iPhone, BlackBerry to Make Debut in Korea

Tech-savvy residents in South Korea will finally have access to the iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold after being shut out from the globally popular smartphones. SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile carrier, and Canada’s Research in Motion held an ornate ceremony at a posh Seoul hotel on Dec. 16 to mark the launch of the BlackBerry Bold in the country at the end of this month. It will be the first time the BlackBerry service is offered to Koreans by a major local wireless carrier.

To counter SK’s initiative, KT Freetel, Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier known as KTF, says it plans to introduce Apple’s 3G iPhone in April although it has yet to agree with Apple on pricing and other details. The rush to introduce the iPhone underscores the smartphone race underway among Korean operators trying to increase revenues in a market with a mobile subscription rate of well over 90%.

The use of the iPhone and other foreign phones has been discouraged by Korea’s regulatory requirements too. To help smaller companies develop Internet-related applications at lower costs, the Seoul government in 2005 made it mandatory for all handset makers and content providers to use a software standard for Internet access, called WIPI, or Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability, in Korea. The Korean Communications Commission announced last week that the rule, which meant extra cost for foreign makers because of the need to modify their phones, will be abolished from April 1.

An exception to that requirement was made earlier this year for business users, paving the way for the BlackBerry Bold’s debut before April. SK says the phone will be offered to all consumers if there’s demand for non-business use. Industry watchers notes KTF, which has a 31.5% market share in Korea, has been desperately trying to offer differentiated services to narrow its gap with SK, with more than 50% share, and the iPhone could be one option.

Some analysts say, however, the iPhone probably won’t do the trick. Nokia is virtually non-existent in Korea where consumers are more attracted to phones made by local companies Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. The two Korean electronic powerhouses each roll out scores of sleek multimedia handsets and smartphones featuring leading-edge technologies every year. The Big Two together control nearly 80% of the Korean handset market.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2008/12/iphone_blackber.html
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iPhone, BlackBerry to Make Debut in Korea

Video: Bluetooth in Korea

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Video: Bluetooth in Korea

Progressively Paperless in Korea

I took this picture today in the Jungang subway station in Taegu (aka Daegu), the third largest city in South Korea. You can buy a condensed book (looks like less than 50 pages) for about US$2 in the vending machine. Several of the titles were about Warren Buffet, becoming a CEO, and other business management kinds of things. Many of the books were about learning English, one of Korea's national pastimes. Hillary’s book was for sale too.

Certainly, in a place like Korea, this technology will soon be replaced with machines with thousands of titles that will be transferred directly from the machine to your phone. Paperless doesn’t mean no paper. But digitizing the content means thousands more titles to choose from, lower distribution costs, more revenue, and happier customers. And after that, no machines. It will all be books on demand downloadable over the air.

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Progressively Paperless in Korea

The cell phone turns 20 years old in Korea

Making mobile calls was a privilege of the very rich in 1988 when there were only 784 subscribers who dared to pay 4 million (about US$4,000) for a bulky handset heavy as a dumbbell. Now after two decades, phones have become as light as a cigarette lighter and the industry has become one of Korea's most lucrative businesses with more than 44 million regular customers.

The mobile service industry today celebrates its 20th anniversary here. While the number of subscribers has grown more than 56,000 times, the average phone price has dropped from 4 million to virtually zero when including subsidies, making it an every-day, every-hour item for modern Koreans.

"It is the coming-of-age day for the mobile phone. It is not just a means of communications anymore. It is the center of communication,'' said Kim Shin-bae, CEO of SK Telecom. "It is not exaggerating to say that Korea's IT industry, which accounts for 29 percent of its gross domestic product, started from the spread of mobile phones.''

Korea's mobile phone service took off as a car-mounted system in 1984, known as car phones. Korea Mobile Telecom, which was a subsidiary of Korea's public telephone company, was its lone operator.

It was July 1, 1988 when Korea Mobile Telecom launched a full-swing mobile phone service that used handheld phones made by Motorola and other foreign firms in Seoul and the metropolitan area, in time for the Seoul Olympic Games that fall.

The critical moment came in 1996 when the government adopted a new technology platform called CDMA (code division multiple access) for the first time in the world, while many other countries opted for the GSM (global system for mobile communication) type. The decision has helped local electronics firms such as Samsung and LG use Korea as a test bed for CDMA phones before they export them to the United States and other nations.

Samsung and LG are now the world's second and fourth largest mobile phone sellers. Exports of mobile phones grew from a mere $470,000 in 1996 to $18.6 billion last year.

The network service industry too has seen remarkable growth. Korea Mobile Telecom was privatized in 1994 when SK Group purchased its controlling share. KTF and LG Telecom later joined the race, while others like Shinsegi and Hansol were merged into SK Telecom and KTF, respectively.

Technological advancement and competition among the three firms have continuously lowered the call rate. In 1988, users were charged 1,286 won for a three-minute call from Seoul to Busan. This is now 324 won on average for the same call, which is about 3 percent of the 1988 price when considering inflation.

One victim of mobile phone's rapid success is the pager. It was the dominant communication device in mid and late 1990s, with some 15 million users in its heydays. Now about 40,000 people are using them, many of them medical workers.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/07/133_26769.html
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The cell phone turns 20 years old in Korea