Apple’s attempt to cut a slice of the Korean phone market not so easy.

October 5th 2009

The rise of smart phones in South Korea has reached a high point but this boom has occurred without one major player.

Almost every person travelling on the subway in downtown Seoul is using their phone for various functions such as the internet, chatting or watching t.v.



Koreans have always been eager to get their hands on the latest technology and many are willing to pay a high price to be the first on the block with a new toy.

Kim Si-Gwon, an Internet Business and Electronics student at Korea Polytechnic University can’t wait for the iPhone.

“I want the iPhone because we can do many things on it, like use the internet for free, play online games for free and so on.”

So why has the Apple iPhone has taken so long to reach Korean shores?

The reason has been a combination of Korean regulations which discourage competition from overseas manufacturers and local carriers’ domination of the way data is priced within their products.

Up until April of this year all phones sold in the country had to be W.I.P.I. enabled. Wireless Internet Platforms for Inter-operability (W.I.P.I.) is a regulation set by the Korean Communications Commission (K.C.C.) which all Korean mobile phones must use for data transmission.

According to the K.C.C, any product without W.I.P.I. is not allowed to be sold in South Korea.

Phone manufacturers outside Korea have to custom build the W.I.P.I. feature into their phones if they wish to sell them in Korea. The extra cost has previously steered companies such as Nokia and Apple away from the Korean market.

Local phone manufacturers L.G. and Samsung have dominated for years and this has allowed them and local telecommunications carriers to set the price of phones and phone contracts.

Last month local carrier Korea Telecomm (K.T.) won the right to sell the iPhone exclusively in Korea. K.T. is Korea’s biggest mobile phone company and is the second biggest mobile wireless provider next to S.K telecom.

The company hopes to start shipping the iPhone by the end of the year but the local carrier is still trying to impose certain restrictions on the iPhone. Apple is fighting these restrictions.

According to a story in last month’s ‘The Korea Times’, K.T. wants the iPhone’s wireless internet function disabled. They want the internet and data to run only through their own networks to enable them to charge consumers.

Apples Inc’s Korean website released a press statement in response to K.T.’s request and ‘The Korea Times’ article.

“Apple has refused this request because many of the iPhone’s features and applications need the internet to run and would greatly affect the cost of accessing data through the iPhone and would become impossibly expensive.” The site goes on to state: “By removing its core features the iPhone would lose its uniqueness.”

The reason Apple’s iPhone has been so successful in other countries has been its Wi-Fi function which allows the iPhone free internet access anywhere a wireless network is available.

In Korea, Wi-Fi coverage is almost everywhere. By allowing the iPhone to be Wi-Fi enabled, Korean phone carriers’ internet service would lose a lot of money.

This would also affect other carriers such as S.K. Allowing free internet use on its iPhone would steer customers away from their expensive phones and phone plans.

Currently all Wi-Fi phones must use their provider’s internet service and until now S.K. and K.T. have been able to set the market price on using wireless internet.

The cost is still quite high. An average K.T. mobile phone user on a $35 per month plan has to pay an extra $30-$40 per month for mobile internet which has a download limit and is a slow and unreliable connection.

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) released a report this year revealing South Korea’s mobile internet service is three times the cost and twice as slow compared to other big Wi-Fi country users, especially in Europe.

The current price compared to American phone plans seems significantly higher.

According to technology website engadget.com, American carrier AT&T currently offers an unlimited iPhone Wi-Fi internet usage plan for $69 per month that includes calls and text messaging. This plan was decided jointly by AT&T and Apple and similar plans have been hinted at for Korea.

Another is the iPhone’s low purchase price. Samsung’s new Omnia 2 phone which boasts internet connectivity, a touch screen and multimedia functions is sold for around $700 USD. The Apple iPhone is usually released at around $199 USD.

It is understandable that Korean local carriers want to protect their corner of the mobile internet market. Opening the floodgates on Wi-Fi enabled phones would readjust market share.




Korean carriers also want to block access to Apple’s online download store iTunes which allows users to download cheap or free software applications. This would damage the local carriers’ own online download stores such as Magic-N and Nate.

At the moment it appears Korean carriers are making a lot of money from data services such as the internet and downloadable content.

How can Korean phone manufacturers and service providers compete with the low and affordable cost of the iPhone when their products are more expensive and come with internet use limits?

In the end it is consumers who decide the success or failure of a product. Many consumers want more freedom with their smart-phones.

Jong Su-Bin sells K.T. phones exclusively in downtown Gangnam, Seoul and believes the iPhone will be a big seller.

“Many people ask when it will come here. They have an iPod Touch and want an iPhone now. I think we will sell many, many iPhones.”

If the iPhone is finally released this year the company is expecting strong sales and the introduction of the iPhone may signal a forced change in Korean carriers’ services and prices in the face of new competition.

AC 2009

Touch Rugby brings Expats together

26th September 2009

The 2009 International Touch Seoul Rugby tournament was held on Saturday September 26th at the Korean Military Academy sports grounds near Hwarangdae in Seoul.

23 teams from cities all over Korea as well as Tokyo and Shanghai participated in the event.




In the Mixed Plate final the Seoul Coconuts defeated the Bundang Assassins 4-3. The Men’s Plate final saw the Hangang Exiles move past the Suwon Stormers winning 3-2.

The Tokyo Masters had an easy 3-0 win against the Three Alley D.R. team in the Men’s Cup final and the Mixed Cup final between the S.S. Rudders and T.4.H. team ended in a close draw of 4-4.

The event which is in its fourth year is hosted by the Korea Touch Association and gives both men, women and children in the foreigner community a chance to meet and have fun.

“We have this big International Touch Seoul event once a year where we try to get some international teams and teams from all over the peninsular” said Shane Lowndes who heads the organization committee.




“It’s extremely social and there are enough events for us to get together regularly and even when there aren’t we still are all out and about” said Bridget Tunnicliffe who plays for the S.S. Rudders mixed team.

While the competition can get intense and the drive to win is great everyone still keeps it lighthearted with jokes and smiles during each game.

“Everyone is in good spirits” said Daejeon Dragons Captain Timo Gobious “No one takes it all too seriously”.



The Korea Touch Association and International Touch Seoul is always welcoming new players to join especially younger players as they are hoping to build up a bigger youth touch team.

For more information about the teams and events check out their website at www.koreatouch.com


Andrew Cater

South Korea’s New Internet laws may threaten freedom of speech

South Koreans face a new challenge that runs parallel with its own pride as a technologically advanced culture. The country has always stood up and fought against injustice and wrong doing by outside forces and within their own government. This time the battle may be waged with words.

Korea is one of the top four internet connected countries and their world respected technological accomplishments have earned them a reputation as an ultra modern technology savvy population. The country has also had its fair share of heartache and pain reaching this level of development.

Their 48.5 million citizens are facing a new challenge to their freedoms with the Government implementing controversial media libel laws which may affect the country’s democracy.

The Korean Communications and Securities Commission (K.C.S.C.) which regulates internet and broadcast media has been given new powers enabling them to suspend articles accused of being fraudulent or defamatory for a period of 30 days. During that time the Commission must decide if the article should be deleted permanently.

From 1st April the new law requires websites with traffic over 100,000 hits per day to make users register with their national identification number and telephone or bank account number.

Internet service providers are also required to block access to any websites the Government decides is inappropriate for public viewing.

While this measure has been used mostly to block pornography and online gaming there have also been instances of pro-North Korean and anti-government websites being blocked.

This change to the law enables the K.C.S.C. and perhaps the Government to whom it reports, to block any articles, blog postings and material they deem unsuitable.

Also within the law is the ‘propagation of a falsehood’ clause which allows an individual or group to be arrested for posting malicious or defamatory material.

This clause was tested in January this year with the arrest and trial of Park Dae-Sung, alias ‘Minerva’, for allegedly posting material online that influenced and damaged the Korean economy. He was released on April 20th this year after four months in prison.

In April this year YouTube-Korea ignored this law by disabling their video upload feature in Korean but allowing Korean users to switch to their English site to upload.



This law and its many clauses came into effect soon after the U.S beef import protests in May last year. The majority of protests were organized online and bloggers were able to upload real time information of when and where the protests would take place including any last minute changes.

The majority of protesters bringing many cities to a standstill were school and university students. Many Koreans initially protested wanting food protection regulation. This quickly turned into anti-government protests as the Government ignored their pleas to ban contaminated beef.

During this time President Lee’s approval rating fell below 20%.

While news services reported the facts of the protests, Korea’s strong internet community chat room forums were the places where debate, discussion and organization took place.

The internet became the forum where the President - nicknamed ‘2 megabyte’ for his bad memory and admitted aversion to technology - was mocked and anti-president chat rooms were set up.

The main website used during this time was the popular site ‘Agora’ which is a user up voting system where users decide which articles are worthy of being on the front page.

The consequences of this affected Korea’s general internet population as well as news services that operate primarily on the net.

Online text video and radio news services in Korea now outperform traditional broadcast and newspaper mediums with more Koreans downloading news and information through their high-speed low cost broadband service.

Independent documentary film maker So Eun-Ju views this type of law as nothing more than a Government crackdown on freedom.

“Back in the 80’s students protested and the military government was cruel to them. Now students and people use the net to protest and the government blocks them and bans them.”

News services will also fall under this new libel law with independent news under threat.

Eun-Ju sees this as the end of independent news.

“The big news services won’t challenge the government. Last year they almost lost the right to have a government press corp. They are too scared to challenge President Lee.”

Theoretically the Government now has the power to block or ban any article they see as damaging to their administration or big business.



In response to the changes a new community of cyber exiles has emerged, blogging on websites outside of Korea’s jurisdiction. They are also creating mini pages designed to operate ‘under the radar’ by staying under 100,000 hits per day.

Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world and Koreans use of the internet as a tool for discussion, debate and protest has been unmatched in many other countries.

This change in the internet law means Koreans lose a popular forum where they can express their views openly and freely. The Government’s ability to block material they deem offensive or inappropriate will result in the loss of valuable freedoms - freedoms that modern day Korea has been founded on.