It is interesting to see the evolution and competition among Korean MNO’s. In this battle, LG Telecom being the smaller of the three companies (SK Telecom and KTF being the others) has had to come up with a different strategy than the other competitors, given that SKT and KTF have the licenses to operate 3G and have spent millions implementing the system yet LG who was left out has opted instead for improving their current network.

As anyone who currently lives in Korea can see, the two larger telecom companies have spent a lot of money promoting the 3G features and things such as Video Call as the main application, but LG has opted for developing mobile internet. LG unveiled “OZ”, earlier this month and offer a full browser experience for its near 8 million subscribers, this is compared to the closed portal system that the other operators offer, and at a much lower cost which is around 6 dollars (6,000 won) per month.

LG’s bet on mobile internet may just provide them an edge in the market, despite having lost in the initial acquisition of 3G licenses, this obligated them to search for a different strategy which maybe the key to their success.

As reported by  Yonhap News, Japanese video-game giant Nintendo Co. plans to finally release the “Wii” in South Korea. Trying to gain market share with respect to its competitors Sony and Microsoft, they will release the console about 1 year and a half after its initial release in the U.S. and Japan.

This clearly reveals some of the characteristics of the Korean Video Games market. Although widely know as a country on the cutting edge in terms of gaming, the Korean market is composed mainly on online gaming from pc’s and relative to the most other countries consoles are not that popular. The reasons for this are diverse, having to do with Korean infrastructure, policies and even social characteristics. With online gaming becoming more and more popular there should be increased interaction between Korean online game developers, and traditional game giants from abroad.

If you are interested in the subject, my company Veyond will soon release a Korean online gaming report, please stay tuned.

SK Telecom has invested the modest sum of 2 Million USD in an American based online video animation company Fix8. The company has a technology H.E.A.R.T. (Human Expression Analysis and Rendering Technology), that allows the digitalization of human movement and is capable of animating it. This is for use on webcams and other devices, and they are developing the technology for application in SK’s 3D avatars.

This seems to be a very inexpensive investment for SK and the applications are multiple: mobiles, Cyworld, etc. This maybe an interesting investment for some SK users who may find the application fun, but is even more appealing for the focus of this article as an example of the traditional roles being reversed. SK being the largest player in Korean telecom investing in a relative startup in the US, the move also plays well to SK using their knowledge of their market to develop technologies that would be attractive for their customers.