OXFORD, United Kingdom-Siemens has joined the growing ranks of cell-phone manufacturers to announce third-generation (3G) handsets. The company, which somewhat surprisingly used New York to make the announcement, said its new U10 phone is the first device to be developed jointly with Motorola, and will be available to selected European operators for testing purposes by December.
In an effort to assist 3G license holders, which have complained loudly about the lack of handsets being the primary cause for delays in offering 3G services, Siemens has established a special support center dedicated to helping operators achieve acceptable results and access their feedback of the U10’s capabilities. The new handset, which if nothing else is packed with features, includes Bluetooth, infrared and USB, and supports Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) 2.0, data streaming up to 384 kilobits per second (kbps), MP3 and MPEG4 together with tri-band GSM/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
However, rumors still persist that Siemens is considering the exchange of its cell-phone business with Motorola, if the U.S.-based firm would in turn hand over its wireless infrastructure operation. If the swap were to go ahead, Motorola’s market share of the mobile handset market would be boosted more than 15 percent to 24 percent, based on estimates by Gartner Dataquest. It would also rid the company of its network business, which suffered a US$1.4 billion loss in 2001 on sales of US$6.5 billion.
Some executives within Siemens are said to be against the deal, claiming that having spent considerable time and money building its cell-phone brand worldwide, gaining Motorola’s wireless infrastructure business looks to be a poor exchange, especially given the problems being experienced by the number-one supplier of infrastructure technology, Ericsson.
