In this, the second of three posts looking at Android, I look at the situation in Korea.
Android in Korea is characterized by one letter and one letter only: “S”, as in Galaxy S and Samsung, but while Samsung has a long pedigree in Smartphones (I can’t say I miss my BlackJack II or my Mirage) and indeed Android outside it’s domestic market, it wasn’t first to market with an Android handset in Korea. That dubious honour goes to Motorola who, despite falling sales world wide, launched the Motorola Roi back in January.
Similar to its North American cousin “The Droid” the MotoRoi found something of a following in Korea amongst those hungry for an alternative to Windows Mobile, sick of feature phones, or had been swept up in the quickly emerging “Smartphone” craze, but were wary of either KT, The iPhone or a combination thereof.
A capable phone and a nice implementation of the Android platform, the MotoRoi never sold in great numbers and was very quickly eclipsed by the number of iPhones KT was seeing go out its doors.
Eight months later and Android offerings remain pretty slim on the ground. KT has the Nexus One – Google’s “own” phone, but in the wake of iPhone (currently 3G and the debacle over when they will have 4) they haven’t nearly done as much as they could have to get that particular handset into people’s hands.
The Korean Nexus One even had the distinction of being the first handset in the world to officially have the latest version of the Android OS installed on it v. 2.2 or the so called “Froyo”, and yet you would be hard placed to see one anywhere.*
LG, Korea’s 3rd telecoms provider and somewhat behind the other two is coming out this quarter with its “Optimus” branded Android offerings, which actually look quite nice aesthetically, but forgive me – Isn’t LG still using 2.5G CDMA 2000 / Ev-Do type technology? (I mean honestly who uses LG?)
And that brings us back to the Galaxy S.
As far as possible I am referring to the Korean market version of the S. In what seems a strange and possibly costly exercise, “The S” is being offered in different hardware configurations and with different Industrial design. In The US The S takes the shape of the “Captivate” for AT&T and the “Vibrant” for T-Mobile. Admittedly, the carriers use different radio frequencies, but for all intents and purposes they are the same phone, and pretty much the same as the S here in Korea. (Except for the addition of DMB TV in Korea for watching televised Starcraft II matches in the subway):
Video courtesy of Engadget here.
You’ll note my reluctance in mentioning any “iPhone Killers” in this round up – even though I am an owner, I’m not a fanboy, but I really think other manufacturers have a long way to go to equal the intuitiveness and simplicity, and integrated ecosystem of the iPhone, but I’d be remiss in this discussion of Android not to mention the attempts at a so-called “iPad killer”. Take the telephony out of the equation and you have a more open field. The iPad, for all its hype (I paid for mine today, should be in my hands in Korea in about a month!) and the same ecosystem, does fall down in the portable computing type arena. The lack of inputs (USB, Card readers etc) no File system and an awkward way of typing on the thing are all ticks in the negative column that could be solved by Android.
Forget the sub-$200 offerings from Chinese OEMs running Android v. 1.6 available on eBay, and enter The S-Pad (Also maybe called the Galaxy Pad) Samsung’s rumored 7 Inch Android tablet running Samsung’s TouchWiz Interface rumored for release in Q3 this year (There’s only this month left in Q3!):
The Galaxy Pad (S Pad) next to the Galaxy S
If there was a device to truly challenge iPad Madness, this may well be it. And rest assured I will be crawling over burning broken glass to get a peek at this one!
Not that it’s all increasing growth and roses for Android in Korea.
The introduction and development of these “foreign” mobile invaders has, for some time, been stifled by ridiculous protectionism in the guise of flimsy government regulation (remember WIPI?). Along with the iPhone and Nexus One there are only two other models of phone available internationally – The Nokia 51something, Nokia’s Navigation based phone crippled because regulations forbid map data of Korea to be held on foreign servers, and The Sony Xperia (Extra semi-colonanyone?)
And speaking of regulations, don’t think you can buy any apps for your Android device. Financial regulations require public key encryption (On your PC those would be Active X controls) for financial transactions, so no your bank won’t honour purchases made over the phone. (Has this changed? Anyone?) [Update:] Paid Apps are now available from The Android Marketplace. And you’ll be limited to productivity and utility apps on Android (and iPhone for that matter) Because anything that even resembles a game (and not just “entertainment”) has to be vetted by the Korea Games Rating Board before it can be sold.
So no having fun with your Android now OK kiddies!?
In the face of these restrictions we do indeed see Android growing, not only worldwide, but also in Korea. Part of this growth is due to local content providers looking to populate your Android device with their content.
And it is this locally generated Korean content that we will look at in the third and final installment of this little look at our Dancing Green Robots (그린 로봇 댄스)
Images (cc) where possible
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*In a related note, I was overjoyed to hear that, just like other markets, the Nexus One is Unlocked – in that you could slip any SIM card into it. Except that Hardware is networked locked in Korea, if the carrier hasn’t whitelisted your IMEI No. the phone just won’t work. No SK Telecom for your Nexus One.
This is, frankly, a f**king shocking situation in 2010, where markets like Europe, The rest of Asia, The rest of the world have had unlocked and “network portable” hardware for years with no damage to their user base or profits.
Korean users, ignorant because for years (since the introduction of WCDMA – so at least 5 years) have been told “This is impossible” are being lied to and shouldn’t have to put up with this situation.
Look forward to a series of posts in December this year when my 1 year contract is up with KT and I want my iPhone unlocked. (Albeit for no other reason than I believe I have the right to it!)
