14 DAY TRIAL // Axel Technologies, a Finnish company that develops mobile TV-related software and technologies, has recently announced a new handset, presented as the very first "Java-enabled multi-standard mobile TV phone." Created in collaboration with Inventec (the Taiwanese manufacturer behind another new mobile device, namely Velocity 103) and RollTech Technology (a Java solution provider from Taiwan), the handset is called IAC S875 and it runs on Windows Mobile.
The IAC S875 features Axel's Mobile TV Middleware and UI as well as RollTech's Java Virtual Machine, which should allow it to provide a one-of-a-kind Mobile TV experience. Moreover, the handset comes with the DVB-H IPDC and OMA BCAST standards as well as with 3G/HSDPA connectivity.
Talking about the new IAC S875, Markku Koponen, vice president of sales at Axel Technologies, stated, "Streaming and multistandard DVB-H solution is seen as one of the key features to deploy Mobile TV services by operators in Europe and Asia. This joint offering is attractive to mobile operators and mobile device manufacturers as it enables them to rapidly deploy branded Mobile TV applications, both unicast and broadcast, in all markets."
"We see open multi-standard solutions as the way forward in mobile TV," added James Teng, marketing director of Inventec Appliances Corporation (IAC). "Our collaboration with Axel and RollTech is a good example how the mobile TV ecosystem should work together to create new solutions to meet the market needs."
And finally, Brad Kao, director of marketing and business development at RollTech Technology, stated, "Java-enabled Mobile TV solution creates values to operators since branded services can be deployed to any customer with any pricing model at any time. Besides, operators can upgrade Mobile TV services from time to time because new software easily deploy to end user via Java OTA mechanism."
Although the IAC S875 was showcased during the IBC 2008 fair from Amsterdam (September 12 – 16), for the moment there are no live images with it. However, a full-touch device can be seen on Axel's website, so this might be the IAC S875.
What's interesting is that Axel Technologies did not collaborate with Nokia to create the new handset (since both companies are from Finland). Or maybe Axel did turn to Nokia at first, but the giant manufacturer said it didn't want to be involved in a Windows Mobile-related project. Guess we'll never know.
There are no details on when (or if) the IAC S875 will be commercially available, but the handset surely is one to look forward to, so let's wait for more details to come from the companies behind it.