Collaboration Will Create Exciting New Mobile Services for Korean Consumers
SEOUL, South Korea and LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --
LG TeleCom (LGT) and Genie -- BT's Mobile Internet Division, today announced that they intend to join forces to offer Korean consumers an extended range of new-age Mobile Internet communications services.
The result of this strategic alliance will enhance LGT's state-of-the-art "ez-i" Mobile Internet offering, which currently serves 2 million customers. Launched in May 1999, ez-i is one of the largest fixed-and-mobile portal sites in Asia and consists of seven major applications with more than 1,000 items of content from over 150 providers.
At the heart of the alliance is the unified messaging service (UMS) provided through Genie as an application service provider. This one-mailbox set-up allows users to "pool" a number of e-mail accounts from different providers and send and receive e-mail, voice and text messages to and from fixed and mobile phones, other handheld devices, PCs and fax machines.
Today's announcement signals a collaboration of expertise and innovation from LGT and Genie that will produce Mobile Internet services to enrich the lives of LGT's customers. Genie will also support LGT's existing WAP services.
Following an agreement made in Seoul on Friday, Genie Managing Director Kent Thexton said: "We are delighted to be working with LG TeleCom who have impressed us with their advanced range of Mobile Internet services. We are very pleased that LGT has joined the growing Genie community around the world. We are looking forward to leveraging our joint expertise, technologies and content. And, of course, we are happy that Genie will have a presence in Korea, which is at the forefront of the world's wireless revolution."
LG TeleCom VP, Mr. Seyong Ro emphasised that Mobile Internet will take off as a result of the evolution of services in Korea.
He said: "This agreement with Genie is another important cornerstone in our 'ez-i' service, which will allow our customers to access 'the power of Genie' through the UMS solution. This strategic alliance with Genie will give LGT customers access to a wide range of content in Korean and English and will add to LGT's already-impressive range of Mobile Internet applications."
Genie aims to be one of the world's leading integrated mobile portals -- providing lifestyle-enhancing services for mobile and Internet users who need to perform everyday tasks while on the move.
Building on its success in the UK and Europe, Genie already has partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region with leading mobile networks in Hong Kong and Malaysia, plus a developing presence in Japan. Genie is developing an application service provider (ASP) business in the UK, working with technology partner Seven, which is providing WAP enterprise application infrastructure to BT Cellnet to enhance its business offerings. This ASP model has been extended in the Asia Pacific region where it has been applied to Genie consumer offerings and is visible through "powered by Genie" branding on our partner sites.
Recent research by UBS Warburg indicates that the wireless revolution has been driven out of four key global cities -- Helsinki, Stockholm, Tokyo and Seoul. Recent economic change in Korea has resulted in many new technology and content companies -- turning the nation into a "breeding ground" for innovative wireless applications.
About LG TeleCom
Wireless Internet services were commercialised for the first time in Korea by LG TeleCom in May 1999. The company has since held a leading position in the mobile market by offering the widest variety of content. LGT was the first operator in the world to launch "ez-Java" which is based on Java technology. This is a software that was previously only available in PC web browsers but now enables LGT's customers to enjoy a wide range of applications, such as network games, news, stock information, sports results and entertainment on their mobile phones.
About Genie
Genie, BT's mobile Internet portal and currently a wholly-owned subsidiary, will later this year be owned 75 percent by BT wireless and 25 percent by BT group. BT owns 24.12 % of LGT.
Genie has web and wireless portals in Japan, Hong Kong, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, plus a wireless portal in Malaysia, with more than 2.8 million registrations in total.
Over the coming months, Genie is pursuing an international rollout programme in countries throughout Europe and Asia Pacific for both its web and WAP portals.
Content on the portals includes cutting-edge entertainment from E4, MTV and the Ministry of Sound, breaking sports results from eXcite Sport, the latest news from Guardian Unlimited, business stories from 451.com, last minute travel deals from lastminute.com and up-to-the-minute stock quotes from T D Waterhouse.
Genie has also partnered with well-known portals including AOL, MSN, Yahoo! and Freeserve to enable customers to access their e-mails via Genie.
In November 2000, Genie launched the UK's first online mobile service offering mobile phones (www.mobile.genie.co.uk/shop/) with Internet access through text messaging and WAP (wireless application protocol).
For more information on Genie, please visit: http://ir.ccbn.com/ir.zhtml?t=GNIE&s=400
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