Second left is Choi See-Jong, CEO of KCC (Korea Communication Commission)

and to his right is Andy Bird, Chairman of Walt Disney

Why did Andy Bird, Walt Disney’s chairman visit Seoul?
On May 11th, SKTelecom and Walt Disney completed signing of their joint venture company PP(Program Provider). The joint venture PP was made to establish Disney’s content broadcasting for Korea’s cable TV, IPTV, and satellite DMB, and also for subscriber based mobile phone VOD service. They are planning to launch two Walt Disney channels next year, and targeting the 3S (3screens) mobile phones, TV, and PCs. This will also mean the world’s first movie contents program provider for mobile phones.

Before, Disney had to retransmit their contents through local cable companies, but now they will be able to broadcast their contents directly. And with the broadcasting service experience and expertise of SKT, Disney’s contents are expected to be aired in a more Korean viewer-friendly method.

It has been revealed that SKT has the leading shares of 51% and Walt Disney has 49% of their joint venture company, and also planning to appoint the CEO form SKT.

They are certainly expecting to generate more shared profits as Disney fosters a more Korean suited content delivery, but there are also individual interests at hand.
Andy Bird has expressed their desire to strengthen Disney’s international competitiveness and business capacity through this joint venture.

Whereas, Choi See-Jong, CEO of KCC (Korea Communication Commission) indicated hopes that Walt Disney will support further overseas expansion of Korean broadcasting content.

SKT and Walt Disney have also stated that they are planning to further their cooperation in content development into games and other diverse fields. How will all this turn out? We will just have to wait and see. Nonetheless, the joining of hands between a world major studio and Korea’s largest telecommunication operator is surely going to make waves for the domestic media market.

On the 26th April, the Culture and Tourism Minister of Korea made headlines by giving a briefing at a press conference with an iPad on the glass podium, when previously the government had announced individual purchase of iPads from overseas illegal, excluding industrial experimental use. Since then one iPad per person was legalized and this event was counted as a mild demonstrational use.
Likewise, the release of iPad has been sending waves around the world. In wide scope, iPad is particularly influencing the future of Apple, Old media industries, and consumer patterns.

With the distinguished UX that iPad provides, Steve Jobs has furthered Apple N screen strategic foothold which covers all of Apple’s product lines. This will serve as platform to further the Apple legacy in areas such as SNS, games, finance, and education.

For old media industries in newspapers, magazines, and books, the iPad brings attractive new market possibilities. Through App distribution, old media have found a new window of revenue. With iPad selling 6% more paid Apps than iPhone, and the convenience of direct connection through a touch of an App icon for consumers, old media can gain leverage against free web portal access.

Customers interest in MID(Mobile Internet Device) can also be expected to rise with the level of “Apple awareness”. Apple’s iPod, which had initially been a very niche product, has now become almost the norm. With the media buzz, iconic designs, and commercialized high end technology, Apple fish massive interests that even those non tech-savy mass would take more than a second look at the iPad.

KOREA no iPad?
However, there has been no news of iPad’s launch in Korea, a leading global test-bed for IT. Due to perhaps tight inventory and the fact that Korea is not an English-speaking country, Apple has not considered Korea an urgent target market.

Furthermore like the iPhone, there are usage barriers of iPad even if it enters Korea. Korea lacks much in Apps and content, Korean ebook market scale is less than 100,000 books. There are also matters of privacy policies, and the fact that iPad does not support Flash or Active-X which applies to a major portion of websites in Korea.

Nevertheless, there have been already numerous early adopters who have personally purchased the iPad overseas, but are not be able to have full utilization of its applications in Korea. One of our staff at work had actually brought an iPad he had purchased through a friend in the US, and half of the morning was spent gawking over its features, and its slim and light design. I guess the rest of us will just have to wait in agony.

Last week, I had introduced the SKTelcom’s  ‘IPE’ as one of the three innovative B2B strategies the major telecommunication companies are taking on. On this issue, I am going to further introduce KT’s ‘S.M.ART’ and LGT’s ‘Taltongshin’ (beyond telecom) projects, which seek to create a converging value between telecommunication and other businesses.

KT’s ‘S.M.ART’
KT’s backbone to its smart strategy consists of network, customer support system, and a fusion B2B marketplace solution, which is equipped with its 3W net(WCDMA, Wi-Fi, WiMAX), satellite communications that has been competitive for decades, and a nation-scale wireless customer support .

KT’s SMART strategy offers the ‘Smart (Smart) 6′; six specific sectors that provide specialized services: Smart Enterprise, Smart SOHO/SMB(Small Medium Businesses), Smart Government, Smart Building, Smart Zone, and Smart Green.

Since January, KT has been constructing a maintenance system for Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation, which allows real time maintenance inspection, fault reporting, check-ins and sending of instructions through voice, text, or pictures (video), in 148 stations of Subway Route 5678.

This enable the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation to manage various operational facilities of the subway Line 5678 on real-time with a mobile phone.

LG Telecom Taltongsin (”beyond telecommunication”)
The last to adopt the B2B model, LG has chosen education, utilities, media& advertising, automotive, and healthcare as its main ‘Taltongshin’ target areas. The project is based on the integrative environment of  fixed mobile convergence, convergence of communication and IT solution, and convergence between telecommunication and other industries.

LG Telecom further revealed that it is continuing to negotiate with financial, retail and manufacturing businesses. Hence, LGT is planning to launch a mobile groupware that enhances task productivity with functions such as e-mail and e-payment to attract the corporate market.

The innovative B2B models of these industries are sure to bring telecommunication to the next level, and further boost their prospects for overseas expansion.