Samsung plans to treble smartphone sales

By Song Jung-a in Seoul
Published: February 4 2010 10:01 | Last updated: February 4 2010 16:36

Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that it aimed to treble its smartphone shipments this year by expanding its line-up, as the South Korean group looks to catch up on rivals such as Nokia and Apple.
Samsung, which overtook Hewlett-Packard as the world’s biggest technology company by sales last year, has rapidly increased its global market share in conventional handsets to more than 20 per cent, making it second only to Nokia.
But the group still lags behind rivals in the fast-growing, high-margin smartphone market with only about 3 per cent market share, against Nokia’s 35 per cent and the 17 per cent held by Apple. “This year will be challenging for Samsung as the market faces increasing competition as traditional phone makers, smartphone makers and even PC makers enter the market,” Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung’s telecoms division, said.
“We plan to strengthen our smartphone business by not just improving our hardware offerings but also beefing up content, applications and services,” he said.
Smartphones – mobile phones that double as mini-computers – have been seen as one of the technology company’s few weaknesses.
Mr Shin attributed that to its software development and pledged to pay more attention to content and applications.
Samsung plans to make its applications available in more than 50 countries this year and make strategic alliances with global content developers.
Mr Shin said the company would roll out new smartphones this year using various operating systems including Google’s Android, but it would also push its own smartphone platform Bada.
Analysts say Korean handset makers such as Samsung and LG Electronics, face an uphill battle to become leading players in the smartphone market. But they predict Samsung, with its manufacturing edge, could steal some market share from Nokia, even in smartphones.
“Given its strong overseas sales networks and relations with operators, Samsung can double its smartphone sales this year with its increased portfolio although it will be harder to triple them,” said one analyst.
Research group iSuppli, has forecast global sales of smartphones will increase 32 per cent this year to 239m. According to Morgan Stanley the overall handset market is set to expand 10 per cent to 1.2bn units.

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smartphone as a handset device in korea are more popular than in any other mobile handset ,most users are younger even adult like it too. for more ...
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Korean Team Develops the World’s First Nano Chip Doping Technology

http://raquelhorna.multiply.comKorean Team Develops the World’s First Nano Chip Doping Technology 2009-11-19

Korean Scientists Report Nano-Technology Breakthrough Amid rapid technological developments in recent years, this field of science has seen its share of challenges and doubts. Among unsolved scientific issues, the subject of nano-technology that deals with atoms and molecules remains critical. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter in size—nano-technology is thus a remarkable process that works at the molecular level. Since the 1990s, scientists from advanced nations around the world began their research on the mysterious technology, and recently, a team of South Korean scientists have made a breakthrough in developing the world’s first doping technology for nano semiconductors. Nano Chip Doping Technology The team led by Seoul National University Professor Hyeon Taeg Hwan said it succeeded in developing a way to dope nanocrystals. The new technology, as described by the research team is quote: “a technology that effectively dopes nanocrystals of semiconductor materials during the process that involves the formation of the nucleus,” and is reported to be 10% more effective than the existing technology. In other words, the process involves chemically controlling the nucleus of manganese when making cadmium-selenide nanocrystals, which are semiconducting materials. Naturally, doping is made possible when the manganese gets into the nanocrystals. Such complex technology is required due to unique characteristics of semiconductors. Based on the electrical conductivity level, matter is divided into conductor, semiconductor, and nonconductor. In the case of semiconductors, the electrical conductivity level increases when impurities are added. Semiconductors can also temporarily obtain electrical conduction when thermal energy or light source is added. Using these characteristics, scientists substitute a phosphorous atom or a boron atom into the silicon crystal to increase the electrical conductivity level, and devices made from semiconductor materials have become integral parts of modern electronic appliances. Beyond the Limits of Nano-Technology The existing technology has its limits. The process of “doping” involves adding impurities that alter the electronic properties of a semiconductor material in a controlled way. However, nano-sized particles with the size of 1/100,000th of human hair cannot be doped. Instead of adding impurities, the existing technology merely coats the silicon crystal with an atom of another element, thus nano-sized particles cannot stand the weight of the impurities. Taking this into account, Professor Hyeon Taeg Hwan’s team introduced the idea of adding the nucleus of manganese, which is smaller than the nano particle. As a result, the team successfully developed a way to effectively dope nanocrystals. Experts claim that the new nano chip doping technology paves way for the next generation magnetic semiconductors. The new technology not only promises effective doping of nanocrystals, but can also produce nanoribbons which are important materials for magnetic semiconductors. With more research, the technology is expected to be widely used for the development of next generation magnetic semiconductors.  This new nanotechnology amaze the new generation of the 21st century on magnetic semiconductors. visit: http://www.world.kbs.co.kr for more....