Mobile in Korea

By the way, Samsung already announced that they will launch their Android phone in March through SK Telecom. LG's decision means that war for Korean Android market might begin between SKT-Samsung and KT-LG.

Anyway, I think 2010 will be an important turning point for spread of smartphone, including iPhone and many Android phones. I will frequently report the interim result of various smartphones.

2010/02/12 00:32 2010/02/12 00:32

iPhone became a hot trendy item for young Korean people. Since KT launched iPhone in the Korean market, around 300,000 people bought this hot item. iPhone is making many changes in using mobile services. For instance, people who bought iPhone subscribed the data price plan very naturally. Also, many people began using various data-based mobile services such as mobile twitter in every place, including street and subway.

Among many changes, I think the most important thing is that iPhone became a key driver to increase the adoption rate of smartphone in the Korea's market. As well as iPhone, Samsung also sold Omnia 2 to around 300,000 people. Also, SK Telecom officially releases the first Android smartphone on 5th Feb and announced to release around 10 smartphone this year.

Smartphone does not mean only the change of the handset feature. The increased adoption of smartphone will make the change of the usage pattern for mobile services.  Before the launch of iPhone, usual Korean people were reluctant about subscribing the mobile data plan seperately and usual retail channels push the plan intetionally when selling handsets. This point was the biggest barrier that mobile data service market could grow. Currently, the change is starting in this advanced mobile market.

I will post the further changes which will be made by smartphone including iPhone and Android phone.

2010/02/04 14:37 2010/02/04 14:37