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Smartphones in South Korea

Up until 2007 South Koreans continued to shun mobile phones with PC-like functionality, unlike in the US and European markets where such devices were becoming increasingly popular. At that time there were only 10 smartphone models in South Korea, compared to the hundreds of phone models being introduced within the country on a regular basis. Some customers were turning away from smartphones because they were bulky, expensive and also had limited Internet connectivity.

Into 2010 a shift was underway in South Korean consumer’s perception of smartphones, perhaps enticed by the applications offered through the iPhone. South Korean manufacturers ramped up their production of smartphones to account for around 50% of all production.

SK Telecom launched its first Android-powered device, the MotoRoi from Motorola in early 2010. The full touch-screen, 3.7-inch device features an eight mega pixel camera with Xenon flash and a 720p HD camcorder, 8GB of storage, HDMI capabilities and has Wi-Fi capability. It also provided access to T-DMB services as well as 18,000 applications, including Google Maps and Gmail.

The MotoRoi cost about KRW 900,000 (US$800), but SKT heavily subsidised the device. The company also substantially subsidised Samsung’s Omnia2 smartphone in order to make it more attractive in the wake of the launch of the iPhone 3GS by KT in late 2009. The Omina2 is powered by Microsoft’s Windows 6.5 mobile operating system.

SK Telecom planned to launch more than 12 Android-powered Google smartphones in South Korea in 2010.

In early 2010 KT released the first Android-enabled device for free to customers signing on to two plans of at least KRW 45,000 per month. The budget LG KH5200 smartphone came with a factory price of about KRW 600,000. This move plunged Korea’s fledgling smartphone market deeper into a price battle.

The number of South Korean smartphone users topped 1 million in early 2010. KT had over 440,000 smartphone customers, including more than 320,000 iPhone subs, and SKT 550,000.

See BuddeComm reports on : South Korea

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at 2:24 pm and is filed under From Paul's Desk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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One Response to “Smartphones in South Korea”

  1. Scott Middleton Says:
    August 11th, 2010 at 8:25 am

    What the iPhone has done for awareness of the great things people can do with their mobiles is amazing.

    Whether people have an iPhone or not they are now aware of the possibilities on their phone. Some of the services we were talking about 8 years ago can now be implemented because people are ready.

    Thanks for sharing this change in South Korea. I really think we’re on the edge of something big in mobile.

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