Sales Of T-DMB Devices Top One-Million Mark

There were one million T-DMB enabled devices sold by June 15, since it’s launch in December last year. By contrast, the S-DMB service by TU Media has signed up 630,000 subscribers even though it has been around longer — but then, TU Media charges for its service and T-DMB is free.
Of the million T-DMB sold only 32.4% were mobile handsets (KTF has sold 197,103 TDMB phones so far. The figure is 115,089 units for LG Telecom and 11,900 units for SK Telecom), the rest were “terminals combining TDMB and location-tracking services, 3-inch screen TDMB-only terminals, and USB-type TDMB terminals”.
The big question now is how the T-DMB consortium will generate revenue from their free service — the general consensus is that advertising probably won’t cut it, especially since they’re currently just re-broadcasting what is shown on TV. So there are plans for a ‘paid interactive data broadcast’ which will allow people to, for example, “download mobile ring tones featured in a TV drama while watching that drama on their handsets”. Which is a good idea, but two-thirds of the people watching the service aren’t doing it on a cellphone.
Related stories:
T-DMB Due For India
Satellite DMB Turns 1, Struggling to Stay Afloat
Qualcomm “Rebuffed” From Korean Mobile TV Market

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