WCA September 2010

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2010 38
From theamericas
What, precisely, is the service a health care practitioner
might provide by cell phone? According to a “What will it
do?” box accompanying the Union-Tribune article, it will
track health conditions such as blood sugar levels and
heart rate; deliver advice on healthful behaviours tailored
to the specific patient; remind the user about medication
schedules or doctor appointments; and alert physicians
when a problem surfaces.
While this may sound less than revolutionary, the projected
savings from fewer trips to hospitals and doctors’ offices
could be considerable. And “infrastructure” costs would
presumably be low. “Since the mobile phone is always
on and always with you, it’s the most logical platform for
monitoring and maintaining personal health,” Mr Jacobs,
of Qualcomm, told the hometown paper. “And new types of
mobile devices and services have tremendous potential to
improve productivity for medical professionals.”
Mr Darcé remarked on some changes already under way ❖
❖
that would seem to reinforce that view. Programmers
have designed hundreds of medical-related applications
for the iPhone and other smart phones. California health
officials have launched free text-messaging systems that
send information to subscribers about West Nile virus
outbreaks in their area.
The longer-term outlook also looks bright. According to
a report from the Institute for the Future, in Palo Alto, a
non-profit research centre that specialises in forecasting,
“Mobile health will encompass a whole set of new
business and consumer practices that fundamentally
transform the health care system as we know it.” But
both the futuristic centre and the civic leadership of
San Diego must function in present-day California,
a challenging environment for all new ventures. As
Mr Darcé pointed out, more research is needed to
prove that mobile devices actually improve the health of
users. Neither government-administered Medicare nor
private insurers in the US have a payment system for
electronically based consultations.
Nothing daunted, Gary West, a former tele-
communications entrepreneur who has given $90 million
toward the creation of the West Wireless Health Institute
in La Jolla, told the Union-Tribune, “I firmly believe that
San Diego is the right place at the right time to give
birth to a new industry. [It] has a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity that every other community would love to
have.”
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
Reporting in ❖ ❖ telecomasia from the CommunicAsia show
held in Singapore in June, Bill Mumford wrote that the
US online information-sharing firm Yahoo had unveiled
a new messaging app and a phone with bundled Yahoo
access aimed at mobile Internet adopters in emerging
markets. According to Irv Henderson, Yahoo’s vice
president of mobile and local product development,
emerging mobile markets are “crucial” for Yahoo, whose
Internet ad display business is focused primarily on PC
users. The new apps bundle Messenger One is aimed
at new-to-the-Net users. While the company has no
immediate plans to monetise the product, Mr Henderson
said operators would be able to charge a small premium
for access to the Messenger One apps.
The Alcatel One Touch phone, which provides direct
access to Yahoo content through a single button, was
launched in Indonesia on 15th June, with other Asian
markets to follow.
Automotive
Hyundai is fulfilling its earlier promise
in the US market
According to the Detroit Free Press , the head of Hyundai
Motor America ends his e-mails with this admonition: “Stay
humble, stay hungry.” In light of the company’s momentum,
the paper’s staff members are of the opinion that CEO
John Krafcik may find it difficult to follow his own advice.
In 1998, Hyundai held 0.6% of the US auto market. Today,
it holds 4.4% and ranks seventh among US brands.
Sales at the halfway point in 2010 are up 23%, marking
the 17th consecutive month of year-over-year market share
gains for the South Korean company. In April, demand
for the its best-selling midsize Sonata was so strong that
customers had to be turned away. As Mr Krafcik told freep.
com, “We cannot build our cars fast enough.” (“Hyundai
Keeps Gaining in US,” 27th June)
Hyundai entered the American market in 1986 with a single
model – the Excel – and set a record for selling the most
automobiles ever in a first year of business in the US (some
126,000 sold). But the Free Press noted that it is in the past
decade that the company has really come from behind.
Many credit Hyundai’s chief executive, Chung Mong-koo,
who took the reins of the parent company in 1999. Over the
same decade of steady gains for its US unit, Seoul-based
Hyundai Motor Co was taking a parallel course. In 2001, it
ranked 32 of 38 brands in a JD Power Initial Quality Survey.
Today, it is the world’s fourth-largest auto maker.
Elsewhere in automotive . . .
The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp ❖
❖
(LAEDC) announced that the Chinese electric vehicle
maker BYD plans to locate the headquarters of three
separate US operating divisions in Los Angeles. As
North America’s largest consumer market for electric
vehicles, southern California was seen as a strategic
outpost for BYD because of its proximity to Los Angeles
International Airport, the ports of Los Angeles and Long
Beach and several railways, LAEDC said. It noted as
well that the area is already home to major operations of
the Japanese car companies Honda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki
and Toyota, and South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia.
BYD started up in 1995 in Shenzhen as a rechargeable
battery maker. It entered the electric car industry in 2003
and is seen by many analysts as an emerging world
leader in that technology. Last year, BYD sold over
430,000 automobiles in China, to more than double its
performance for 2008. The company attracted attention
in 2008 when American billionaire investor Warren
Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, bought a
9.8% stake.
Dorothy Fabian – Features Editor