Reigncom, the company behind IRiver-brand portable music players, is to work on a game-focused portable multimedia player based on the WiBro wireless Internet standard, the company said Monday. WiBro can support data transmission at speeds of around 3Mbps at distances of about 1 kilometer for devices traveling at up to 60 kilometers per hour. It's based on the same basic technology as WiMax and both are part of the IEEE802.16 family of technology standards. Compared to WiBro, WiMax works over a longer range but not as well with moving receivers.

Korean electronics and telecommunications companies have taken the lead on WiBro development and demonstrations of the technology are planned for later this month at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in Busan, South Korea. Commercial networks are expected to start in the country sometime next year and Reigncom's planned player will be introduced roughly in line with the launch of the networks.

Reigncom said it will work on the player with KT Corp., South Korea's largest telecommunications carrier, with a view to launching the player in August 2006. No other details of the planned player were available.