“Judging from pre-orders that started Nov. 22, Apple Inc.’s hit communications device appears set to make serious inroads in South Korea — home to some of the world’s most sophisticated mobile phone users,” Olsen reports. “So far, KT Corp., the local mobile carrier which has contracted with Apple to sell service plans for the phone, says it has received 53,000 advance orders ahead of Saturday’s official launch.
Olsen reports, “Such numbers have impressed analysts. ‘This is phenomenal,’ said Hwang Sung-jin, who monitors the industry at Prudential Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul… But he added it is difficult to assess how much of an inroad the iPhone will make in the growing domestic smartphone market, which he said totaled about 400,000 users at the end of the third quarter.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s not at all difficult. We estimate the amount of inroad the iPhone will make in the South Korean smartphone market to be, let’s see… 53,000 divided by 400,000… around 13.25% to start.
Olsen continues, “Samsung, which is the world’s second-largest seller of mobile phones behind Finland’s Nokia Corp., said it expects the iPhone will ‘invigorate the South Korean smartphone market.’ Lauren Kim, a spokeswoman for SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, cited the iPhone’s arrival as ‘one of the factors’ behind price cuts announced this week for service plans for Samsung’s Omnia II smartphone.”
Full article here.
Evan Ramstad reports for The Wall Street Journal, “South Koreans pay the highest prices in the world for cellphones and among the highest for wireless service. The average selling price for Samsung and LG phones is nearly twice as much in South Korea as it is outside the country.”
“The iPhone is already changing the pricing dynamic. KT will offer three iPhone models under monthly usage plans with charges ranging from 45,000 won to 95,000 won, or about $40 to $80. Depending on which plan is chosen, the iPhone’s price ranges from $342 to free,” Ramstad reports. “Samsung responded this week by making its Omnia2 phone free for people who buy an $80 monthly plan on SK Telecom Co., one of KT’s rivals. It cut the $900 price on other plans to around $300.”
“The iPhone’s arrival will also end the control that South Korea’s cellphone makers and carriers, including KT, have had on the software that runs on phones. Applications for iPhone will be available through Apple’s online service or directly from software makers,” Ramstad reports. “‘The most appealing part of iPhone is the variety of applications,’ says Lee Jae-gon, a Seoul businessman who pre-ordered one. ‘In the case of the domestic phones, you only use programs that are pre-installed on them.'”
Full article here.
“‘I can’t wait to get my iPhone,’ said Na Hae-bin, a 30-year-old market researcher at an Internet company, who reserved one as soon as he could. ‘My heart was beating fast.'”
Be still, my foolish heart.
Did a shiver go up your leg also?
How about a Kimchee recipe app? Is Chaching a Korean word?
You need to go back to math class, MDN.
Unless each iPhone sold is a replacement for an existing phone, then the total phones in use will be more that 400,000. If all iPhones purchased are new users, then it would be 53,000 divided by 453,000 or 11.7%. Of course, the actual percentage will be between that and your number
That said, capturing 12% of the market before the thing is on sale is amazing.
The Korean market is probably the toughest nut for any foreign phone maker to crack. It’s an amazing feat on Apple’s behalf
If they do that well in Korea it will be a big accomplishment Koreans like to by “made in Korea”.
hey, that’s about 12% marketshare on ADVANCE ORDERS ALONE.
” Applications for iPhone will be available through Apple’s online service or directly from software makers,” Ramstad reports. “
It’s called the App Store and is part of the Apple’s iTunes Store, Rammy.
“Applications for iPhone will be available through Apple’s online service or directly from software makers,” Ramstad reports.”
I’ll quote it again because it says “or directly from software makers”.
Uninformed, or are we to see a loosening of the stranglehold that Apple through iTunes has on application sales?
I tend to believe the former, but I can hope.
and how much of 400,000 is already using an unlocked iPhone..
Just to give some context, but I read a few weeks ago in the Korea Times that Samsung’s flagship smartphone the Omnia II was selling about 1000 a week in Korea. So, 50,000 or so pre-sales is about a year’s worth of smartphone sales in Korea’s tightly controlled market.
The other thing, is that typically mfrs make most of their money in their home market. By generating big sales in Korea, Apple forces Samsung and LG to defend their marketshare by dropping prices, and thus they lose a large share of their profits. That makes them weaker when competing with Apple outside of Korea.
…”typically mfrs make most of their money in their home market. “
Not Apple. The wholesale price of iPhone is lower in America than in any other country. Same goes for retail; in the US, it is around $700, whereas everywhere else overseas, its retail price is upwards of $700, oftentimes closer to $1,000 (or about 660 EUR), after all subsidies are included.
Apple is clearly always going against the herd, and obviously, quite successfully.
3 iPhone models? Maybe 3 plans…
A plan to only use only the apps already pre-installed…that sounds terrible.
“Applications for iPhone will be available through Apple’s online service or directly from software makers“
An alternative to the App Store?
I (still) like our strategy. I really do.
Please pass me another chair.
@ MDN
> let’s see… 53,000 divided by 400,000… around 13.25% to start.
Very good.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> “Analysts” are obviously a bit slow.
I hate to burst the insecure bubble of the South Koreans, but obsessing over smart phones does not make you “sophisticated.”
And if they are indeed so friggin’ sophisticated, why is it that the dumb Americans are the only people to ever come up with things like the iPhone?
At any rate, I’m terrifically glad that those sophisticated South Koreans will have a device that’ll make it easier for them to express their obnoxious anti-Americanism.
Josh,
Nobody ever said anything about South Koreans being anti-American. While there are plenty of nations out there that are flat-out anti-American (some more, some less), South Korean’s definitely are NOT (You must be confusing them with North Koreans; however, those have no idea what is a smartphone, or for that matter, a cellphone).
South Koreans ARE very much patriotic, though. They are immensely proud of what they had achieved (especially in comparison with their northern brethren).
Make sure you don’t confuse patriotism with xenophobia.
Let’s not forget, good number of those extremely talented Apple engineers aren’t Americans, but foreigners from many places, including South Koreans.
The more I re-read Josh’s post, the more it is clear to me how extremely xenophobic (not to mention detached from reality) it is. You may wish to apologise to non-Americans you have so blatantly offended (especially South Koreans), for absolutely no reason.
Josh sounds pretty funny considering before Apple came along pretty much every great cell phone company was… outside the US.
Also, the components of the iPhone come from places like… *egads…Taiwan, Japan, South Korea.
The ironic thing is, I have a Samsung mobile, and an iPod touch. Plenty of Koreans have already fallen in love with the iPhone.
And then there’s this:
“Make sure you don’t confuse patriotism with xenophobia”
Why not? They’re inextricably linked.
every korean student in sydney has an iPhone. So news goes back to the mother country… go figure… samsung should just focus on their TVs
The growth curve of the iPhone is amazing, especially compared to the iPod.
But keep this in mind, by the time the iPod hit 30 million units there were numerous different forms and prices. The iPhone costs more than the iPod ever did, is selling better and there’s essentially a single form with minor changes.
I wonder if Apple plans on making a slightly more compact, possibly cheaper version? Maybe next year. Next year will be fun to watch!
I’m sure the iPhone will be successful in South Korea, but being as I’ve been there twice, I can tell you that virtually no one there speaks English. What’s the point? Well, 99.999% of the 100,000+ iPhone apps are NOT in Korean. THE main selling point of the iPhone is the app store (yes, there are TONS of other features, but it’s the app store that makes the iPhone such a dominant player).
I’m sure Korean programmers will start churning out tons of apps in Korean, but until that happens, I think the iPhone will have something of an uphill battle (as was pointed out earlier, the South Koreans are devotedly patriotic [and, I might add, deservedly so]). In the end, the iPhone will prevail, but I think expectations should be lowered for a while.
It’s been my experience (lived in Asia for four years) that most teenagers don’t have a personal computer in the home and rely solely on a cell phone for pretty much everything, except computing.
Introduce a computer-like phone to Asia and watch them fly off the shelf. Is it possible to acquire software updates without a personal computer?
Sorry guys, but South Koreans are, in fact, anti-American. That you are ignorant of that fact is your problem. Not mine.
And they have in large part been able to do what they’ve done because of the blood sacrifice of thousands of Americans, and the monetary sacrifice of several hundred million more.
These true facts hurt their silly pride, and they resent us for their dependence.