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Home > COMMUNITY > What's New |
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| No.1 |
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Smart battery technology opens new business opportunities |
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2003-09-03 |
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1118 |
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0 |
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While the explosive growth of the domestic mobile phone industry in Korea has
continued to draw interest from foreign companies, and while local demand
continues to grow at a steady pace, the phone battery business - that has long
troubled Korean mobile phone manufacturers - is still the bane of their
existence.
It is widely known that Korea relies heavily on battery products imported from
Japan. Major handset makers such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics do
not manufacture mobile phone batteries themselves because they do not possess
the technologies to do so, and because of overriding costs.
But things might change in the battery market as local venture startups rush
to develop sophisticated technologies, particularly chips that are embedded in
batteries, to secure fresh markets.
A case in point is STB Co., a small info-tech startup that specializes in
smart battery technology products. "In a recent testing, our smart battery chip
technology was well received by Sprint, an American mobile carrier, raising the
possibility that the company will export its core technology to overseas
markets," said Sung Ki-suk, CEO of STB in an interview with The Korea Herald.
Sung said the recently developed smart battery chips competitiveness lies in
precise fuel gauging and intelligent power management features.
"Mainstream handsets we are now using do not show the exact amount of battery
remaining, and thats undermining the batterys power management function," Sung
said.
The chip, or battery control IC (integrated circuit), measures just 8mm x 2mm.
But the chip, which cost STB about 3 billion won to develop, is capable of
reducing errors in the display of mobile phone battery power, thereby helping
subscribers to fully utilize their handsets.
Conventional mobile phone batteries tend to have a margin of error of up to 25
percent after testing for power actually remaining. In other words, people tend
to give up on using handsets even though there is enough battery power for an
extra couple of hours.
"Most notebook computers have already adopted the smart battery module but
mobile handsets and other digital devices are yet to embrace the new
technology," Sung said.
Notebook computers battery has relatively large capacity, and it is possible to
set aside some remaining power to improve the accuracy of fuel gauging and
other handle other features. But mobile handset batteries are so small that it
is very difficult to follow the method of notebook makers.
If the chip is installed, a margin of error in displaying handset battery goes
down to 1.7 percent, he said. Currently, mobile handset makers require battery
display to keep the margin of error to less than 7 percent.
"The company has developed not only a module but also related algorithm so that
clients can set up a variety of related functions, and handset manufacturers
can cut costs by adopting the new chip for their batteries," he said.
STB aims to expand its presence in related fields such as digital cameras,
camcorders and PDA (personal digital assistant).
"In the global market, about 800 million mobile phone batteries are produced
per year, which means the chip has a huge potential market," Sung said. Indeed,
the company is currently working with Samsung and other major handset makers
for the chips utilization in mainstream batteries.
The testing of the chip is underway, and if all things go as planned, the
companys technology might be available next year, Sung said. The trouble is
that it takes a while for major handset makers to modify their large-scale
production lines to adopt a new technology. As the commercialization inevitably
leads to the time-consuming process in the domestic market, STB is now seeking
to enter foreign markets.
The company recently forged a strategic partnership wi
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