Mobile Korea

Samsung Electonics' New Organization Chart

2009-01-22T23:34:00.001+09:00

This is the New Orgization Chart of Samsung after the recent shakeup.

read more | digg story

Moved!

2007-12-17T18:28:00.000+09:00

This blog has moved to the new shiny domain www.koreaninsight.com. Please come and visit so you don't miss any interesting insights about the Korean TMT sector!

Update on mobile TV in Korea

2007-12-11T16:54:00.000+09:00

Today I have read an interesting article about the current situation on the Korean mobile TV market. It is motivated by the recent event, that TU Media has been able to acquire the simultaneous re-transmisson rights from MBC. This represents a big step for TU Media but it comes two and a half years too late.

As TU Media started operation mid 2005 it tried to acquire simultaneous re-transmission rights from broadcasters. This means that S-DMB viewers would be able to watch popular dramas and shows from fixed TV at the same time as on fixed TV. These contents are the most popular contents on both, fixed and mobile TV. However, at that time broadcasters were reluctant to share these contents because they wanted to use it for their own T-DMB service. Due to that S-DMB had to focus on other contents like sports and news. But the lack of “killer” contents from fixed TV hindered S-DMB development (as shown in the graphic above). Until today it had been able to acquire approximately 1.26 million subscribers. But according to TU Media they need approximately 2.5 million subscribers to be profitable. As a result, as reported two weeks ago, SK Telecom is thinking about limiting its involvement in TU Media.

But also T-DMB is struggling to build a profitable business. Despite more than seven million T-DMB devices in Korea the advertising revenues are marginal. Which partially is the result of very restrictive legislation on advertising but also broadcasters have failed to develop an attractive mobile advertising value proposition to make this channel more attractive for advertisers.

Experts are blaming policy for allowing two different mobile TV standards and businesses. Their competition was one of the main obstacles that mobile TV could not develop its full potential. So is mobile TV doomed in Korea? I do not think so, because consumers have embraced this new medium and it is very likely that broadcasters will take mobile TV more serious and endeavor to make mobile TV advertising more attractive for broadcasters. Until 2012 more than 20 million T-DMB devices are expected, so mobile TV has a future in Korea. In these days I am finalizing the mobile TV report I have been working on recently, so if you are interested in a more thourough analysis of the Korean mobile TV market contact me. I am eager to share it with everybody who might be interested.

I'm moving...

2007-12-05T15:51:00.000+09:00

I am about to move this blog to a new top domain site - www.koreaninsight.com. Until it is up and running as I wish, feel free to drop by or give suggestions what you want to see on the new site.

Looking forward to meeting you@

2007-11-28T12:34:00.000+09:00

The mobile and entertainment industries are increasingly merging and next week, from December 5^th to 7th, a very interesting mobile and media business conference sponsored by Informa telecoms & media is about to take place in Suntec/Singapore. On Wednesday the “mobile TV Asia Summit” is taking place, followed by the two days event of “Mobile entertainment Media Asia 2007”.

The event is tagged: “Where media meets mobile in Asia”. So it combines two of the most dynamic industries with the most dynamic region. With South Korea and Japan Asia has the two most sophisticated mobile markets in the world and it also the growth motor of global mobile industry. Hence both events offer the chance to understand this region better as well as to learn and take best practices from the world’s leading. The event is an excellent platform for networking and to make business partnerships which will enhance any Asian market business strategy or benchmarking projects.

The conferences will feature agenda setting keynote sessions, and streams discussing the most exciting industry issues. It’s truly an honor for me to be selected to chair the “Mobile TV Asia Summit” on Wednesday December 5^th. I will be the first to speak with the title, “Accelerating the Uptake of Mobile TV in Asia”. Afterwards I will be moderating the remaining sessions and discussions.

I sincerely hope to meet many of you interested and I look forward discussing with you.
For more information on the events visit here.

S-DMB and TU Media rumored to be in trouble

2007-11-27T21:26:00.000+09:00

There are rumors in Korean press that SK Telecom is hesitant to inject more money in its S-DMB business and TU Media, because reaching the break-even is unlikely. Although subscribers have reached almost 1.3 million in September 2007 TU Media has generated only losses. Together with initial investments of about 250 million USD overall this venture could have cost SK Telecom more than 500 million USD since beginning of operation.

There are several factors for missing commercial success of S-DMB, some of them are:

1. Targeting the mass market SK Telecom has underestimated the importance of acquiring popular contents from terrestrial TV. Upon the launch of S-DMB it had been too naïve and expected to get rights for retransmitting contents from the broadcasters. However with T-DMB in the pipeline they had been reluctant to share these contents.

2. Launching the satellite (it had been launched in cooperation with a Japanese company MBCo) and building the infrastructure almost by itself required significant funding, estimated to be about 250 million USD.

3. When entering the market it relied too much on existing skills and thus pursued a subscription based model, making a success on the mass market very unlikely.

4. Also Korean government is not free from blame. It issued licenses for mobile TV to two different parties with a diametrically different approach. Subscription based S-DMB and free T-DMB. Due to this both sides could not exploit the full market potential of mobile TV in Korea.

5. Being direct competitors in the mobile market KTF and LG have been reluctant to promote S-DMB, because it is a service of a direct competitor.

Although TU Media has not been a commercial success it can provide very valuable lessons to interested players in the mobile TV market, especially in the Western world where mobile TV is about to be launched.

1. Content is king – it has to be tailored to your targeted audience else your business is doomed. If targeting the mass market popular formats from TV is crucial.

2. Initial investments have to be balanced carefully and should not burden the future development too much.

3. Especially as an MNOs may not underestimate the importance of the right content.

These are just some of my thoughts. I am currently working on a report about the lessons learnt from two years of mobile TV market in Korea in which these things will be elaborated in more detail. Once it is finished I am willing to share it with everybody who is interested. So please do not hesitate to contact me.

The Korean playground is virtual

2007-11-26T14:39:00.000+09:00

A Korean gaming news website published results of a survey among young internet users. The survey has been conducted by two websites www.Puppyred.com and www.ontooniverse.com among 86.000 surfers aged 8-13. Puppyred.com is something like Second Life for children, whereas Ontooniverse.com is a website of a cable TV program comparable to Cartoon Network. Despite a likely bias in the survey population some of the results are fascinating and frightening at the same time.

Approximately 62% of the participants use the internet 1-2 hours a day. This may not sound a lot to you but in Korea even young school children return from school around 6 p.m. or even later. Subtracting time for having dinner and eventual homework these two hours represent probably 80%-90% of their free time during one day. This is underlined by the fact that 92% surf from home. What do the kids do online on their virtual playground? Well the same thing we used to do on real playgrounds, i.e. playing (39% play online games) and meeting friends (27% work on their “Minihompi” or visit their friends’ “Minihompis”). In connection to that it is not surprising that CyWorld is the second most popular website (29%) just after naver (57%).

This trend underlines the appearance of a truly digital youth. However in Korea it gets an almost dangerous dimension which ultimately will further increase problems like internet addiction. On the other hand this early embrace of the internet and its virtual worlds is a good explanation why Koreans usually are regarded as tech savvy, which enhances the development of new services and businesses in the TMT sector.

Addition to Friday’s posting

2007-11-26T14:11:00.000+09:00

As a supplement of Friday’s posting I have found the official video press release on www.futurizekorea.com – another interesting technology related blog about Korea. Have a look at this video, which shows the video phone application in action.

Vacuum cleaner and watchdog in one device

2007-11-23T16:02:00.000+09:00

Following the Broadband Convergence Network program (initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communication), Yujin Robot, Spread Telecom and KTF have worked together to create a new domestic robot. Based on a vacuum cleaner model, like the iClebo, this prototype is able to communicate with your mobile phone, in order to let you control it, and send you a text message when somebody comes into your house. This is another step in the government initiative to make robots a common tool, in the everyday life, available to a large array of people. The country heralds a goal of a 100% robot market penetration by 2020.

Tellingly, using the near universal broadband access, Korean companies are making robots closer to people, through this so-called control of robots : we can follow the robot journey in the house, and the robot can help us staying closer to our home. Therefore, the technological convergence is also a distance convergence. New technologies help you to reduce the distance between you and your house or relatives. In Korea, new technologies are progressively integrated in the Korean everyday life, by addressing emotional and personal matters, as our home security. This is true for the robots, but this is also true for the mobile phone , as I said yesterday.

Do you know the “Google Galaxy”? Then have a look at the SK Telecom “Solar System”…

2007-11-22T16:13:00.000+09:00

Today I have found a very interesting blog entry “The future of mobile carriers is here. It is called SK Telecom”, which is worth reading. In short it lists a portfolio of companies acquired by SK Telecom on its endeavor to diversify its business portfolio beyond being a wireless carrier, which is likely to become “dumb bit pipes” in the future.
At this SK Telecom is acting similar to Google’s strategy of continuous expansion into new business areas. This has been termed as the “Google Galaxy” by ZDNet and SK Telecom is building its own “Solar System” with various areas (I prefer this term because SK Telecoms endeavors so far are on a smaller scale). In this context it is not surprising that these companies also share common goals, which manifested in a strategic alliance announced a year ago. Both companies cooperate in the development of a mobile search solution.

Looking at all this I have some rough thoughts which I would like to share with you:

1. “Content” is becoming increasingly crucial.
For MNOs it is critical to acquire attractive contents for their services, the mobile TV market is another good example for this development.

2. Convergence is reality.
Convergence of media is not only a buzz word but already happening. It opens new business opportunities but at the same time endangers players which will not adapt to the new market environment.

3. It is a buyer’s not a seller’s market.
Instead of introducing services and expecting customers to adopt them, MNOs have to start developing services tailored to customers’ demands and needs.

4. Mobile is the center of digital life.
The mobile will become increasingly important, it will not only be a device to call other people but one of the most important entertainment and communication devices. For some time now SK Telecom is focusing its communication and advertising underlining the emotional and “human” aspects of the mobile and how it has become an integral part of Koreans’ everyday life.

To be successful in this fast moving environment it is crucial to stay up to date with the latest developments and in my point of view Korea is one of the places worth having a look at.

LG/Samsung competition manifests the Korean edge in demanding services

2007-11-21T19:53:00.000+09:00

It looks like the competition between the two giants LG and Samsung will have the next round among new 3g phones. It is said that in response to the newly released LG KU990, Samsung is about to release its new model W380 with similar technological features. 5 mega pixels camera, optical zoom and other beneficial features will make it a hard nut for LG to crack.

However, once again it becomes obvious how mature the HSDPA market in Korea is, in comparison to Western markets. The new Samsung phone has up to 7.2 Mbps of HSDPA speed (compared with LG's 3.2 Mbps for its use in Europe). What one should keep in mind is that the technology, on both the handset and network side, keeps evolving and with it the services. The greater bandwidth and mature market in Korea create an interesting experimental ground for new services which require more bandwidth. User generated contents (like videos), broadband mobile gaming and other demanding services are all world leading in Korea today.

Political edutainment for the “thumb generation”

2007-11-20T14:19:00.000+09:00

As you might know approximately one month ago we had presidential primaries of one party in which voting via SMS was allowed. Moreover the upcoming presidential election (held mid December) will be the first one with a reduced voting age (19 instead of 20 years of age). These two factors have increased the importance of young voters for policy makers, although the “thumb generation” is claimed to be relatively apolitical.

A way how this could be changed is a newly published mobile game called “President Tycoon” in which you have to lead your virtual character to victory. It can be downloaded on a Korean mobile for approximately 1 USD. Considering a mobile penetration of above 90% in the segment of 18-24 year olds in my point of view this could be a good way to sensitize this segment for political issues. In my point of view one logical extension of this model would be to utilize it for a certain candidate or party, provide it as a free download and utilize real contents from the political program – this would be real edutainment for the “thumb generation”. And also for the upcoming “thumb generations” in other countries.

Leading edge…also concerning problems of the digital society

2007-11-20T10:18:00.000+09:00

In connection with yesterday’s posting I have found another interesting article in the New York Times. “In Korea, a boot camp cure for web obsession”, shows another example for my statement yesterday that Korea is leading in facing the challenges of digital society.
This article describes boot camp like institutions for young people who are addicted to the internet. I do not want to give a summary of the article but instead give you some interesting excerpts.

“South Korea boasts of being the most wired nation on earth. In fact, perhaps no other country has so fully embraced the Internet.”
“Compulsive Internet use has been identified as a mental health issue in other countries, including the United States. However, it may be a particularly acute problem in South Korea because of the country’s nearly universal Internet access.”
““Korea has been most aggressive in embracing the Internet,” said Koh Young-sam, head of the government-run Internet Addiction Counseling Center. “Now we have to lead in dealing with its consequences.”
“Korea is on the leading edge,” Dr. Block said. “They are ahead in defining and researching the problem, and recognize as a society that they have a major issue.”

I can only repeat myself: Korea is not only the place to look for business opportunities in the TMT sector but also if you are interested which challenges arise for the digital society and how they can be tackled.

Preventing abuse in the digital society

2007-11-19T17:07:00.000+09:00

Recently I have read the case of little Megan who has committed suicide over a fake virtual boy friend created by some peers. Apart from the human tragedy behind the story what struck are two facts. Firstly the careless abuse of MySpace by peers, who considered the whole thing being a joke. Secondly the fact that often laws do not seem to be ready for the challenges of digital society. In Megan’s case e.g. no law has been violated because no such law exists.
Since Korean society is more “wired” than any other in the world, we encounter similar problems or have encountered them even earlier. At this Korean government and society try to be proactive as possible in facing the challenges of digital society. One example, which is also applicable to the case above, is the anonymity of the internet in social networking sites and forums, which has been a serious problem in Koreain the past. Government addressed this issue by introducing an obligation to verify your internet egos with your real ID. This is to prevent abuse because people are aware of the fact that they are not anonymous anymore (in the light of privacy security this may not be the best solution though). However punishing is one thing but creating a feeling of unethical behavior is a completely different one and in Megan’s case both had been missing. Concerning the latter a good example is a media campaign which had been launched in order to sensitize people that cyber bullying is unethical behavior and can have serious consequences. Below you may find an ad out of this campaign, the spoken text is something like: “Destroying one’s soul is terror which is crueler than terror”.

So overall Korea is not only a place for business opportunities but it is also worth having a look at if you are searching for examples how policy can tackle the challenges of digital society.

Products and services tailored to specific segments…

2007-11-19T15:44:00.000+09:00

are one of the reasons for the success of SK Telecom. (In the last years SK Telecom has been able to achieve and maintain a market share of around 50%.) An example for the segment specific approach is the existence of three different payment plans for specific age segments: TTL (18-24), TING (13-17) and TINGjunior (under 12).

Each of the payment plans does not only have a tailored communication, exemplified by three different websites as shown above, but also tailored services and pricing. E.g. Ting is offering reduced rates weekdays (between 21:00-24:00 – the time when teenagers come back from school) and during certain periods (summer and winter vacation). Moreover offers and deals on the website are customized to the target groups needs, featuring free educational content (TINGjunior), events and cinema (TING) and the possibility to set a spending limit (both). Additionally SK Telecom is offering child care services, e.g. location notification once your child leaves a designated zone, tracking and emergency SMS so do not need to worry. Targeting specific segments allows MNOs to provide relevant services, which add value in the eyes of the customers which again leads to higher ARPU. In the Western world this segment specific approach has been chosen by many MVNOs, but in order to increase ARPU and educate users to utilize their data related services it is crucial for MNOs to go the same way.

Android is going to take the Western mobile market where the Korean is today…

2007-11-15T17:58:00.000+09:00

Android the open source operating system for mobile devices is cheered throughout Western media. It is considered as a milestone which will lower production cost for handsets (and thus for consumers), enlarge potential markets for developers (because they will not need to focus on one manufacturer) and at the same time educate consumers to finally embrace mobile data services. In my point of view the impact on the Korean market will be smaller. My expectation is that especially handset manufacturers will profit from lower hardware requirements, shorter production cycles and thus lower cost. This is why both major handset manufacturers like Samsung and LG have joined the alliance. However Android is not very likely to affect consumers as much as it will on Western markets.

In contrast to Europe Korean MNOs do not fight for market share but try to increase ARPU this results in the fact that data related services are much more sophisticated than in the rest of the World. Already nowadays with approx. 26% of SK Telecoms revenues coming from data related services, customers are “educated” to use them. Moreover SK Telecom has recently partially opened its interface for third party developers and more importantly services which will be developed for Android are likely to be inspired by Korean existing value added services. Due to the sophistication of the Korean mobile market Western developers can use it as a visionary ground in which they can observe what the latest developments in value added services are and which services really add value. So developers who want to join the “gold rush” which Google has announced recently (with a total of 10 million USD for promising Android applications) should have a close look on the Korean mobile market.

Mobile CyWorld gets 11 visits a day...from one user!

2007-11-14T17:48:00.000+09:00

SK Telecom has announced that user number of “Mobile Cyworld” users has exceeded 1 million, being far ahead of other mobile services like Mobile Daum Café (0.14 million) or Mobile Naver Blog (0.1 million). At the same time the average monthly page view of mobile CyWorld is 350 million which results in the fact that on average a user visits mobile CyWorld eleven times a day or basically once an hour.

65% of the users are female and 50% of the users are between 19-25 years old. Besides writing messages to their friends’ “Minihompy”, sending pictures which have been taken by mobile to their own “Minihompy”. Over a million photos are sent like that monthly resulting in nice data related revenue for SK Telecom. These are usage patterns other MNOs and service providers dream of. Due to age segment specific marketing activities SK Telecom is able to design customized service offerings which add significant value to the customer experience. At the same time it is combined with adequate pricing, e.g. it has a flatrate for usage of mobile CyWorld being very attractive to the younger target group.

Snapshot on mobile internet usage in Korea

2007-11-14T14:35:00.000+09:00

Recently the National Internet Development Agency of Korea conducted a survey about mobile internet usage among 3000 Koreans aged 12-59. In the last year approx. 27% of all participants used mobile internet at least once a month and 22% used their mobile to access it. Moreover Koreans use mobile internet quite long, with almost 40% of the users staying online for more than 5 minutes. So far only around 3% use mobile broadband like WCDMA or WiBro but 25% intend to use mobile broadband in the future. However so far especially Wibro has not been performing all too well yet.

The top three reasons to use mobile internet are the ability to access it wherever (78%) or whenever (62%) and in order to just “kill the time” (56%). Most participants use it for entertainment purposes (92%), especially downloading ringtones, listenting to streamed music of for games, followed by commercial services (65%), such as MMS, e-mail and accessing CyWorld. Lastly 41% of the participants who are not using mobile internet at the moment are planning to use it in the future resulting in an expected usage of 66%. This perspective truly looks very promising for MNOs and service providers. However one key challenge will be to offer innovative services in order to attract and maintain users. So for MNOs in the Western world which try to educate users to use data related services more intensively Korea is a good window into the future to learn which services are embraced and which are not.

Next step in instant messaging value added services

2007-11-13T15:28:00.000+09:00

Just like many Asian markets Korea also has its local champions which are preferred by users over Western giants. As you might know naver.com is by far the most popular search engine in Korea, another example is the NateOn messenger which according to Koreanclick.com has approximately twice as many users as MSN (13 million vs. 6 million as of February 2007). However one peculiar fact about local Korean champions is that they are not just localized copies of Western archetypes but often times leading in terms of functionality and value added services.

While both interfaces look quite similar with link tabs to selected services which are likely to be sold to interested companies. NateOn goes one step further in usage options and possibilities to generate new revenues. One additional option is that you can transfer money to existing contacts without even knowing their account number, which makes NateOn an alternative to conduct on-line payments.

Another interesting feature is the so called “Gifticon”. This artificial word made of “gift” and “icon” is an innovative service provided by SK Telecom and is something like a voucher you can send to your friends’ mobile which they can then exchange for goods, like e.g. a cup of coffee at Starbucks. A detailed explanation of “Gifticons” can be found on another blog about Korea called www.mobileinkorea.com. Launched in December 2006 the “Gifticon” service has undergone a tremendous development. It started with turnover of approx. 50.000 USD and reached approximately 700.000 USD in August 2007, this equals a monthly growth rate of 39%. Since “Gifticons” are vouchers for designated partners these figures translate directly in higher sales.

Lastly I would like to mention the interconnection to SK owned CyWorld, Koreas leading social networking site, and NateOn. You can easily link your mini homepage to your contact details enabling your friends to visit you and get update alerts once you update your page. This turns NateOn to a tool to keep up to date with your important contacts without even visiting the respective social networking site.

Unexploited potential in Korean mobile TV market

2007-11-13T11:17:00.000+09:00

Many people from all over the world claim that Korea is the most strong player in Mobile TV. True. But by what means?

If we look at the numbers of who use mobile TV in Korea, the answer is 'YES'. (Now more than 7 million people watch mobile TV in Korea). From the point of profitable business, Korea still has long way to go. Despite the fact that mobile TV exists for more than two years in Korea, specific conditions of the Korean market hinder its development to full potential.

One simple explanation for this can be the putting 'Avoidable Efforts'. For example in Korea MNOs such as SK Telecom are competing against broadcasting companies such as KBS, MBC, SBS and more. This results not only in two competing standards and revenue models the subscription based S-DMB vs. the advertisement based T-DMB but also in the fact that some contents are only available for one of the respective standards. (Unfortunately Korean Regulatory bodies are divided to two entity, Telecom Committee and Broadcasting Committee. Due to this current condition, each side are making strong tension on the ownership of 'Killer Contents. We will try to elaborate this during our forthcoming report on 'Mobile TV'.)

Secondly SK Telecom nowadays is not sure which standard it should support in the future, either S-DMB or HSDPA or another new technology standard such as Mobile Wimax (which is known in Korea as WiBro). Despite a solid user base and revenues S-DMB is quite far away from reaching break even. So MNOs should wisely decide how they can optimize their products Portfolio using different technology standard in order to make the best use of Mobile TV. Actually Mobile TV has very broad definition, and from the customer perspective they do not care what standard they use say DMB, WiBro, HSDPA, Streaming Technology. It is all about providing the most desirable customer experience to the customers.

Another reason why mobile TV is not more successful than now in Korea is Koreans’ affinity to technology and gadgets. On the one hand one could argue that mobile TV is popular in Korea because of this affinity but on the other hand there are various substitutes which can satisfy similar needs. For example we have so called portable media players (PMP), which are comparable to a very small portable PC. People use these PMPs to watch TV programs they have recorded the day before on their HDD drive. So while some factors such as PMP players may not be applicable to Western markets, MNOs and broadcasters should try to avoid cannibalization and ruinous competition in order to fully exploit opportunities in mobile TV business.

Sports and popular terrestrial TV formats dominate mobile TV

2007-11-12T19:11:00.000+09:00

A lot of people in Europe and the U.S. are wondering which contents will become the “killer content” for mobile TV, which will make people embrace this new service. As you might know mobile TV has been introduced in Korea in 2005 and as of today has approximately 7 million users (2 million S-DMB / 5 million T-DMB). Reviewing a lifestyle magazine provided by TU-Media I discovered a ranking showing the most favorite content of S-DMB users, as shown below:

Analyzing this snapshot of Korean viewing behavior shows which content matters:

1. Time critical content is one of the keys to attract users to mobile TV. People are even willing to pay money in order to watch games of their favorite team or player.

2. Another key to attract people is the utilization of popular contents from terrestrial TV.

3. Lastly mobile watching behavior is more dynamic in comparison to terrestrial TV with two thirds of all entries being new on the ranking.

The detailed ranking can be seen here.

Impressions of GStar games exhibition

2007-11-12T17:58:00.000+09:00

Lately gaming has received significant attention as an emerging multi billion dollar business. PricewaterhouseCoopers expects the video game industry in Asia/Pacific which is the largest market to grow by 10% annually from 11.7 billion USD in 2006 to 18.8 billion USD by 2011 excluding spending on hardware and possible revenues from in-game advertising. So although being a fun sector it offers promising business opportunities. From the 8^th until 11^th of November the third edition of GStar games exhibition took place in Ilsan a satellite city of Seoul. Since I live in Ilsan and the fair ground is just a five minutes walk away I from my place, I seized the opportunity and had a look at it last Friday.

Unfortunately still exhibitors as well as audience had a strong Korean bias, with no major Western game company being present on GStar. Because of cultural factors and differences in the way people play there is no global gaming community yet (besides a few examples like World of Warcraft). But according to key not speaker Gordon Walton from Bioware, especially the Western younger generation is attracted by Asian style games and content. Moreover he stated that factors like the high number of developers, massive competition among those and strong demand will make Asia the leading region for game development in the future.

Besides that I had a close look on mobile games. Although lagging behind 8-9 years in terms of graphics, Koreans do use their mobile for gaming. Especially when using public transportation it is a good way to spend the time. One feature which could make mobile gaming attractive for business is that also girls are using their mobile for playing. With 3G phones it will open new business opportunities in the fields of advertisement related and multiplayer mobile gaming. And Korean users are once again likely to be the leading early adopters in the world.

If you want to know more on me and my company Veyond Partners...

2007-11-10T23:25:00.000+09:00

These days I recieve several e-mails asking me what my company is doing in detail. I try to answer these questions as far as I can but due my limited time and chracteristics of e-mail, It was not always full enough.

So I had revised our company's introduction material and made a simplified version. Thanks to numerous helpful web 2.o tools, this time www.slideshare.net/veyond , I can easily share this information.

Do visit our slideshare space and I will try to put more things in regulary in there.

Some thoughts inspired by the book Diamond Dilemma by Tariq Hussain

2007-11-07T17:32:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I have been writing about “Digital Korea“ and today I thought I might recommend you another book which I have read recently, “Diamond Dilemma” by Tariq Hussain. Whereas “Digital Korea” is focusing on the TMT sector “Diamond Dilemma” takes a more global perspective and discusses the challenges and opportunities for Korean society, economy and politics to make Korea ready for the 21st century and in order to keep up the tremendous development, which Korea has undergone in the last 30 years.

Tariq Husain has been working for a major consulting company serving clients in Korea since 1997 this enables him to give the reader a fresh outside in but also insightful perspective on Korea. (I am also glad that he and I have attended the same school)

I do not want to give a summary of this book because it can be found here, but I can recommend it to everybody who would like to get a better understanding of the Korean economy in general. For me as a Korean native, it has been a pleasant free time reading which gave me a fresh view on certain aspects of Korean economy.

Finding and shaping the Korean TMT diamond

One of the things which struck me is, that Hussain, as a non Korean, points out the opportunities in Korea in great detail and a strong rationale behind it. Also from the perspective of non Korean there are a lot of opportunities in Korea.

In my point of view the TMT(Telecom, Media, Technology) sector is a very good example for that, however these opportunities, just like diamonds, have to be found and grinded in order to exploit their full potential. The more you know about Korea the more opportunities you will discover.

This is in line with my experiences here at VEYOND PARTNERS. Currently we have a Polish intern who has been living in Germany. He has stayed in Seoul a year ago as an exchange student in Seoul and has been fascinated by the Korean TMT sector. His endeavors to get to know the Korean market in more detail have led him to us and he is currently working in our office. During our discussions he has underlined several times that he sees more and more opportunities in the Korean TMT as he gets to know it better.

In this context I consider VEYOND PARTNERS as the intermediating agent which facilitates interested persons and businesses to investigate and explore the Korean market and its opportunities. However in order to find the diamonds in the Korean TMT sector, i.e. exploit the existing business opportunities, you have to get heavily involved and keep in touch with it very closely.

Korean students need to be prepared for working in the global business

Another fact which is less charming for Korea and a field in which politics should intervene is that Korean high potentials are not competitive in the global environment. This is not because of missing professional knowledge but rather because the education system does not equip them with the necessary skills as well as global attitude and perspective to perform in a global setting. This shows e.g. in underdeveloped oral language abilities as English education is focused on writing instead of speaking, but also in the fact that Koreans are bad at selling themselves and their abilities.

So in my point of view already high school but especially university education should equip students with skills necessary to perform in a global business setting. This goes beyond oral English skills but should also aim at enhancing their team working skills, assertiveness and self confidence.

We at VEYOND PARTNERS follow this philosophy by offering internship for international as well as in Korean students in which they learn to work and interact with each other, giving both valuable experiences for their future career.

Mobile TV report soon to be published

2007-11-06T17:03:00.000+09:00

Based on requests we receive and also monitoring global media one area of huge interest is mobile TV. In most parts of the world it is a feature soon to be introduced by broadcasters or MNO’s, e.g. BBC and Channel 4 have recently announced to offer mobile TV in the upcoming year.

In order to build a strong value proposition as well as a solid business model we strongly believe that interested parties should utilize the know-how gathered on the Korean mobile TV market. In Korea mobile TV has been present for about 2 years and according to Berg Insight Japan and Korea account for approx. 78% of the world’s mobile TV viewers.

Currently we are working on a report focusing on the business side of mobile TV, which will highlight the lessons learnt from the Korean market. It will soon be published and will be available as a free download after registration on our website.

Korean TMT sector gets global attention

2007-11-06T16:54:00.000+09:00

Eye on South Korea by CNN

One thing which struck us recently is the global attention the Korean TMT sector is beginning to get. Recently CNN has conducted a series called “Eye on South Korea” with interesting articles and video clips about topics like CyWorld, next generation mobile handsets and “a day in the (digital) life of a South Korean boy”. For more information about the series please visit:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/eosk.video/index.html

Book: “Digital Korea”

During this year’s iMobicon I had a very interesting talk with Tomi Ahonen, just as his new book written together with Jim O’Reilly had been about to be published. It is called “Digital Korea” and provides the reader an overview about the level of sophistication of certain areas in the Korean TMT sector, such as on-line gaming, telematics, internet usage etc. It also features interesting case studies on enterprises which have succeeded in establishing a business in particular areas. The case studies feature e.g. CyWorld (social networking site), TU-Media (Korean S-DMB provider) and others.
This book has now been reviewed on CNN.com, it also includes an excerpt of interesting statistics out of the book (Click here), as well as an interview with Tomi Ahonen one of the authors (Click here). Due to the fast pace of the TMT sector these statistics are outdated already, however it is very good as a source for the beginning. It also proves that the Western world should keep a close look on the developments in Korea. Since what is reality here is likely to become reality in Europe and the U.S. in the near future. We at VEYOND PARTNERS feel responsible to give interested business people valuable and up to date insights in all relevant aspects of the Korean TMT sector and business in order to build a bridge between Korea and the Western world.

Blyk started business

2007-11-06T16:52:00.000+09:00

One interesting fact from outside of Korea: Yesterday the highly anticipated Blyk service has commenced service. It is a fully integrated invitation only MVNO offering a package of free minutes and SMS to a target group of 16-24 year-olds. This package is funded by targeted advertisements which will be send by partners of Blyk, one of them is the world famous cosmetics producer L’Oreal. For not it is operating solely in the UK with other European to markets to follow. Fore more information please visit: http://about.blyk.com/
In our point of view it is a very interesting and innovative approach, which could be even more promising in the Korean market, where mobile usage of young people is even more intensive than in Europe, especially concerning data related services.

Everything goes wireless with one USB stick!

2007-08-23T12:14:00.000+09:00

As I have mentioned not long ago, I am forced to constantly move from one place to another due to the nature of my current position. If you are in the same situation as I am or simply want to save internet service costs, I introduce to you “Windy 31”, a portable USB like wireless internet router.

A Korean based networks and systems company, Mavericks Systems says that this tiny USB like device acts as a wireless LAN card, wireless AP, and wireless router, all in one. It includes IEEE 802.11 b/g which allows speeds up to 54Mbps.

As you can see, three of the most needed functions for wireless internet users are all included within this tiny device. It also works under Windows XP as well as Windows Vista without installing extra CD programs.

It means you could use this device as a wireless LAN card by simply plugging this device into the computer’s USB port. Also if you plug this device into a PC that is connected to the internet, by acting as an AP, it allows nearby computers to access the internet.

Using its router function, it is recommended that 32 computers (up to 253 computers) to simultaneously access the wireless internet using this device. Worried about setting each IPs? No worries, for each IPs are set automatically due to its Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol that is embedded.

Limited to PCs only? It also allows WiFi handsets, PDA, Nintendo DS, PSP, and many others to access the wireless internet.

Worried about security? It complies with 64/128 bit Wired Equivalent Privacy and Wi-Fi Protected Access security standards and Media Access Control address filtering and firewall security function that it ensures users to feel safe when using it.

Think about how much money you can save with this little device. Think about how much time and effort you can save using this little device. I believe the kind of device such as this will make everyone’s lives easier.

What do you think the upgraded version of this product would turn out to be?

Ready and fully loaded to give Korean mobile insights: iMobicon!

2007-08-16T15:53:00.000+09:00

Finally next week, from August 22nd to 24th, one of the biggest annual mobile business conference sponsored by Informa telecoms & media and KIPA (Korea IT Industry Promoting Agency) is about to occur here in Seoul, Korea.

iMobicon offers the chance to understand why the Korean mobile market is so successful and to learn and take best practices from the nation's experience. The event is an excellent platform to network and make business partnerships which will enhance any Asian market business strategy or benchmarking projects.

The conference will feature agenda setting keynote sessions, and streams discussing the most exciting industry issues in the Korean and global marketplace. I strongly believe this will be an excellent opportunity to share experiences and gain glimpse of the future global mobile evolution for all those participating.

It’s truly an honor for me to be selected to chair one of the tracks of this meaningful conference. The topic of the track I am responsible for is “Embracing Mobile Entertainment Trends to Drive Revenue”. As other various speakers are expected to speak related with the topic, I will be the first to speak with the title, “Understanding the Evolution of User Generated Content, from Mobile perspective”. As you could probably predict from the title of my speech, the key focus of my speech will be to answer the question: “What can Korea’s mobile UGC experiences provide to the World?”

I sincerely hope to meet many of you interested in this field.

For more information, visit http://www.imobicon.co.kr/eng/.

My daughter’s teacher is Mr. UGC!

2007-08-10T16:37:00.000+09:00

Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of web-based communities which allows users to participate and share amongst themselves.

User Generated Contents (UGC), a part of Web 2.0 concept, is so popular these days. Just go to sites such as YouTube. You will see millions of videos uploaded and viewed by millions of people from around the world.

Common factors for most UGCs are that they are fun and interesting. That’s it. Yes you get a good laugh at it, but there’s nothing more to it. Or sometimes they contain scenes of violence that are not appropriate for the younger generation.

Therefore as a father, I’ve always been precautious about what my daughter is exposed to online. Especially now that my daughter is enjoying her break from school, her time spent online has increased.

However, I’m relieved to see that many teachers have started creating channels at UGC sites such as Pandora.tv to upload their own UGCs for the students, which the students were not able to learn in schools. This is a different concept from Mega-study. Mega-study is a professional online learning site which the students can go and learn online for pay.

Because these UGCs uploaded by the teachers are provided for free, these channels are becoming very popular among the student. There is one teacher in particular who goes by the name of “Young-Chun”, who uses masks used in movies to teach English. Many feel that this is very effective because it’s fun at the same time educational.

The most positive effect this teacher based UGCs brings I believe is that it allows love and openness between teachers and students to grow. Teachers aren’t making these UGCs to make profit. When the students realize that the teachers are taking their precious time to make these videos for THEM, they wouldn’t just blow it away.

I hope this trend of teacher based UGCs would spread to other nations; that it would bring positive learning effects for our next generation.

What can your cell phone do for you?

2007-07-31T21:40:00.000+09:00

With the kind of job that I’m in, I am constantly forced to move from one place to another. For this reason, I have connected my laptop computer to our company’s server so that I can access the necessary data from anywhere I want. I thought this was very convenient and even though it’s not a new concept, I have encountered many people being amazed by it.

Today however, I want to tell you about an upgraded service provided by SK Telecom. Telecommunication industry is so saturated that it’s difficult for MNOs in Korea to acquire new consumers and it’s difficult to earn revenue from the voice services anymore. Therefore, SK Telecom is focusing on providing various data services and for this reason, their revenues coming from the data service is higher than any other MNOs in the world.

This upgraded service, which is a part of their data service, is almost the same concept as the above, but now I can now access the computer via my cell phone! Frankly speaking, constantly carrying around my laptop was pretty heavy at times, but I had no problem carrying around my cell phone. The name of the service is called “Mobile Mini-PC” and the way it works is this: First, I have to apply for this service via my cell phone. Once that’s done, I download and install a program from an online site which allows me to link my cell phone with the computer. After that’s done, voila! I can now access my server computer via my cell phone! It also allows up to 5 people to access the computer and also allows transfer of files from my computer to other computers.

This service in a sense is similar to those provided by ORB (which provides the user with instant access to photos, music, videos, live television, and other digital content on their home PC at anytime and from any internet-connected device, such as a mobile phone, PDA or laptop) or that of Sling Media (which enables TV broadcastings to be viewed by PC, PDA, Cell phones, etc through networking). However, “Mobile Mini-PC” is more business oriented, which differentiates itself from these two companies.

As this service is expected to start tomorrow, it only seems yesterday how amazed I was to be able to check my email via my cell phone. As a person involved in this telecommunication industry, I am excited but at the same time worried about the increased dynamics in mobile industry. I’m excited that it’s advancing rapidly but worried about having to constantly be updated in this area. Whether I want it or not, MNOs from all over the world will continue to provide improved services such as this and many changes affecting our daily lives will occur.

What’s your perspective on how this service industry would turn out to be?

T-DMB meets the golden age

2007-07-30T10:30:00.000+09:00

T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) Phone meets the golden age. In second quarter, the sales of T-DMB Phone increased about 3.4% comparing to first quarter.

That is interesting results because total number of 3G service phone user keep increasing and KTF, one of MNO in Korea, focus their capability on 3G services such as Video call.
However, most of T-DMB phone is concentrated on 2G service!

KTF tries to advertise the diverse function of 3G service.
By contrast, SKT and LGT, MNO in Korea focusing their ability on 2G service, promote their 2G service with excellent design and T-DMB service. Prada Phone is a good example.

Some experts said there will be keen competition between 3G and 2G service soon. It is very hard to estimate how situation will develop because this competition has never happened before.

If you concentrate your attention on how Korean TMT market is changed, you can get some insights about how your home country will be changed.

Korea, Seeing is Believing - iMobicon 2007

2007-06-30T19:28:00.000+09:00

This August, I am speaking at iMobicon 2007 on the landscape of 'Korean Social Networking and Mobile TV'. If you are not familiar with iMobicon, it is an international conference organized by Informa only focuing on Korean Mobile industry.
Most major mobile related companies will participate such as SK Telecom, KTF,Cyworld and many more.

You can find some of the most fascinating stories and dynamics of Korean mobile industry.Any one thinking of participating in iMobicon, I am happy to keep in touch in advance.

Video call is not a dream any more in Korea

2007-06-29T19:08:00.000+09:00

Story: Husband come back to Korea after 2 years and his wife and son come to airport to meet him. His wife tries to jump into husband but..

Video call is not a dream any more in Korea

Have you ever dreamed calling your girl friend with seeing her face?
If yes, Your dream has already came true in Korea!

Now Koreans can use video conversation service.

You can see where she is, what she does and whom she meets by just calling her.
As you can see in video clip, picture quality is quite good and it operates both inside and outside.

Video call users gradually increase and are being common for Koreans through 3.5G HSDPA network.

But, be careful not to show her your 'extra' girl with video call

Who are buying Prada Phones- Case of Korea

2007-06-20T17:25:00.000+09:00

Prada Phone has made its market debut in Korea about a month ago. I was also one of the people who were expecting it to come and recently I found an interesting article on Prada phone.

In Korea, it was provided initially by LG Telecom (No 3 Player in Korea with Market share of 17%. The leading player SK Telecom has 50% of M/S and KTF the 2nd Player around 33%) followed by SK Telecom. It is regarded by many industry analysts that LG Telecom is making the best use of its sister company, LG Electronics who developed Prada phone with Prada.

According to the market statistics released by LG Telecom, most of the Prada Phone was bought by the group who were in their 20s and 30s. 80% of the Prada Phone sold since its debut were in this group and 40s group followed who accounted 11%.

The ratio between the sexes was Male (60%) and Female (40%). It can be explained that most of the early adopter were male dominated group. But the report said that the Female customers were rising sharply these days.

Since its launch in May, 25,000 Prada phone has been sold for the period less than a month. LG Telecom and SK Telecom both said that they are now selling more than 1,000 units per day. LG Electronics expects that the total sales target of 200,000 this year looks like an easily achievable goal.

To keep its luxurious image, LG Electronics plays strict marketing strategies and hence can not see the advertisement in the main advertisement medium. Instead they are focusing heavily on ‘Celebrity Marketing’ and many of the Top celebrities were invited to use the Prada Phone including Sophie Marceau of France and Jiwoo Choi of Korea.

The Mobile TV users surpass 6-millions in Korea

2007-06-18T15:36:00.000+09:00

The Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) users surpassed 6-million. This figure means 1.3 out of 10 Koreans has DMB player.

According to the survey announced on June 14th by the Ministry of information and Communication, after DMB service started on 2005, the number of TDMB players sold is 5.3 million and the subscribers of SDMB service is 1.1 million. That means total users of DMB service reaches about 6.5 million during just 2 years.

The number of Terrestrial DMB (TDMB) players sold, which is consisted of 2.4 million (44.2%) in Navigation, 2.1 million (38.5%) in Mobile phone and 1 million (17.3%) in PMP and USB, was almost doubled this year.

The subscribers of Satellite DMB (SDMB) players is consisted of 1.1 million (96%) in Mobile phone and 40 thousand (4%) in Navigation.

How Koreans watch TV on Mobile phone

2007-06-15T14:13:00.000+09:00

Have you ever regret after missing your favourite TV programme while you were stuck in the heavy traffic? Have you ever supposed it would be much better if you have your own TV and thus not fighting for the TV with your brother or sister?

If yes, here is good news. As long as you possess you can watch TV with mobile phone.

There are mainly two different kinds in Korea but this video demonstrates the streaming type. The newly rolled out HSDPA technology (called SHOW or 3G+) helps to upgrade the service quality significantly.

Mobile Cyworld in Korea

2007-06-14T11:56:00.000+09:00

Cyworld, Korean based social networking service, is the one of the most successful ones in the world. In the past, PC and proper internet access were required to use Cyworld. However, today’s cutting edge mobile technology actually extends its reach to everyone’s pocket. In other words, we can ubiquitously access to Cyworld with our mobile phone. No more boundaries exist between wired and wireless services.

I uploaded a picture to my cyworld through my PC and checked it through my mobile phone.

Norwegian journalists’ special experience in Korea Mobile

2007-06-11T14:33:00.000+09:00

This video clip is the moment at which Norwegian journalists sang a song to thank me for helping themselves during a study trip.

The Norwegian Journalist group has visited Korea for 5 days to learn and experience in the advanced TMT (Technology/media/telecom) sector. I organized the whole trip for them and also gave a brief lecture to make them understand easily at the beginning of the trip. Keeping the schedule, they were very interested in and satisfied with experiences and lessons especially in the developed Korean mobile skills and business system they got during the trip. It was an absolutely fantastic work and made me excited because this is one of the reasons why I set up my company, Veyond.

Actually, even though the group already knew Korea is one of the leading countries in the TMT sector and really wanted to visit, they had no connection in Korea to make a schedule. They looked for someone who can introduce the Korean TMT sector and fortunately found me at a webpage of the wireless world forum in which I was a guest speaker about Korean mobile.

While they discussed the trip with me by email, I made sure them they found a perfect partner in Korea and tried to give them valuable experiences as much as possible in the short period. The schedule was set up to visit media, telecom companies and some exhibition places. Also it provided some chances for Korean cultures such as a musical, attraction, and shopping mall. Thanks to both sides’ efforts, the trip was successful and there were a lot of interests more than I expected wherever they visited. Due to unforgettable memory, we still have a good relationship.

I strongly believe that there are lots of people who are interested in Korea TMT sector. If there is any opportunity later, I hope to help them again and give them something more than just valuable.

Cyworld, to go to US universities

2007-06-04T17:25:00.000+09:00

Cyworld, which is a Korean social network site, has been introduced on an American university text book published in this February as a world wide famous social online community service.

The name of the book is “Information Systems Today : Managing in the Digital World” published by the Prentice Hall. This book is used to deliver information of general digital economy systems and its new trends to US students majoring in Economics and Business Management.

On this book, Cyworld is evaluated as an online community service that has created a new economy system via social network same as MySpace in US.

The book says that Cyworld has a dominant penetration rate in South Korea as well as $300,000 revenue per day via new type’s digital item called ‘acorn’. In addition, it mentions that the ARPU is around $7 that is more than MySpace’s ARPU $2.17. Cyworld has more than 20M members in South Korea. Moreover, even at this moment, it has about 10,000 new members per day.
Korean people are also enjoying Cyworld services via NateOn messenger provided by SK Telecom, a major operator in Korea, as well as are able to upload their photos taken by their own handsets.

KTF’s mobile payment service to be in the world

2007-06-01T19:36:00.000+09:00

GSM Association goes with KTF’s mobile payment service

A mobile payment service proposed by Korean operator KTF is uniting the world's leading service providers. The GSM Association announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on the 13th that it will launch a“Pay-Buy Mobile Initiative”as suggested by the Korean mobile operator. The GSM Association comprises about 888 member companies, including service providers, equipment and terminal manufacturers.

Once the agreement comes into force, consumers can purchase goods and services anywhere in the world using their mobile payment enabled handsets. The mobile payments will be made using a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) / Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) card in the phone and contactless Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. Fourteen mobile operators including KTF, Cingular Wireless, China Mobile, and NTT DoCoMo are participating in the initiative.

KTF will lead the initiative and is planning to conduct an end-to-end trial in Korea within this year. In addition, LG Electronics will provide handsets for the initial trial in Korea and Mastercard will also take part. Last year, the GSM Association suggested the global application of NFC, the technology used to link mobile devices to payment and contactless systems. Robert Conway, president of the GSM Association said: “Through the KTF led Pay-Buy Mobile Initiative, users will benefit from the ability to purchase items in a secure and convenient way from the comfort of their own mobile phones.”

Hong Kong learns on Mobile TV from Korea

2007-05-30T20:27:00.000+09:00

Last March, RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) asked me for an interview on Mobile TV in Korea. RTHK producer Annie, who was in charge of ‘Media Watch’, visited South Korea to film the competitiveness of Korean Mobile TV which was commercialized in for the first in the Globe. (You can get more information on Korean Mobile TV market and its development from www.tdmb.org)

My interview was focused on providing them the newest trends and insights from Korean Mobile TV experiences. Once the Hong Kong TV people finished filming on Korean mobile TV industry for a whole one week, they told me that they really impressed about the advancement of Korean Mobile TV industry.

As RTHK were not able to have the prior knowledge on Korean mobile industry, My company, Veyond Partners also provided relevant support on arranging the adequate players of Mobile TV which are Samsung, TU Media, KBS, U1 Media, iStation, Ministry of Communication, Korean Broadcasting Commission.

I heard from Annie (who became a very close friend during her stay in Korea) that the Hong Kong audiences were really interested on Korea's Mobile TV and also some Hong Kong companies expressed interests on Korea’s mobile TV experiences once the program were televised in 10th March in Hong Kong. (You can find it from RTHK homepage www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/tv/cmedia_watch/20070310.html)

This is the sample clip that I appeared and I will try to upload some more later.

Will mobile music significantly increase operator mobile data ARPU? Case of MelOn in Korea

2006-08-14T19:02:00.000+09:00

With the rise of ringtones and the proliferation of increasingly more sophisticated handsets, cell phones are moving ever closer to becoming true mobile music machines. And while the audio quality possible on handsets does not yet rival that of portable music players, the commercial success of ringtones shows that there is promise for driving music sales and the potential for for better applications as the technology allows it.

With these technical capabilities have come some business decisions. How will subscribers pay for this content – per song, on a subscription basis, or some other yet to be devised plan? What is the income model for the content creators such as the musicians and songwriters whose works will now be seen on portable devices? How will the carriers participate? How will the record companies get paid? How can mobile music file transfers be secured against the type of file-swapping endemic to the PC platform?

Making Mobile Music Work: SK Telecom-Music Goes Mobile

Here’s one excellent example of successful mobile music business model, SK Telecom’s ‘MelOn’. South Korea’s largest cellular company, SK Telecom, has provided a mobile music portal service called ‘MelOn’ since the end of 2004. MelOn is the first integrated, wired and wireless, music service that allows users to enjoy music virtually anytime, anywhere using a portable MP3 player, a PC, or a mobile phone.

The main MelOn interface is music download and streaming Internet portal, www.melon.co.kr. The service is akin to a rental service, with users “renting” tracks on a monthly basis for use on various terminals. MelOn users pay a 5000won(US$4.50) monthly subscription to stream music to a PC or wrappers on the music guarantee a subscriber is current, and tracks are erased from the end user’s library at the end of the subscription period. To download tracks onto the handset, users pay for airtime at regular call rates, regardless of the size of the track.

The key to the model is its ubiquitousness, downloads are possible using wireline and wireless platforms, and a relatively affordable monthly subscription fee. SK Telecom acquires the rights from the record companies for music to use as ringtones, ringbacks and full version downloads. Music companies are not necessarily enamored by the scheme, but SK Telecom has generally used its market heft to have its way. To further strengthen its position, SK Telecom acquired Korea’s YBM Seoul Records, reportedly Korea’s largest record company.

The MelOn service has received tremendous response from the marketplace, with the number of purchasers and paying subscribers virtually doubling each month. As of early June 2006, MelOn had recorded almost 4.5million subscribers; the number of paying subscribers that enjoy an unlimited amount of music for a monthly flat fee increased as well, reaching 0.6million. According to SK Telecom, the site ranked first among Korean paid music sites in terms of revenue.

MelOn - TV commercial #1

MelOn - TV commercial #2

MelOn - TV commercial #3

P.S.: I'll dicuss further detailed information about 'MelOn' on the 8th of September, 2006, at the W2forum-Consumer Trends & Technology Insights from Korea & Japan

Korea: U.S. adopts Samsung’s WiBro technology

2006-08-14T12:05:00.000+09:00

Much talked about portable Internet service lands deal with three major U.S. companies

Samsung Electronics president Lee Ki-tae, second from left joins hans with Intel executive vice president Sean Maloney, left, Spring Nextel CEO Gary Forsee, third from left, and Motorola CEO Edward Zander at a press conference in New York, Tuesday, to announce their alliance for the launch of WiBro

South Korea’s homegrown portable Internet service, called WiBro here and known as mobile WiMax around the globe, is being deployed in the United States.

Samsung Electronics, one of the major Korean developers of WiBro, Wednesday forged an alliance with three firms; Sprint Nextel, Intel and Motorola for the launch of WiBro in the U.S.

WiBro lets people on the road remain hooked up to the Internet at the speed of a fixed line broadband connection. Its speed is fast enough to download dozens of MP3 files in a minute.

Sprint Nextel, the third largest U.S. cellular service provider, plans to invest as much as $3 billion to commercially roll out the Internet on the go service in 2008.

Sprint aims to have 100 million people covered by the go anywhere Internet application in 2008. A test service will be up and running by the fourth quarter of next year.

Together with Intel and Motorola, Samsung will provide Sprint with base station equipment, terminals and chipsets for WiBro, which debuted in Korea late June.

This is a milestone decision for Samsung and they’re sure Sprint will play a pivotal role in the worldwide initiative for telecom renovation on the desk of WiBro.

Sprint’s move will have an impact for beyond U.S. shores it will help WiBro tap into other nations down the road.

Experts concur that Sprint’s embrace of WiBro will bode well for its expansion.

It is meaningful that the locally developed WiBro is being adopted as a backbone network of the U.S., and other overseas telecom firms are expected to follow Sprint. In other words, WiBro will be able to enjoy a halo effect in its globalization efforts thanks to Sprint’s high profile.

Korea’s dynamic telecom duo KT and SK Telecom embarked on WiBro in late June and the next generation services presently cover some areas of Seoul and Pundang, Kyonggi Province.

KT, the country’s foremost landline operator, will expand the WiBro service range across the capital by the end of this year before going nationwide.

Samsung is developing a WiBro terminal, which can double as a cell phone, with the aim of completing the task early next year, to boost the vitality of the futuristic service.

Is the sports contents saviour of Mobile TV? Case of TU Media in Korea.

2006-08-10T20:39:00.000+09:00

TU media, a satellite DMB service provider is having fun with ‘Seung’s killer effect’.
In the United States, there's New York Yankees and in England, there's Manchester United and Japan, there's Yomiuri Giants where Korea's hero, Lee Seung Youp(29) is currently playing for. TU media goes on live cover every time when he plays a brilliant role. Thus, its rating and subscribers have increased in substantial amount.

On August, 1st , TU media’s live baseball coverage rating has gone up to 3.12% when Lee Seung Youp hit his four hundredth and ended the affair with pinch-hit two-run homer making it four hundredth and first career homeruns.

Lee Seung Youp’s live game coverage brings tremendous advertising effect which leads to actual data where rating has almost doubled up, 1.75 times greater than the average rating of July’s 1.78%.
People either in the bus or subway, viewing satellite DMB have increased in substantial amount, thus, subscriber base is naturally becoming wider.

TU media showed the great power of satellite DMB through out the citizens of Seoul. People in the Seoul subway viewed the game through satellite DMB, screaming out “Yeah!!!”, when Lee Seung Youp closed the game with two-run homer.
Games played in the midnight hour are rebroadcasted during the office-going hour.

According to TU media, if satellite DMB is exposed during the office-going hour when shower effect is the greatest, it has ten times stronger impact and influence than terrestiral-TV commercial.

Sports related contents are definetely killer contents and TU media has proven the fact by the result of its live coverage of sports games. TU media will go live starting the 19th with opening game of England Premiere League where Park Ji-Sung(Manchester United) is playing.

TU commercial

MLB into the world of TU : 34 channels only $13 a month

P.S.: I'll dicuss further detailed information about 'TU media' on the 8th of September, 2006, at the W2forum-Consumer Trends & Technology Insights from Korea & Japan

Gaming Addiction vs Gaming Professionalism

2006-08-01T18:53:00.000+09:00

Case : South Korea
What effects that gaming culture has on the members of its society;
Gaming addiction vs gaming professionalism

How serious is gaming addiction?

According to the Washington Post, 2.4% of South’s Korea’s population aged 9-39 suffers from gaming addiction. Another 10.2% are considered to be borderline cases.
In 2005 alone, ten people died from game addiction related causes.
A couple in Incheon, Korea was arrested in June 2005 when they left their 4-month old daughter alone at home for five hours while going to play World of Warcraft at a PC Baang(Internet café). The baby died of suffocation from turning over on her stomach while the parents were gone.

A number of reasons are blamed for the rise of online gaming addiction in South Korea. They range from the longer amount of time needed to finish extensive gaming objectives or storylines, to inexpensive Internet access (averaging $30.00 a month for household high-speed Internet services), to a society used to living in small apartments or homes trying to escape unfulfilling daily lifestyles.

The Washington Post says, “Gaming addiction is in part because young people here suffer from acute stress as they face educational pressures said to far exceed those endured by their peers in other countries. It is not uncommon, for instance, for South Korean students to be forced by their parents into four to five hours of daily after-school tutoring. With drug abuse and teenage sex considered rare in the socially conservative country, escape through electronic games can be a huge attractive outlet.”

What is addiction?

Addiction is currently defined as a behavior over which an individual has impaired control with harmful consequences (Cottler, 1993; Rounsaville et al.,1993 in Robert West, 2001). Thus, individuals who recognize that the behavior is harming them or those whom they care about find themselves unable to stop engaging in the behavior when they try to do so (Heather, 1998 in Robert West, 2001). The severity of the medical, psychological and social harm that can be caused by addiction, together with the fact that it violates the individual's freedom of choice, means that it is appropriate to consider it to be a form of psychiatric disorder: a disorder of motivation (Robert West, 2001).

Addiction typically involves initial exposure to a stimulus followed by behaviors seeking to repeat the experience. After a number of repetitions of the behavior-stimulus sequence, the addiction becomes established.

The starting point for a view of addiction as excessive appetite is that there exists a range of objects and activities which are particularly risky for humans, who are liable to develop such strong attachment to them that they then find their ability to moderate their behavior significantly diminished.

Addiction, as an attachment to an appetitive activity, so strong that a person finds it difficult to moderate the activity, despite the fact that it is causing harm (Jim Orford, 2001).

What are the signs of gaming addiction?
- PC/Video game use characterized by intense feelings of pleasure and guilt.
- Obsessed and pre occupied about being on PC even when disconnected.
- Hours playing increasingly, seriously disrupting family, work, social life.
- Lying about PC Game use.
- Feelings of withdrawal, anger depression when not on or when uninvolved with game.
- Large phone or credit card bills due to online services.
- Fantasy life replaces emotional life with partner.

The South Korean government, in support of fighting game addiction, has taken several steps:

The Korean Agency for Digital Opportunity & Promotion operates centers where people can go to for help on gaming and internet addiction. In 2003, its forty centers counseled 2,243 people. In 2004, KADO counseled 8,978 people. Over 10,000 people were admitted to therapy programs in 2005. KADO’s programs consist of alternative recreational programs and group therapy.

South Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication is also opening similar centers at universities and is funding anti-addiction courses at South Korea universities.

Not all intense gaming is a bad thing. A few intense gamers put their time in, and it becomes a successful venture for them: professional gaming. South Korea’s government is helping fund construction of the World’s first e-sports stadium, to be completed in 2008, where big screens will soon display big competitions.

Can gaming creat new revenue sources and have positive impact to its society?

The most successful professional gamers in South Korea are currently playing Starcraft, FIFA Series, and Warcraft Ш. Fewer than twenty players in the Korean Pro-Gamer Association make six figures a year, while about fifty out of its total 170 members make $40,000-$60,000.

Two cable TV networks, known as Ongamenet and MBCgame, compete for viewers with their own 24-hour programming dedicated to PC, console gaming and both cover South Korea’s professional gaming scene. Fierce gaming competitions are held, backed by major corporate sponsors such as SK Telecom’s T1, KTF’s Magicns, Pantech’s EX, CJ’s Entus, Samsung’s Khan and STX’s Soul providing interactive benefits for the team as well as for the enterprises’ name recognition. Game studios overflow with live audiences trying to catch a glimpse at players who are practically given celebrity status

Ongamenet, a 24-hour PC/console gaming cable channel. Their number one program is called Ongamenet Starleague, which is a three-month long Starcraft tournament broadcast live every Friday beginning at 7:00pm. Players in the final round compete for a top cash prize of $80,000. Second and third place winners can win up to $50,000 and $30,000, respectively.
Sky Proleague is a year long, with eleven Starcraft teams, eleven rounds, and a $100,000 dollar ultimate prize. Over 120,000 spectators attend the final match. It has four studio facilities, and is in the top twenty channels watched out of South Korea’s ninety-nine cable TV channels.
MBCGame covers Starcraft, Warcraft Ш, FIFA series games, CounterStrike, Winning 11, Age of Empire 3, and Dead or Alive.

Competition to win audiences among broadcasters already became fierce. It’s important to keep in mind that corporate sponsorship is involved as well, allocating millions of dollars in prizes and ad revenue.

Professionals and amateurs will gather at Seoul for the national qualifiers of the World Cyber Games (WCG) Aug.5-6. Organized by an affiliate company of Samsung Group, it has been the premiere international computer and video gaming festival since 2001. At the World Cyber Games (WCG), gold medal winning gamers bring in as much as $80,000 per tournament. The Olympic of video games was inaugurated in 2000 in Seoul, and now hosts players from sixty-seven nations. This year’s grand finals will be held at the F1 racing track of Monza, in northern Italy, in October, for the first time in Europe.

Nexon mobile Releasing Three Games Aiming at Summer

2006-07-23T21:27:00.000+09:00

Nexonmobile is to concurrently roll out three games in genre of casual game, sports game, and role playing game aiming to dominate the market in summer. The company targets diverse age groups with 'Crazy Arcade B&B 2007', 'Crazy Baseball' a mobile games based on the popular online game'Crazy Arcade' and 'Epic Chronicle II' a large-scaled RPG game.

'Crazy Arcade B&B 2007', the leader of three games, is an action puzzle game based on the online game 'Crazy Arcade B&B' and, in which monsters, objects, item, and map themes with diverse characters not less than the online version appear. And it doubles excitement recreating 'Bula' an online version mission map as a quest for friends.

KARTRIDER into the Mobile Phone

'Crazy Baseball' a mobile baseball game is made to enjoy a game with a team that user forms with friendly characters like Baezzi, Marid, Digini. User can use items used in the online version of Crazy Arcade like Buster, Water-fly, and spaceship to a baseball game.

'Epic Chronicle II' representing a dramatic RPG game is said that the outstanding graphic and unique system of the game exceeded the limit of a mobile RPG.

LG Mobile Targets New Generation

2006-07-21T21:08:00.000+09:00

LG Mobile has been relatively low in market share but recently due to their stylish and breakthrough design, 'Chocolate Phone', they have blockbuster in the making. LG Mobile finally hit the sweet spot in the faddish mobile phone market. The Chocolate garnered industry accolades such as the prestigious European 2006 Reddot Design and IF awards for its exellence in design and user-interface, and has been drawing a lot of orders from distributors. And the handset was ranked the best selling mobile phone by Carphone Warehouse, Europe's biggest mobile phone retail chain.

LG Mobile is promoting its name recognition to a much higher standard via '2006 LG Action Sport' tournament, combining handset and extreme sport. The largest world scale extreme sport tournament, 'LG Action Sport Championship' draws impressive attention and it cut the first tape in Netherlands. LG Mobile is in session of '2006 LG Action Sport European Tour' hosting the tournamet for two days(July 14~15th) in Dance Valley, on the outskirt of Amsterdam, Netherlnands. Thus, to enhance brand image which implies challenge and youth.

The LG Action Sports World Tour was created to tie this global phenonmenon together into one global circuit that spreads the gospel of action sports. Designed to showcase these incredible sports to new audiences, to build heroes, and to help launch new careers for tomorrow's brightest stars, the LG Action Sports World Tour is the only global multi-sport series bringing A-list talent to a cohesive set of contests on multiple continents.

All New Chocolate Phone-LG KV6000

In the event, LG Mobile is using SMS via handset and drawing substantial interests from European youngsters through carrying out preview exhibits of 'Chocolate Phone' which is one of the hottest model around the world from exclusively made for 'Chocolate Phone' handset booth.

LG Mobile expects the Chocolate's popularity will help expand its reach in Europe for the new generation, where sales are less than half those in the U.S.A. This year LG Mobile seeks to sell 70 million handsets, with GSM phones making up more than half of the total. The company sold 55 million phones last year. It's vital for LG Mobile to boost its European, espeically new generation, if it is to achieve its target of edging past either Samsung or Motorola to become the world's No.3 by 2008 or 2009.

LG Action Sport - Amsterdam, Netherlands

The LG Action Sports program is typical of LG Mobile event: Work patiently and strategically and strive to be the mobile leader by putting out the best products with a long-term vision and focusing on new generation to be the next future consumer. You won't want to miss even a second of these amazing events. Keep your eyes out for the 2006 LG Action Sports World Tour. It just might be coming to your town next!

Korea's e-sport has become an icon to success

2006-07-20T19:00:00.000+09:00

Lee Yoon-yeol who is attached to one of the professional Starcraft online game teams, PANTECH EX, a front man of the team comes into the spotlight by German financial paper, Handelsblatt. Only 21 years old, the progamer is making more money than the usual exucutives. Lee's annual income is over $800,000 and the number of his fan club members are skyrocketing to 170,000 members. In Korea, it's already an old fairy tale, that progamers are loved by people as to famous sports star or singers.

Through PANTECH-EX's player, Lee Yoon-yeol, Handelsblatt has concentrated the spotlight on PANTECH's interrelated distinctive marketing and Korea's e-sport industry. Annually, PANTECH-EX is sponsored around $1,500,000 by wireless mobile handset manufacturer, PANTECH.

There are 3 professional channels, broadcasting only computer games and 11 other professional Starcraft online game teams mostly attached to large enterprises.

Korean government is encouraging domestic game developers to march with a game boom phenomenon.

This year, PANTECH's interrelated enterprise has opened up a market in supplying 3G handsets to German mobile communication operator, E-plus. Armed with state of the art technology and design, mega-pixel camera phone has released in France, drawing steady interests from Europeans.

Shinhan 2006 Season 1 OSL (Ongamenet Star League) OPENING

Samsung & SK Telecom Joint Collaboration Boost HELIO

2006-07-19T20:03:00.000+09:00

Helio is a joint venture between SK Telecom, Korea's leading mobile communications company, and EarthLink, the nation's next generation Internet service provider. The company is capitalized with $440 million of partner investments. Helio Guarantees total happiness in services.

Starting October, SK Telecom will concentrate on global operation to enhance 3G network access. Samsung will supply premium class CDMA handsets to Helio. In addition to supply of handsets, as CDMA wireless mobile operator, Sprint's communication network standard meets compatible, Samsung is planning to provide three types of premium class handsets with built in enhanced service function to Helio.

Samsung has shown outstanding support as VK went bankrupt. Starting 4th quarter, Helio will reorganize its main line-up to Pantech and Samsung. Since, Samsung has much higher name recognition than VK and Pantech, they're expecting to have quite an impact in drawing substantial subscribers.

TV commercial specially targeted for Korean Americans

TV commercial specially targeted for Americans

Future is in South Korea

2006-07-17T18:36:00.000+09:00

This is an intersting article on what South Korea can provide to the rest of the world written by Business 2.0.

The future is in South Korea

Smart investments in broadband there have paid off in the form of a hyperconnected society -- here's how we can start reaping the benefits.
By Chris Taylor, Business 2.0 Magazine senior editor
June 14, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - I, for one, welcome our South Korean overlords.

Ninety percent of the country has blazingly fast, 3-megabits-per-second broadband at home, and similarly high-speed wireless connections on the road. The telecom market is fiercely competitive, and broadband service costs the consumer less than $20 a month.

There are 20,000 PC baangs, or Internet cafes, where you can rent a superfast machine for $1 an hour. Online gaming has become a way of life, with nearly 3,000 South Korean videogame companies boasting combined revenues of up to $4 billion.

As a result, South Korea has become the world's best laboratory for broadband services - and a place to look to for answers on how the Internet business may evolve.

Smart bet on broadband
How did this come about? In 1995, the South Korean government made what must rank as one of the most shrewd and far-sighted investments in business history. It spent big on a nationwide high-capacity broadband network that any telecom operator could offer service on, and offered subsidies so that 45 million Koreans could buy cheap PC's. Cost: a mere $1.5 billion.

Fast-forward 11 years: Korea is now the most connected and Net-addicted country on Earth. There are a few American companies who have benefited from the South Korean broadband boom: Blizzard, for example, makes a popular online game called Starcraft which is so widely played in South Korea that two TV channels broadcast Starcraft matches between professional players.

But the most popular services are homegrown.

Cyworld, for example, is a social network owned by a subsidiary of SK Telecom, the country's largest wireless provider. To an American eye, the Cyworld service looks like a mixture of some of the hottest US properties: it's MySpace meets Flickr and Blogger and AIM and Second Life.

Users have avatars that visit and can link to each other's "minihompy" - a miniature homepage that's actually a 3-D room containing a users' blog, photos, and virtual items for sale. Cyworld's digital garage sales include music, ringtones, clothes for your avatar and furnishings for your own minihompy.

Cyworld has penetration rates that would make Rupert Murdoch, CEO of MySpace parent News Corp. (Research), green with envy: An astonishing 90 percent of South Koreans in their 20s use the service. Celebrities and politicians set up their own minihompies, and the way to get ahead in twentysomething Korean society is to found a popular Cyworld club, or chat room.

Printing money
Most importantly, Cyworld is a license to print money. The service itself is free (and available on cellphones as well as online), but to buy all the extras - like ringtones and virtual furnishings - will cost you "acorns," the service's virtual currency. Cyworld sells its users $300,000 in acorns every single day.

With such a proven revenue stream, Cyworld is expanding fast. It launched in China and Japan last year, and a US launch is slated for later this year.

Some might dismiss it as a Korean novelty, but all of Cyworld's elements, individually, have been successful on these shores. And teens and twentysomethings who use social networks tend not to have much brand loyalty to one service if another offers cooler features. SK Telecom's ace in the hole is its experience with running a social network on mobile devices.

"Every social network is going to have to have a mobile component over the next year," predicts Jill Aldort, an analyst at Yankee Group. "It gives more stickiness to the service. There's going to be a social networking fatigue factor - users need novelty. And Cyworld clearly has more functionality than MySpace."

Whether or not Cyworld succeeds in the U.S., South Korea is going to continue aggressively targeting American Internet users. Its government has set a target of $1 billion a year in online game exports by 2007.

NCSoft, the company that runs Korea's most popular multiplayer online role-playing game, Lineage, has found a string of successes in the U.S. by learning quickly what Americans love: its City of Heroes and City of Villains online games were both number one hits here.

Lost in translation?
To be sure, there is much about South Korean culture that doesn't translate well. The country's love of cuteness is a little too saccharine for American tastes.

And part of Cyworld's success can be chalked up to users' incessant message-swapping - not answering a missive from a friend with all due speed is considered a faux-pas in Korean society.

There is a chance that the rise of broadband and the rise of online gaming will not be so interlinked on this side of the Pacific (though the runaway success of World of Warcraft suggests otherwise). There's a chance that US social networkers may prefer a stripped-down service with no avatars, bells or whistles.

But don't forget that US wireless operators used to dismiss Japanese advances in mobile phones in much the same way. Do users really want to send text messages, watch video on their phones, or buy ringtones, they mused, or is that something peculiar to Japan? Well, as it turned out, they do, and companies that bet early on the notion that technology can cross cultural boundaries, like Sprint Nextel (Research) and Cingular, won out.

So think twice before ignoring what's going on in Seoul. That shrewd government investment a decade ago may just have created a broadband hothouse that can give us a glimpse of the Internet culture's future.

MySpace is Cyworld in Korea

2006-07-17T18:00:00.000+09:00

Cyworld or simply CY (Similar to Blog but more close to the concept of Web 2.0) has been one of the most successful merger of SK Telecom (or SK Communications if to say accuratley) has ever made so far and it actually creates ‘substantial’ revenue.

CY has been a really interesting social phenomenon in Korea for last couple of years and made huge impact to both general customer and businesses. Creating attractive CY was one of the highest priorities for the FMCG companies and the word 'CY Marketing' were newly created which can be interpreted as 'marketing activities utilizing CY'. Even the politicians or celebrities use CY to communicate with their supporters and fans.

It is like having you home not in physical location but in online space Mini Homepage or widely known as Mini HomPy, where CY users are putting their efforts to decorate it more nicely than others.

'And here come the secret of making money using CY.

Koreans (In Fact every one in the world) wants to differentiate themselves with others. It is why luxury goods, good costumes, jewels and many more items are sold in high price. But in order to differentiate youself with others you need something, say money, intelligence, degree, class, which is not easy to get instantly. You have to invest such as time, effort, hard working in order to get this.

But CY allows you to have this at least in virtual space with relatively cheap price with shortened period of time. You can be attractive in virtual space and differentiate yourself with mere efforts. It is like having Starbucks or consumable luxury not in real life but in on line. CY will not work exactly same on other countires as it has been in Korea, and there are more than ‘the instinct of questing differentiation’ to explain ths success of CY such as the growing importance of social networking.'

But in business wise, how Cyworld made money? Cyworld saw the businss opportunity (each individual wanting to differentiate themselves in a easy way) and allowed them to achieve that instinct (using digital items to decorate their personal online territory). It is classic business strategy. Find the business opportunity, and using smart STP (especially 10s, 20s) to lure the customers.

This is quite simple version of the success of Cy which is purely my personal view. I am happy to receive more open discussions/questions/ideas.

You can read more detail on CY from recent Business Week article www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b...