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DigiHunter

Korea in the digital vanguard

by Kevin (Kilmo) Kang, Korea


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New OS, Tmax Window screenshots released

D-day is coming in next week. July 7th we will see whether it's true or not.

 

TmaxCore released few screenshots of Tmax Window and their web browser "Scoutor" and Tmax Office. After screenshots released, TmaxCore get faced strong complaints but local netizens who finds errors from images because, this image definitely edited by photoshop.

 

Please check out below images I copied from their official blog site. TmaxCore seems quite confidence on those complaints and keep telling us to wait until July 7th.

 

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Local PC brands and else match again within Ultra-Thin laptop.

Netbook market in Korea was opened up by Taiwan brand ¡°ASUS¡± last year. They launched EeePC brand Netbook with affordable price tag and starting to picking up good sales numbers and MSI also join to the netbook market here with similar price and new designs.

 

During that new momentum, local giant PC brands of Samsung, LG and TG Sambo isn¡¯t really look at that markets. But end of 3Q 2008, all 3 brands start to entering netbook market and that¡¯s it. Those 3 local brands netbook takes about 76% of market share in half of year.

 

Samsung currently have about 48% of market share among LG got 22%, ASUS got 11% and TG got 6%. There advantage is really simple, Brand power and nationwide service network that is the most differences with other international brands here. Samsung is the only brand who developing their own netbook among 3 local brands. LG and TG Sambo bringing their netbooks from Taiwan companies under their brand which is known as ODM business.

 

This situation may headache to those international PC brands who doing a business in Korea, but they are doing same trial with Ultra-Thin laptops too. Intel recently announced ¡°ULV: Ultra-Low Voltage¡± platform for Ultra-Thin laptop which targeting to bring back most of netbook users with better PC performances with slim and stylish design with affordable price tag.

 

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What we are missing: Latest Top Three mobile phones

Apple iPhone 3G S, Palm Pre and Samsung Jet--these are the latest mobile phones that everyone is looking at now and are top of the list for tech geeks especially.

Let's guess. Do you think those three mobile phones will be available in Korea?

Unfortunately, the answer is no! None of the trio are available in Korea, nor will they be. Apple iPhone has a long history regarding the Korean market. I also discussed those issues several times in my previous posts as well. Now, Apple doesn't have any government or mobile phone hardware specification issues that hold its back from entering the Korean market. Its first-generation iPhone had GSM support and Wi-Fi; its second generation was Wi-Fi; and the third generation, I have to say, local carriers.

The Apple iPhone 3G S will be available in 76 countries through 29 carriers. We all know that Apple tends to ask for something different in the sales schemes of carriers and it may difficult for those carriers to accept the terms. However, that's not an issue anymore. But this still doesn't change the situation in Korea.

We have three local mobile carriers: SK telecom, Korea Telecom and LG telecom. SKT has more than a 50 percent share of the market, followed by KT. LGT isn't servicing WCDMA, so it is not in the race to bring the iPhone into Korea.



KT is the carrier eager to bring in the Apple iPhone to beef up its mobile roadmap to compete with market leader SKT. But it's been a few years already and we are getting tired of what they are doing, as well as the media always spitting out news to the tune of "deal nearly completed, iPhone to be released in Korea next month or sooner, source from KT employee". This annoying teaser keeps rolling around every time Apple announces new iPhones. It was the same situation when the iPhone 3G S was announced even though the Cupertino company never mentioned Korea in its keynote.



Now, another story has popped up that sounds very positive. Apple has granted certifications from "Radio Research Agency" for iPhone 3G "A1241" on June 12. Is it going to sell its old stock of iPhone 3G units to Korea and not the 3G S? What is going on here? Korea is supposed to be known as an IT paradise and an advanced country, isn't it? Well, there isn't any official word from SKT or KT regarding this news, either. It's a really annoying situation here.



Anyone of you know anything about this? If someone at Apple is looking at this post, please let me know what is going on. It will be highly appreciated.

Palm Pre is also a hot potato in the US market, but there is not sign of that mobile in Korea. It should take a few years to be released in the country since the BlackBerry itself took several years to be introduced to Korea. As it is, the RIM device isn't doing so well here as it is in the global market.

What about the Samsung Jet? (Link) It is Samsung's latest mobile phone announced at CommunicAsia in Singapore a week ago as a feature phone that's smarter than a smartphone. This is a mobile that has similar or better features and performances. Some of you should know that Korea's smartphone market only just kicked off after Samsung's T-Omnia debuted last year. However, the market is still very limited compared with feature phones.



However, I read news that Samsung is planning not to release the Jet into its own homeland. Why? Because the Samsung Jet is targeting the GSM markets, not WCDMA ones like in Korea. Samsung will launch another model which may have similar specs as the Jet but with a bigger LCD such as a 3.5-inch AMOLED. And those enhanced features such as Dolfin, Wi-Fi and DivX player will be removed as well.

This wasn't Samsung's decision apparently. Local carriers have requested for the company to to remove those features from the Jet. That is because the Jet will be positioned between the smartphone and feature phone, but with all the best features from both categories.

Those local carriers believe this will have an negative impact on those wireless Internet data services.

SKT and KT, those two leading mobile carriers in Korea, take away our choices from the global mobile phones. The mobile Internet has became an industry hot potato, but those carriers keep avoiding those mobile devices required to handle mobile content efficiently. So giant portals such as Naver.com have launched their own mobile services based on the iPod touch platform. This is insane.

They should benchmark themselves against what other global carriers are offering in terms of services to their customers. We need to find another way to generate profit, not continue to do what has worked in the past. It doesn't mean copying what Apple and Google are doing in terms of an online applications store. That is for content providers or manufacturers, not carriers.

I think Korea isn't a paradise for people who like to have various choices in mobile phones and data plans for the mobile Internet. We are just good in other IT devices and the Internet.

As I mentioned, we may get the iPhone 3G, but not the 3G S. If any of you are going to throw away your iPhone 3G to get an iPhone 3G S, please throw it onto my desk. That's the one I will have in the near future.



 

July 7: Tmax Window, a new Korean PC OS, will be introduced

From today, TmaxSoft has begun to promote "TmaxDay2009" which will be its biggest event ever. This local company in Korea is about to introduce a new PC OS called Tmax Window. (Teaser site.)

Tmax Window is a new type of PC OS and it's not based on Linux or anything else. I'm not too sure about the software but that's what the company is promoting now. I will have a clearer picture July 7.
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Interview with Intel's Pankaj Kedia @ Computex 2009

During Computex 2009, Intel announced the new "Ultra-thin" category to differentiate with Netbooks which currently use one of its mainstream CPU Atom chipes. Besides this, ARM-powered Linux Netbooks were unveiled at Computex based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon, TI and Nvidia Tegra. Those products will be released from Q3, which means you will have various options to purchase Netbooks or MIDs from the third quarter of this year. For example, you can get a combination something like: Intel Atom + WinXP or Intel Atom + Moblin or Snapdragon + Linux or Snapdragon + Android, and more to come.

 

You may be getting curious about the latest situation in the Netbook and MID market which Arm has been trying to get into, driven by Intel's Atom. Well, last week, I went to Taiwan to attend Computex Taipei and had the good luck to get a 1-on-1 interview with Pankaj Kedia from Intel during the tradeshow. Kedia is director of ecosystems for Intel's ultra-mobility group, and is known as a key person for MIDs.

 

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About Kevin (Kilmo) Kang

Kevin (Kilmo) Kang is a self-professed IT-savvy guy who's been having the time of his life making tech deals with new business partners in the Asia-Pacific areas. Like every Korean, he's gadget-crazy and is glad he lives in a country with one of the fastest-growing tech markets in the world. His taste for international work, however, arose from a nine-year stay in New Zealand where he fortunately made more friends than there are sheep.

 

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Recent Comments

ShiningStar: TMAX could be very good alternative for Windows. With application not being issue, if compatibility works. I agree with ... more »
scoobydoo: Tmax Windows would most probably be a big hit if they could come out with a version for the ... more »
dreamyoutoo: Thanks for the wonderful help!<a href="www.ed-hardy.cc... ed hardy</a> more »
ShiningStar: A low-priced and verstile OS seems like a good idea. I'm hoping it works out. The OS market is ... more »
montbkk: Governments, any, should develop a new OS regardless of so called patents. It's time to put a stop to ... more »
kalmo: You are right on that naming issue. Let's see how Tmaxsoft will solve out with it. At the moment, ... more »