News

Kyocera 7135 Smartphone Makes U.S. Retail Debut with ALLTEL

SAN DIEGO & LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- Dec. 19, 2002 - Kyocera Wireless Corp., North America's leading manufacturer of CDMA wireless phones, today announced that ALLTEL will begin offering the Kyocera 7135 smartphone on Friday, marking the domestic retail debut of the highly anticipated phone.

Early reviews of the Kyocera 7135 smartphone yielded heavy praise from the wireless industry. According to In-Stat/MDR senior analyst Ken Hyers, "For the first time a manufacturer has created a mobile phone/PDA combo that really deserves to be called a smartphone." Since the announcement of the phone, more than 50,000 people have registered at www.kyocerasmartphone.com for email notification when it becomes available for purchase.

"Interest in this phone has been phenomenal and we're extremely pleased to have it finished and on retail shelves in time for the holidays," said Dave Whalen, corporate vice president of global sales and marketing at Kyocera Wireless Corp. "We believe the Kyocera 7135 smartphone has truly set a new standard in converged devices and we're excited that ALLTEL will be the first to make it available to consumers this holiday season. With so many people already waiting anxiously for its arrival, we believe the Kyocera 7135 smartphone will be on many holiday wish lists this year."

"The Kyocera 7135 smartphone, with its impressive array of features and functionality, provides a powerful platform to deliver ALLTEL's wireless data offerings to customers," said Philip Junker, executive vice president of marketing for ALLTEL. "This offering is another demonstration of ALLTEL's commitment to keeping our customers connected with the best products and services in the market today."

The Palm Powered™ Kyocera 7135 features a small, lightweight clamshell design and CDMA2000 1X technology that enables peak data speeds of 153 kbps. It is the only converged device on the market to offer a 65,000-color display, Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technology, an expansion card slot compatible with both MultiMediaCard™ (MMC) and SD™ card standards, and an onboard MP3 player.

The Kyocera 7135 also incorporates a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, silent vibrating alert, two-way SMS text messaging, email, and three modes of Web access (HTML, Web Clipping and WAP). The numeric keypad allows easy, one-touch access to contact and calendar data as well as messages or the Web. Featuring Palm OS® v4.1 and 16MB of onboard memory, the Kyocera 7135 offers the complete functionality of a Palm™ organizer and supports thousands of applications written for the Palm OS platform.

The Kyocera 7135 is a trimode Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless phone, operating on CDMA PCS (1900 MHz), CDMA cellular (800 MHz) and analog cellular networks. The device measures approximately 3.97 in. x 2.43 in. x 1.17 in. (100.8 mm. x 61.6 mm. 29.7 mm.) and weighs approximately 6.6 ounces (186 grams). A user-replaceable standard lithium (Li-Ion) ion battery provides up to 3.5 hours of talk time and up to 160 hours of standby time in digital mode.

Information on the Kyocera 7135 smartphone, its full line of accessories and third-party software is available at www.kyocerasmartphone.com. Along with ALLTEL retail locations, the phone and accompanying ALLTEL service plans can be purchased through Kyocera's online Wireless Phone Store by visiting www.kyocera-wireless.com and clicking on "Shop."



About Kyocera Wireless Corp.
Kyocera Wireless Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyocera International Inc., which acquired QUALCOMM Incorporated's CDMA consumer wireless phone business in February 2000. Kyocera Wireless Corp. is a leading supplier of innovative, feature-rich CDMA handsets and accessories for customers worldwide. Based in San Diego, the company is ISO-14001 and ISO-9001 certified and has won city, state and federal awards for its environmentally friendly manufacturing and recycling practices. For more information, please visit www.kyocera-wireless.com.

Kyocera Corporation, the parent and global headquarters of the Kyocera Group, was founded in 1959 as a producer of advanced ceramics. By combining these engineered materials with metals and plastics, and integrating them with other technologies, Kyocera has become a leading supplier of telecommunications equipment, semiconductor packages, electronic components, cameras, laser printers, copiers, solar energy systems and industrial ceramics. During the year ended March 31, 2002, Kyocera Corporation's consolidated net sales totaled US$7.78 billion (JP¥ 1,034,574 million) with net income of US$240.25 million (JP¥ 31,953 million).


2002 Kyocera Wireless Corp. Kyocera is a registered trademark of Kyocera Corporation. Palm OS and HotSync are registered trademarks and Palm and Palm Powered are trademarks of Palm Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.



CONTACTS:
John Chier, Kyocera Wireless Corp.
phone 1-(858) 882-3543
e-mail: jchier@kyocera-wireless.com

Kim Coutts, Fleishman-Hillard for Kyocera
phone: 1-(619) 235-9995
e-mail: couttsk@fleishman.com

Andrew Moreau, ALLTEL
phone: 1-(501) 905-7962
e-mail: andrew.moreau@alltel.com