Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

iPhone to launch in South Korea at end of November

Apple's iPhone will be available to South Korean customers on November 28, just 10 days after South Korea's Communications Commission approved the iPhone for sale.

KT Corp announced that it will offer iPhones for sale beginning on November 28th, making it the first company in South Korea to carry the phone. According to an AP report, KT Corp. began accepting online and in-store orders for the iPhone but will not activate service until the 28th.

South Korea’s handheld market is dominated by Samsung and Pantech, which according to Bloomberg have a 90 percent market share in South Korea. Nearly 90 percent of South Korea’s population owns a mobile phone.

In a press release, Kim Woo-sik, CEO of KT Corp’s personal customer group said, “We are thrilled to bring iPhone to South Korea. Our customers will enjoy the power and benefits of using the revolutionary iPhone on KT’s 3G network.”

The Korea Communications Commission approved the iPhone for sale at its meeting on Wednesday. South Korea has a nationwide policy that all devices providing location-based services be subjected to review.



27 Comments

oc4theo 16 Years · 294 comments

Apple will have to show Samsung the real competition here. That 90% will have to be chiseled away, point by point until Apple gets half of it. It will take time, perhaps years, but it will happen.

The march is on, there's no stopping Apple now!

aaarrrgggh 19 Years · 1607 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I thought that S. Korea was all CDMA?

I did too. Apparently there are two GSM telcos (including KT) though.

solipsism 19 Years · 25701 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I thought that S. Korea was all CDMA?

Very small percentage owned by LG Telecom is CDMA-based. Their two largest carriers account for ~80% of their ~45M users GSM-based. Not too many cell users and their phones and services are "advanced” like the Japanese so I wouldn’t expect much in the way of sales so be prepared for the “the iPhone is a failure” and “nobody wants the iPhone anymore” comments.

lowededwookie 17 Years · 1183 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism

Very small percentage owned by LG Telecom is CDMA-based. Their two largest carriers account for ~80% of their ~45M users GSM-based. Not too many cell users and their phones and services are "advanced? like the Japanese so I wouldn?t expect much in the way of sales so be prepared for the ?the iPhone is a failure? and ?nobody wants the iPhone anymore? comments.

Umm but isn't the iPhone actually doing quite well in Japan? While many of the phones in Japan have more features than the iPhone there is actually more people buying iPhones than the others because the iPhone is easy to use and all those features that people say the Japanese crave are in fact so convoluted to use that they don't use them much anyway.