CELLPHONE makers announced more than a dozen 3G phones at the 3GSM World Congress here on Monday, as the telecom industry readied a major push to get people hooked up to the high-speed mobile phone service this year.
This is bound to boost the confidence of operators worldwide, including SingTel which starts charging for 3G usage next month.
SingTel Mobile's chief executive Lim Chuan Poh, a speaker at the conference, said that it may be too early to say 3G is gaining widespread acceptance, but people can start 'feeling optimistic' about the technology this year.
Agreeing, Nokia's executive vice-president and general manager for networks, Mr Simon Beresford-Wylie, added that over 70 million people are expected to sign up for 3G this year, a sharp rise from the 16 million last year.
The annual 3GSM show is an important venue to launch new models and woo key customers.
Motorola is launching 16 devices this year that can hook up to 3G networks. It unveiled four of them here: the A1010 personal digital assistant, the E1120 and E1060 phones and the D1100 PC card that can be slotted into PCs for high-speed access.
Nokia's new phones come with enhanced multimedia features such as video sharing, direct photo printing and music playback.
Available next month, the Nokia 6680 offers 3G connectivity and sports two integrated cameras for video conferencing which can be used for one-to-one or multi-party calls. It has a built-in media player and also PictBridge, a feature that lets users print their pictures directly on a printer.
Sony Ericsson's K600i 3G phone comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera and built-in radio, and does not look as bulky as earlier 3G phones.
The new 3G devices, scheduled to hit the shelves as soon as next month, will add to the dozen or so models available in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
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