PORTLAND, Ore. — Mobile video chat will be available in South Korea next year with the rollout of a WiMax-based device from a Korean company that uses a chip set from San Diego-based NextWave Wireless.
The M3 mobile Internet device developed by Digifriends (Seoul) will debut in the second half of 2009 using NextWave's NW2000 WiMax chip set.
Craig Miller, vice president of product management and marketing at NextWave, said the implementation was its first design win in South Korea. "Our WiMax chip set enables the M3 to deliver the high-bandwidth mobile multimedia capabilities you need for video chat," Miller claimed.
Miller also noted that South Korea is at the forefront of WiMax deployment, and claimed its chip design would help Digifriends differentiate its mobile device.
The M3 feature a 4.8-inch touchscreen, and comes with a 1.3-inch hard disk drive that will offer 30- to 60-Gbyte capacities. It will support video chat using VoIP and two digital cameras--a 2-megapixel camera for capturing still images and a Webcam.
The WiMax chip set targets low-power portable devices that nevertheless must deliver high-end applications like video chat. NextWave claims its NW2000 chip set supports major WiMax RF bands while integrating support for backward-compatible Wi-Fi. It also supports NextWave's MXtv mobile television service for WiMax network operators.
