(Seoul, 2 October 2008) – SK Telecom today opened its “T.um” exhibition center at its head office building to showcase the evolution and future of the company’s advanced mobile technology.

T.um is a Korean word which means “budding” or “burgeoning,” and also refers to “SKT’s center of ubiquitous technologies”. The company said that the name symbolizes SK Telecom’s efforts to open a bright future with the company’s leading mobile communication technology.

Shin Bae Kim, the CEO of SK Telecom said, “IT in the Mobile 2.0 era is being evolved to offer a wide-array of services to meet the diverse needs of individuals. T.um, the world’s first mobile communications exhibition center, shows the future of the industry and provides new direction in developing convergence services closely connected to peoples’ daily lives such as fashion and shopping.”

See Joong Choi, the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission added, ”T.um is the ultimate barometer that shows the development of Korea’s IT and mobile communications industries as well as their future promise. I hope T.um serves as an opportunity for the Korean industry to lead the rapidly changing global mobile communications market.”

T.um is divided into three exhibition halls to showcase the past, present and future of mobile communications. The hall Play Dream reveals the future, while Play Now shows the present, and Play Basic displays the past.

The Play Dream Hall provides guests with colorful experiences as it reveals futuristic, ubiquitous technology-based mobile services, such as U-Home, U-Fashion, U-Shopping, T-driving, Real GXG and My TV Station, which are displayed at the hall. Visitors can enjoy a wide range of services including: Home network service such as IPTV, video telephony and Home-Office; live one-person broadcasting; and a test-ride simulation of a futuristic vehicle. Moreover visitors can create an avatar that looks exactly like them with options to try out different clothes. This service, called U-fashion, uses radio waves to measure a person’s body and gives 45 real and exact sizes so as to enable one to find the right outfit from Prada’s New Fall Collection.
 
The Play Basic Hall shows the history and technological development of the Korean mobile communications industry. The Play Now Hall demonstrates the contents and services currently being provided by SK Telecom including touch screen media table, IPTV, satellite DMB, mobile games, mobile music, telematics and Location-based Services (LBS).

Visitors at T.um will be given an Ultra Mobile Device (UMD), dubbed ‘T-Key’. The futuristic device will automatically figure out the location of the visitor and guide the person on a personalized tour of T.um.

Furthermore, SK Telecom opened the world’s first T-Starbucks that embodies the state-of-the art mobile communications technology. Located at the first floor of the company’s head office, T-Starbucks has U-Tables to allow people to choose, order, and pay at their tables through their mobile devices. The order information is immediately transmitted to the store’s system and a notice appears at the U-Table once the order is ready.

Those who wish to visit T.um can make reservations at the company’s website, https://www.sktelecom.com/tum, starting from mid October. The public opening of the center is scheduled to take place on November 3.

The opening ceremony will be attended by Shin Bae Kim, the CEO of SK Telecom, See Joong Choi, the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, Heon Cheol Shin, the Vice Chairman of SK Energy, Seok Koo Lee, the President of Starbucks Coffee Korea, Moon Young Choi, the President of Prada Korea and many other distinguished guests.