14 DAY TRIAL // Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, will have several meetings with the Korean authorities including Seok Jong-Hun, president of Daum Communications, and Kim Shin-Bae, president of mobile carrier SK Telecom. Although it is not quite clear if the search giant's representatives are going to talk about an upcoming Googlephone for the Korean users, it's obvious that Google has some important plans since it intends to talk with the mobile carrier officials.
According to My Broadband, the meetings will be focused on the homemade content offered by YouTube that might be distributed to Korean users through Daum's official page. However, the same source reports that SK Telecom's representatives sustained that they will discuss on topics related to mobile solutions and services. It seems that Google might be interesting in including its online applications into the phones produced by the company and allow their owners to access the search giant's products with ease.
"Eric Schmidt is scheduled to hold separate talks Tuesday with Seok Jong-Hun, president of South Korea's second-largest portal Daum Communications, and with Kim Shin-Bae, president of top local mobile carrier SK Telecom. Schmidt, Google's chairman and CEO, will also be the keynote speaker Wednesday at the Seoul Digital Forum. Mobile telephones equipped with Google software applications will enable users to search the Internet, check emails and map their routes," My Broadband reported.
In the past, rumors about a possible Googlephone prepared by the Mountain View company were quickly spread on the Internet, but the company refused to comment on them. After a long time since the speculations reached the users' ears, Google decided to deny them, sustaining that it will remain a software company and that the hardware products are not a part of their plans. However, a research firm conducted a special study revealing that approximately 55 percent of the subjects would buy a handheld device created by Google.