http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200512/kt2005121918475411900.htm
DMB Pushing Carmakers to Go IT
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Carmakers are willing to form business alliances with information technology
(IT) companies on the back of the introduction of digital multimedia
broadcasting (DMB).
The world¹s first DMB service enables people on the road to save seamless
video, theater-quality audio and data through in-car terminals or handheld
devices like cell phones.
Drivers can also watch television and have access to a variety of
information via DMB receivers.
While policymakers are discussing whether to allow drivers to enjoy the DMB
service over safety, carmakers have actively been seeking tie-ups with
electronics firms to provide such services.
LG Electronics provides Hyundai Motor¹s Grandeur sedans with terminals for
telematics, a cross between computer technology and wireless telecom,
enabling a wide array of services inside an automobile.
Hyundai Motor, Korea¹s No. 1 automaker, is aiming to adopt state-of-the-art
terminals in coordination with LG Electronics, under projects to boost
domestic sales amid the rising domestic demand from an economic turnaround.
As a synergistic effect, customers of LG Telecom are entitled to receive
information from the Grandeurs¹ telematics through their cell phones.
This can be comparable to the mobile financial services in which credit
cardholders pay their bills through cell phones at stores and restaurants.
Ssangyong Motor, Korea¹s fourth-largest automaker, clinched a three-year
alliance with Innertube, specialized in car-oriented DMB and telematics
services, in September.
Recent digital products continue to tear up the traditional barriers between
thus far disparate sectors like telecom and broadcasting as well as
fixed-line and wireless.
Foreign carmakers also began tapping the so-called digital convergence
between the automobile and IT sector.
Intel offers IT solutions to about 3,000 salespeople from BMW Group and
employees of the German carmaker are buying products from the U.S.
chipmaker.
The digital convergence occurs in the three segments of network (fusion of
wireline and wireless), services (mobile broadcasting) and devices (camera
phone).
As an example, there are digital camera-embedded handsets as an example of
digital convergence in devices. They successfully bundle a mobile phone with
a digital camera into a single gadget.
Aside from the telematics-car-navigation system, the hip convergence wave
can also be seen in go-anywhere TV, one-phone service, home networking.
The DMB service has two versions _ one satellite DMB and terrestrial DMB.
The former is enabled with a signal beamed from a satellite while the latter
is based on over-the-air signals used for today¹s TV broadcasting.
Satellite DMB was launched in Korea in May this year and now sports 11 video
channels and 26 audio broadcasts for fees with several terminals available.
Terrestrial-based services began recently in limited areas.
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