Samsung SWT-W100K WiBro: Why No U.S. Love?

This tech-tease was shown off at CES back in January, but don’t hold your breath for its stateside debut. Samsung’s SWT-W100K (which a Samsung spokeswoman called “more of an mobile Internet device than a PMP,” so take your pick) features a delicious 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, and a hodgepodge of extras: GPS, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 8GB flash memory, VoIP, Web browser, personal organizer, and DMB mobile TV. And, no, you can’t have it.

Available only in South Korea, the SWT-W100K will sell for about $523, and it includes WiBro, the S. Korean answer to WiMAX, for mobile broadband connectivity. It also bundles DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) mobile TV, which streams high-quality TV content to the device, not to mention CD-quality audio. Unfortunately, DMB uses the frequency bands already allocated for broadcast TV and military use in the U.S., so it wouldn’t work here anyway. (Qualcomm’s MediaFLO is our proprietary version of this service.)

Samsung told us that, while we won’t see this exact device in the states, a similar version in the works may come to market as early the end of this year. Of course, it’s keeping mum about details. Xohm, anyone? Until then, you can ogle at photos and video demonstrations, or, you know, move to South Korea.