Pantech Wireless

North American subsidiary of Pantech

Pantech WirelessCompany type| Private

|

Industry| Wireless
Founded| 2002
Headquarters| Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Key people

| Beyong-Yeop Park: Founder, CEO
Charles Park: CEO, NAM
Wyatt Whaley: Vice President, Product Planning, NAM
Website| www.pantechusa.com

Pantech Wireless, Inc. (PWI), formed in 2002, is the North American subsidiary of Pantech, one of Korea’s three largest mobile phone manufacturers.

## Background

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PWI has created wireless products for major North American carriers including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Virgin Mobile.

Benchmark handsets created by PWI for the North American market include the popular line of dual-sliding, double-keyboard devices such as the Pantech duo, Matrix, and Pantech Matrix Pro smartphone. PWI also manufactures Slate, “world’s thinnest phone with a QWERTY keyboard,”[1] and C3b, “the world’s smallest camera flip-phone.”[2] Additionally, PWI created the Breeze, a handset that utilizes the principles of Universal Design, which are a set of guidelines that ensure consumer electronics products are of optimal ease of use for customers of all ages, and those with disabilities.

## Products North America

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Product Name  | Date  | Carrier

|
|

Hero  | May 2006  | Helio
DM-P100  | Apr., 2006  | Disney Mobile
C300  | Jun., 2006  | AT&T
PN-218  | Aug., 2006  | Alltel Wireless
C120  | Oct., 2006  | AT&T
C3  | Nov., 2006  | AT&T
Ocean  | Feb., 2007  | Helio
C3b  | May, 2007  | AT&T
DM-P205  | May, 2007  | Disney Mobile
C150  | Jul., 2007  | AT&T
Pantech duo  | Oct., 2007  | AT&T
Pantech duo (red)  | Feb., 2008  | AT&T
Breeze  | May, 2008  | AT&T
C610  | Oct., 2008  | AT&T
Matrix  | Oct., 2008  | AT&T
Slate  | Oct., 2008  | AT&T
C630  | Dec., 2008  | AT&T
Ocean 2  | Feb., 2009  | Virgin Mobile
Matrix PRO  | Feb., 2009  | AT&T
Breeze (black)  | Feb., 2009  | AT&T
Link  | Apr., 2010  | AT&T
Breeze II  | May, 2010  | AT&T
Pursuit  | Jun., 2010  | AT&T
Ease  | Jun., 2010  | AT&T
Laser  | Oct., 2010  | AT&T
Crossover  | Jun., 2011  | AT&T
Breeze III | Jul., 2011  | AT&T
Pursuit II  | Jul., 2011  | AT&T

## Pantech Company Timeline

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* 1991: Established Pantech Co., Ltd
* 2002: Established Pantech Wireless, Inc. (PWI) in North America
* 2003: Formed a J/V – Dalian Daxian Pantech Communications Co, Ltd in Dalian, China
* 2003: Company begins developing Pantech branded products
* 2004: Pantech debuts first GSM handset with fingerprint recognition
* 2005: Acquired SK Teletech owning SKY brand, the most upscale premium brand in Korea
* 2005: First entered Japan market among Korean handset makers delivering 1st model to KDDI
* 2006: First PWI branded device, PN-218, offered through Alltell
* 2006: PWI launches C300, “world’s smallest camera flip phone,” with AT&T
* 2006: PWI manufacturers Ocean, first dual-sliding, double keyboard handset, created for Helio
* 2008: Slate, “world’s thinnest phone with a QWERTY keyboard,” created for AT&T
* 2009: Launched Breeze, an easy-to-use and “top performing” handset for AT&T
* 2009: Launched ‘Matrix Pro’, a dual sliding smart phone for AT&T
* 2010: Launched Impact, Pantech's first haptic, dual key-board 3G Quick Messaging phone for AT&T
* 2010: Launched Reveal, a slider with simultaneous numeric and QWERTY keypad 3G Quick Messaging phone for AT&T
* 2010: Link, Pantech's ultra-slim and sleek messaging phone launches at AT&T
* 2010: Launched Breeze II, the successor to the Breeze, easy-to-use handset for AT&T
* 2010: Pursuit launches for AT&T as Pantech's first phone with touchscreen
* 2010: Launched Pantech Ease, the first simplicity-centric phone for AT&T with keyboard and touchscreen
* 2010: Laser, AT&T's thinnest phone with sliding keyboard, is launched
* 2011: Crossover, Pantech's first Android smartphone in the U.S., is launched
* 2011: 20th Anniversary of Pantech Wireless, Inc., U.S.-based subsidiary of Pantech Group
* 2011: Pantech announces exclusive handset sponsorship of Dew Tour
* 2011: Pantech announces sponsorship of Dew Tour Pro Athletes, Bucky Lasek, Brett Banasiewicz, Greg Lutzka, Ryan Devenzo
* 2011: Inaugural Pantech Open in Ocean City, MD for Dew Tour Action Sports Competition

## Awards

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* 1995: Pantech creates the world’s first CDMA product
* 2005: Pantech honored with the Best Mobile Phone Application distinction at the Asian Mobile News Award
* 2005, 2006, 2007: Pantech receives seven iF Design awards and four red dot Design awards for excellence and innovation in mobile phone design
* 2007: Pantech’s IM-U200 (Korean market) awarded ‘Best of Innovation’ at CES International

## References

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1. ^ "Pantech and AT&T Debut "World's Thinnest QWERTY Keyboard" Handset" (Press release). Pantech Wireless. 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
2. ^ The world's smallest flip camera phone, CNET, 2008-05-15, retrieved 2009-09-24

## External links

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* Technology portal
* Companies portal

* Korea's Pantech Rings Up U.S. Sales - Forbes at archive.today (archived 2013-01-23)
* Pantech Slate C530 (AT&T) - PC Magazine
* Pantech Matrix - TestFreaks
* Pantech Breeze - white (AT&T) - CNET
* Pantech's North American Offensive - BusinessWeek