When looking at the evolution of mobile phones it is striking to see the technological development, but it is also quite interesting to note the adoption of fashion in the industry. Not only are the devices we use developing more functions, but companies are now spending more and more time an money investing in creating the most stylish designs and sometimes getting fashion giants to support the effort.

Korea, as in many cases, is a front-runner given that mobiles are so advanced, and mobile culture is so embedded in modern Korean society that phones are now a symbol of status. Korean giant LG teamed up with Prada last year to unveil a luxury phone, as well as with designers Paul Smith and Lee Sangbong.

Other companies have had similar partnerships such as Samsung with Adidas and Armani on different projects, and Motorola with Dolce and Gabana. What these companies have done is not by mere chance but by correctly reading the market. In Korea for example, it is said that the replacement cycle for mobiles in certain segments is of 6 months, which is now aligned with fashion cycles, and shows the growing importance of the luxury mobile phone market, and the influence of fashion in general in the industry.

Many of the leading wireless internet solution vendors are Korean. One of them, Neomtel, was noticed today by iNews since they receive royalty from Qualcomm through their cash cow Simple Image Solution (SIS). Qualcomm uses a part of the image compression solution in their core technology and for that they have paid an accumulated royalty of about $10 million to Neomtel. Qualcomm was also nice enough to award them for Best Extension Technology Application at the BREW awards 2003.

Neomtel is currently holding about 40 % of the mobile graphics market worldwide and SIS is the standard not only for Qualcomm but also for the three main carriers in Korea (SKT, KTF and LGT). Motorola also uses them for their GSM standard format. Neomtel is currently phasing out SIS and evolving towards their more advanced product VIS, in their mobile content software. UGC and other contents are starting to becoming a core activity in the merging of telecom, media and technology and it is interesting to note the important role that Korean companies like Neomtel, Infraware and Reakosys are playing.

As I’ve noticed a couple of entries today about OK Cashbag and mobile coupons (here and here in English).  Through my company Veyond I have been participating in projects related to this matter so I thought I put in some comments.

OK Cashbag is a loyalty program initiated and controlled by the SK Group. It was the first of its kind and is today considered a success for SK, not only economically but also for marketing reasons. They have managed to connect a majority of the Koreans to their program allowing a lot of statistical data to be withdrawn from the database. Now is the system adapting to the technological advancements made in the TMT sector and they seem to manage to keep the success going.

As Chosun described, they are mainly focusing on connecting mobile and Internet. Mobile coupons sent out by message (referred to as Gifticon since they are possible to give away to friends etcetra) can be used at certain shops connected to the Internet. Thanks to SK’s size and that they cooperate with many partners they have a great foundation to utilize a good marketing strategy. Since they have realized the potential of the developments in the TMT sector, we can expect the user base and their usage to increase.