SEOUL, South Korea-Qualcomm Inc. is firming up its plans for mobile TV with news that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. will build phones to support its MediaFlo mobile TV technology.
Samsung’s upcoming MediaFlo phone features a clamshell design and a rotating screen, along with a 2-megapixel camera and an MP3 player. Samsung did not give a model number for the device, or say when it would be available.
LG declined to provide details on its phone plans, including when its MediaFlo-capable phones would be commercially available. The company said it would release further details the Consumer Electronics Show, which runs later this week in Las Vegas.
A Qualcomm representative was not immediately available to comment.
That Samsung and LG plan to support Qualcomm’s MediaFlo plans comes as no real surprise. Both companies largely owe their success to sales of CDMA phones running on Qualcomm chipsets. Qualcomm is the sole vendor MediaFlo chipsets.
Both LG and Samsung are also members of the Flo Forum, which was founded to support Qualcomm’s MediaFlo technology. Sharp Corp., Kyocera Wireless Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. and others are also members.
The news comes shortly after Verizon Wireless announced it plans to use Qualcomm’s MediaFlo network to offer mobile TV services to its subscribers. However, the carrier did not say when it would offer commercial MediaFlo services.
LG and Samsung have already released phones that support the DMB mobile TV standard, which is up and running in South Korea. Other companies, including Nokia Corp., Crown Castle and others, are rallying around the DVB-H standard for mobile TV.
