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What we are missing: Latest Top Three mobile phones

Jun 21, 2009 21:15

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.

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