprisingly fast rate, said Kjell Sorme, president of Ericsson Asia-Pacific Lt., Hong Kong.
"The analysts got it wrong 10 years ago when they forecast that there would be 100 million mobile users by the end of the year 2000, " he said. "The fact is 650 million people now subscribe to mobile networks and they are being joined by another 700,000 members every day."
Since the 3G technology is still in its initial phase, exhibitors can only showcase at their colorfully-decorated booths the so-called 3G concept phones, that is, the model 3G handsets which are not yet launched onto the market.
Hong Kong-based Smartone introduced a variety of concept phones which, rather than voice transfer, can also be used for data transfer and, if linked with video instrument, they can also send video pictures in real time to friends and relatives far away.
Other cellular services presented by Smartone include sports news, video calls, and the live broadcast via handsets of horse races favored by many Hong Kong people.
Hutchison Telecom, Hong Kong's biggest mobile operator, shows off its cellular videostreaming services, which, due to go commercial in the New Year, enable users to exchange video files or download from a library of movie chips.
Motorola, the major player on the Chinese handset market, showcased four types of mobile phone products catering respectively to various groups of people. The high-tech type 3G model also gave viewers a brand new experience of the mobile Internet world, such as e-mail and chat in real-time via handsets.
World handset giant Ericsson offered viewers rather personalized solutions such as mobile positioning which enables users to know his geographical position via a cellular map.
Almost all the telecom big names in the world made appearance at the ITU Telecom Asia 2000, including IBM, Nortel Networks, Cisco Systems, AOL, Smartone, Lucent, Compaq, Palm, Siemens, Samsung, Ericsson, Alcatel and Motorola.
This year's show featured a record 500 exhibitors occupying some 23,000 square meters in the Hong Kong Exhibition and Conference Center. A series of forums featured close to 250 speakers and panelists from over 30 countries and regions.
Some 15,000 telecom professionals and 35,000 Hong Kong citizens are expected to attend the telecom show which was scheduled to close on Saturday.
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