It looks like the iPhone is kicking some major ass in Korea and clobbering (at least in the near term) Samsung and LG competition in smart phones. At this point, the battle is almost like a well known Canadian past time. Nifty Korean Herald article link here.
Dokdo… there’s an app for that.
(HT to koreangov for the Dokdo app idea)
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
First? Or not? Maybe?
Jeffery Hodges
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The iPhone sounds great. I’m tempted to get one even though I hate phones, don’t care for technological gadgets, and have zilch interest in the applications.
Must be from the bite I took out of that Apple so long ago . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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Screw iPhone. It’s all about the BlackBerry.
I love the even-handed intro of the Herald article above: “If you proudly use pricey Mac computers, constantly scan convoluted tweets on Twitter, and vigorously update your otherwise viciously boring life on your blog, you belong to a small, unfortunate group known as ‘early adopters’ in Korea.”
To be fair though, it does go on to give the Korean manufacturers and telcos a clobbering. I hope that the netizens can prove themselves a useful group for once and foment some genuine, pro-active anger about the way that Korean 3G users have been treated by the big names.
The article suggests that Samsung think they can take on the iPhone with a Windows Mobile 6.1-based phone, which seems a bit unrealistic. More likely it’ll be the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy which gives the iPhone a real challenge in Korea. At which point we’ll have two leading smartphones running foreign operating systems that demand standards compliance from websites, and thus a brighter future for the Korean web.
Not only has KT allowed Wifi use on the iPhone, but they’ve given free access to NESPOT access points everywhere — from one extreme to the other! You can even access the free NESPOTs in Starbucks without having to log in with a citizen number.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetlog/4159594293/
It’s also cheaper w/plan. One of the reasons why the iPhone is not as popular in China (aside from all the grey market iClones out there in the PRC) is the pricing plan. I hear China Telecom is not offering discounts w/purchase of plan…
I like iPhone too but it has problems with battery. I rather go for iTouch and use other better mobilephones than iPhone.
Wasn’t that a pear?
A friend of mine has the Omnia 2, and I must say that it’s nice. Nevertheless, the iphones “touch” is way smoother than any other product I’ve tried.
With this new ‘smart’ competition brewing, I wonder if SK will release the blackberry to more than just four skt locations and drop the sofa king ridiculous price schemes they’ve been using to thwart purchases by people other than senior executives (The phone is around 800k, and 120k a month!)
The day after the iphone release, I actually saw an SKT ad for blackberry on the side of a bus, and while meeting with some friends, I found out that people within SKT are “depressed and worried”. Poor guys and gals, I hope they pull through! bahahahaha
Also, there are already iphone aps for bus/subway routes/schedules. There is probably a Korean version of twitterific on the horizon, and the aps that SK developers have been making for the iphone for quite some time now will probably be translated into Korean very quickly. Expect an explosion in the number of aps for the Korean market for the iphone.
The best thing about aps on the iphone is that Korean conglomerates cannot control who develops them (apple can, but that’s another story), and I think that is GREAT NEWS for small businesses, and bad news for operators like SKT…who’ll never be able to maintain their draconian controls if they want to compete. All in all, even if you don’t want an iphone, better services and functionality on other phones in the very near future is to be expected.
True, Sperwer, it was specifically a pear, but bear in mind that “apple” could still mean a range of fruits even as late as the 17th century . . . back in my ‘Apple’ days.
Jeffery Hodges
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For the immediate term, Korean phones will never have more responsive screens because Apple and Korea used entirely different screen touch technology. Korean smart phones still use old PDA era “pressure sensitive” touchscreen tech whereas Apple uses much more responsive “capacitive touch screen” tech, where there are special sensors embeded in the screen.
I had to laugh yesterday when I read in a newspaper that to compete with the iphone, one korean chaebol SLASHED the price of the OmniaII from 820,000KRW to 780,000KRW. I assume they are working on more intelligent ways to compete.
I never much cared for fruit salad myself.
Most Korean touch screen phones don’t have accelerometers as well, meaning they can’t do that cool flipping thing when you turn them on their side…
@chiamatt, you’re dead right — the people are already making the chaebol look silly in the App store. For example you have the fabulous “Seoul Bus” application by a certain Juwan Yoo which gives live bus arrival information with integrated mapping & geolocation. And the Naver map app which shows bus stops with timetables(!) The big companies will presumably fight back before long, to the benefit of all involved.
Three words: smudge resistant surfaces.
Also, Apple’s aesthetic design prowess is defeated by the fact that too many iPhone/iTouch owners insist on covering their devices with cheap tasteless plastic covers.
Wangkon – I tested LG’s new creation a few weeks back and it had that feature. However, it’s still very much its the development stages.
the haptic models have had accelerometers for years.
I’ve never been big into phones (in fact, I try to avoid them as best I can), however the Dokdo app tickled me pink.
Thankfully that link to which you distastefully refer to a Canadian past-time appears to be broken. Given the nature of that reality, don’t you think another analogy is in order? It’s banned in Canada. May wanna jot that down in your notepad for future ‘posting’.
On a more related note, the new Blackberry Bold 9000 is kick ass.
I’ve seen the Blackberry Bold 9000 and it truly does look amazing. Competition and innovation = goooooood.
It seems like SKT missed a good opportunity here after getting hung up on control issues. You also have to wonder why they don’t promote the Blackberry better. Anyway, the competition will be good for all concerned–take that, Korean bureaucrat/industrial complex!
niffy, indeed.
@ #18,
Yeah, it’s on the drawing board at LG and Samsung, but as far as I know, it’s not on the market yet….
@ #19,
Then they must be terrible because Samsung touch screen phones take forever to respond or respond quite inaccurately.
@ #21,
And some Westerners don’t prejudge Eastern eating choices? Also, the “ban” on clubbing baby seals in Canada has quite a few loopholes in it…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Canadian_commercial_seal_hunt
Besides, what would life for North Americans be if one couldn’t make fun of the Canadians from time to time?
@21 – Canada has moved well beyond just clubbing seals to simply clobbering the environment as a whole with its tar sands.
@ # 24,
Sorry about that. It took me forever to finally see it!
For commercial use, companies prefers Palms and Blackberry over iPhone.
Concerning the history explanation for the Dokdo application, the following is the real 1882 conversation between King Kojong and Lee Gyu-won:
Link to First Page Link to Second Page
After his inspection, Lee reported he found that Ulleungdo had two neighboring islands. One was “Jukdo” (竹島 – 죽도), which is two kilometers off Ulleungdo’s northeast shore. The other was an island called “Dohang” (島項 – 도항), which is now called Gwaneumdo (觀音島 – 관음도) and is only about 100 meters offshore. Lee said he could find no island called Usando (于山島 – 우산도) and assumed that Usando was just another name for Ulleungdo.
By the way, the reason Lee Gyu-won could find no Usando (于山島 – 우산도) was it was just another name for Ulleungdo’s neighboring island of Jukdo. Compare the Satellite Photo with Korea’s Old Maps.
gbevs.. here’s an iphone post no? … take a break… and take note of Robert’s not so subtle fair shot at you above.
and get over yourself.
Thanks for the public service, cmm.
One Korean mentions Dokdo, bevers bites (predictable, eh wankon?) and then two more Koreans mug him.
Sly one, slicky boys.
Perhaps I should put “Liancourt Rocks” from now on so I can avoid Gerry’s seeker bot?
@seouldout
Actually, it was supposed to be me according to the meeting we Koreans had yesterday (one every Tuesdays and Thursdays)… but I woke up late this morning and cmm had to fill in for me. Sorry guys.
Perhaps Gerry’s responses are bots in themselves…
I can’t decide if I’m impressed by Bevers’ restraint, or disappointed that it took him 20something comments to get around to it.
It takes TWO meetings to sort that out. And still one guy buggers it.
Typical.
So typical.
Cmm & the Korean,
If it were just an iPhone post, why did Wangkon link to the Dokdo-related app? Is that the only app available for iPhones in Korea?
I am sorry, but when I see Koreans blatantly lying about Dokdo, I cannot help myself. Why do I always have to point out the lies? Why didn’t any of the first 28 commenters do it? Is it because people ignorant or fearful?
What if Wangkon had linked to a page full of lies on another subject, such as US atrocities during World War II? I wonder if the first twenty-eight commenters would have also ignored such lies? And I wonder how many people would have tried to belittle a person posting information exposing the lies?
Why has Dokdo become a taboo subject of debate? When the subject comes up, why do people quickly try to change it? Koreans used to love to debate it, and resident foreigners used to have no problem confidently proclaiming it as Korean territory, so why is everyone now so uncomfortable discussing Dokdo?
Gerry,
I linked to the Dokdo app because it was Korean related (this is a Korean centric blog after all) and because I thought it was ridiculous and funny. What ties the iPhone more to Korea than an app on the Liancourt Rocks, right? Maybe there’s an app on kimchi, but I didn’t find it. If I did, then I probably would have linked to that instead.
And it’s not that the Dokdo debate is a taboo subject or anything, it’s just that we may want to joke about it or have fun with the subject without someone (not naming names) taking it so damn seriously all the time.
There was no intention to defend, deny or even seriously get involved in the Liancourt Rocks debate. I think everyone here got it and understood my intentions. That is everyone except you.
You will have to ask WK. But my guess is that he wanted to poke fun at Koreans’ unhealthy national obsession over Dokdo (which you share, only toward the opposite direction,) rather than to prove that Dokdo belongs to Korea.
I know. And I think it’s super funny that you can’t help yourself. A grown man fussing over two pieces of rock in the ocean — that’s pretty funny.
Because the first 28 comments, and people on MH generally, don’t really care about Dokdo and its ownership.
It would obviously depend on how serious and damaging this hypothetical lie would be, but the commentariat here basically deemed that Dokdo is not a very important subject compared to this hypothetical lie. And so far, you did not really do a good job convincing people otherwise.
Being in communication with different media at the same time in a visually-enjoyable manner? Yawn…
Dokdo – now you’ talkin’. Come on, guys and gals, this is the stuff of empire!
(emphasis mine)
Score 1 for Gerry? (I kid, I kid…
)
@32
my pleasure. pour another gin and juice or two into me and I would have performed even more public service.
Interesting review of iPhone from a Korean tech blogger.
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