Imagine watching Liu Xiang sprint to victory or Yao Ming shoot a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the Beijing Games with a video download to your mobile phone as it happens.

Kim Ju-hwan,managing director of Samsung's Beijing Olympics Office.

Participants in 2008 will be able to enjoy another wireless Olympics complete with moving pictures and video content on their cell phones.

Samsung Electronics will also offer an Olympic Community Messaging service to circulate information freely using the instant messaging service available on most phones.

"We are a TOP partner, so we have a responsibility to show everything about the Olympic Games in the best way," said Kim Ju-hwan, managing director of Samsung's Beijing Olympics Office.

The world's third-largest mobile phone maker is expected to supply around 18,000 handsets to the International Olympic Committee, sports confederations and national sports delegations during the Beijing Games.

A sea of skeptics

Three years ago, Lee Ki-tae unveiled Samsung's first mobile phone based on the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard as part of his vision for the future, but few people believed that the third-generation mobile technology would become a commercial success.

The former president of Samsung Electronics' mobile communications business was telling an audience at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where China's National People's Congress is located, that his company aimed to make inroads into China's 3G mobile telecom market.

His comments were greeted with skepticism at the time because TD-SCDMA was not showing any signs of being commercialized.

But Lee, since promoted to vice-chairman of the South Korean electronics giant, stuck to his vision of a digitally converging and increasingly connected region.