Once reaching up to 8000 mobile subscribers in one day in Korea, iPhone no doubt still maintains popularity since its late launch here in November 2009. Some of you may not be aware of that there was a round 1 of iPhone versus Androids, perhaps because the earlier attempts to put domestic android phones, such as Motorola ‘Motoroid’ and LGT ‘Android-1’, up against the iPhone in February this year had been somewhat futile.

However, since SKT’s launched its three (more competitive) Android phones in April, there has been a huge come back for Androids, expanding its smartphone market share by six fold up to 35.3% in Korea. In fact, Android phones have actually surpassed the market share of iPhone in Korea which had been reduced from 43.3% in the first quarter to 31.4%. This shift towards the favor of Androids had gradually began with SKT’s launch of Pantech’s ‘Sirius’ mid April, then Samsung’s ‘Galaxy A’, and in May with HTC’s ‘Desire’.

The Android phones still have several matters to settle in order to continue on its successful launch in Korea throughout the latter half of the year, such as the build-in memory for apps, OS upgrades, and payment issues for the Android Market.

…
Furthermore, the round 2 of Android vs. iPhone is getting hot with Samsung’s masterpiece ‘Galaxy S’ which held its launching event yesterday, on June 8thin Korea, on the exact same date as the launching of iPhone 4G in the United States.
With the immense upgraded iPhone 4G and Galaxy S launch going eye to eye in Korea, it certainly will not be too easy to determine which one will fully capture the taste of the Korean consumers.

Left: Steve Jobs with iPhone 4G        Right: Samsung’s Galaxy S

Galaxy S has been equipped with a 1 ㎓ processor and the 2.1 version of the Android OS. The data processing speed has been upgraded and it boasts its AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) vivid picture display. It is also the thinnest smartphone in the market today with a thickness of 9.9㎜, and has a replaceable battery. No doubt, Galaxy S contains the technology and specifications that could definitely make it possibly one of the world’s best.

The new iPhone 4G, on the other hand, is about one quarter the thickness and approximately two times the picture quality of the iPhone 3GS. It also fully addressed the consumer complaints for the previous iPhone 3GS, by installing a 500-megapixel camera that can capture HD videos and make video calls. It also has many of the iPad features such as an ‘A4′ processor (CPU), 512MB memory, 16 or 32GB capacity, electronic book (eBook) services, and further added multitasking capabilities. These improvements have certainly captured the attention of consumers, and very likely to further the iPhone’s dominance of the global smartphone market.

Galaxy S will be in full release, soon available for Korean consumer around mid-June, while iPhone 4G is scheduled to release in Korea by July – a pleasant surprise as Korea had been 2 years late in getting the first iPhones into Korea. We will simply have to wait and see who will be the ultimate smartphone standing in Korea.

Out of thousands of game developers in Korea, it is currently difficult to profit in the domestic market due to the massive number of competitors.  Thus many of them are turning overseas. Recently, Joymax’s popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Silkroad Online® has been a hit in Turkey. With over 20 million registered players worldwide, this WOW-like RPG game has now become a national game for the Turks.

SRO (Silkroad Online) is a 3D third person style action MMORPG game, set in the 7th century AD Silk Road between Europe and China. Featuring realistic cities that existed in ancient Silk Road to visit, SRO is highly relatable fantasy game for the Turks. With free-to-play service and non-repetitive yet addictive game play, SRO has attracted PC gamers globally. There are three notable factors behind SRO’s success overseas.

Joymax’s keen timing on releasing SRO to the global market has certainly been essential. Over the past seven years, the Eastern Europe and the Middle East have vastly expanded their internet market, increasing their internet usage up to 1400%. With this epic transformation, the internet based digital entertainment industry has been blooming. To capitalize on this factor, Joymax launched a global version of SRO. This led to a staggering success. Now SRO alone makes up 84% of sales for Joymax, 94% of which comes from the SRO global version.

SRO’s success in Eastern Europe is also largely due to Joymax’s unique marketing strategy. It is true that Joymax was not alone in the competition. Turkey for example, with a population consisting over 70 million people and having 28% of them being under 14, is any game distributor’s goldmine.  While other competitors were distributing games though licensing and creating localized servers, Joymax has distributed SRO through GDS (Global Direct Service). GDS simply is like a portal site such as Yahoo or Google, it lets anyone in the world to access the server in Korea to play the game. This not only increases net profit for Joymax but also reduces the risks in going overseas. The different approach by Joymax is what makes them stand out in global gaming industry.

But why Turkey? How did SRO capture millions of young minds in Eurasia? The answer is in SRO’s game style. Joymax wanted to create a game that is highly relatable both in Europe and Asia. Aside from formulating a realistic back-drop of ancient Silk Road, SRO includes traditional Turkish outfits for the game characters, game monsters based on ancient Egyptian figures and special events based on Islamic religious holidays. With this multicultural faceted game play, SRO creates a familiar yet mystical world for gamers in Europe and Asia. I mean who could resist but to play a fantasy game based on a history they know?

Although Joymax holds total of only 1.22% in online gaming market share of Korea, its global impact is jaw dropping. Today the traditional way of spending leisure time is becoming history in Turkey. With membership increasing by 6% and sales 30% every month, it is safe to say that SRO is one of the number one ways to spend spare time in Turkey for many. With the release of the Turkish version of SRO on November, 17th 2009 and many other upcoming language upgrades, Joymax plans to attract millions of more players globally. Joymax’s SRO is sign of success in the global gaming markets for Korea and there is certainly much more to look forward from Korea’s gaming industry.

Samsung and the world’s largest conglomerate GE (General Electrics) are joining hands in the field of smart grid, and beginning a “Pilot Project” in the premise of technology research and business development.

Smart grid has currently been drawing the focus of the world’s IT industries. It revolutionizes the electricity provider relations to its consumers into a two-way communication that makes the allocation and utilization of energy much more efficient. Smart grid can also incorporate the use of solar and wind energy into the electrical system, which further adds to its attractiveness in part of the green technology schema.

…

Korea’s Accelerating Smart Grid Power Supply Outlook

Korea’s smart grid market has deemed very promising. The “2010 Global Smart Grid Forum” was successfully hosted in Seoul on January 20, where the President of the American Smart Grid Association, Guido Bartles ceaselessly spoke of the fast development of Korea’s smart grid industry, which has been much due to the readily competitive ICT and infra in Korea. He commented that “This is possible due to the strong infrastructure set by KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation); the cooperative relations between the Korean government, industries, and universities; and Korea’s unparallel internet broadband speed.” Furthermore, the Korean government has been vigorously pushing for smart grid development as part of the 2008 Green Energy project.

However, though the current usage of smart grid in Korea had begun effectively since 2000, it had been mostly limited to higher voltage areas such as factories, buildings and apartments.

…
Homeowner / Retail Customer Premise

With this joint collaboration between Samsung and GE, Korea’s smart grid market is expected to further infiltrate into lower voltage appliances such as air conditioners, lighting and television. “Smart home appliances” will be one of the focus projects in this joint collaboration, as Samsung is in charge of a substantial home appliance development division. Samsung and GE both expect a win-win situation with this deal, as GE has been seeking to expand its smart grid industry into Europe and other regions, and Samsung believes that this deal will help them improve their technical sophistication and also be helpful for their future advancement into the U.S. smart grid market. Furthermore, this deal has created a positive buzz for the smart grid related companies in Korea, who are growingly seeing the promising future of smart grid and Korea.