Tablets: A New Start in Samsung's Galaxy Lineup?

There is news out of Barcelona about Samsung's new Galaxy smart phone and its new tablet computer, designed to compete with Apple's iPad.  The Joongang Daily covered it, along with much of the trade press.  As shown in the accompanying graphic (click to see full size version), the new Samsung tablet has a 10.1 inch screen, slightly larger than the iPad.  I have long thought that something approximately this size will turn out to be a popular form factor, if it is lightweight enough.   Think of it as a powerful electronic clipboard.  For reading newspapers and magazines, or watching television, the size of these new tablet computers seems almost ideal.  The day is close at hand when many people will carry a smart phone and a tablet computer, both for use at work and on the go, and will choose to use a large or wall-size screen at home.  The ability to synchronize, access and use the same content across all three screen sizes (aka cloud computing) is indeed going to be convenient and commonplace.

Global Media Trends---Korean Media Trends

From April 19-22, Fulbright Korea will be hosting a U.S. State Department-sponsored Social, Mobile and Visual Media Workshop on "Advising in the Digital Age."  The workshop will be attended by fifteen Education USA advisors from around the Asian region with possibly some international involvement.  I've been asked to give a presentation on the opening day on the topic "Global Trends in New Media."  Today, while preparing for that presentation, I ran across the following video on YouTube of Google CEO Eric Schmidt's presentation at last month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  Each of the major trends discussed by Eric Schmidt and his colleagues has direct and profound implications for Korea and its ICT sector.  Enjoy!

New York Times: What Convergence? TVs Hesitant March to the Net

An article in today's New York Times just illustrates that the United States is on another planet than Korea when it comes to media convergence and offering of television services via the internet.  Three major providers here are now agressively marketing IPTV services, bundled with attractive voice and data services in so-called "triple-play" packages.  The government, through the newly-established Korea Communications Commission, is trying to remove obstacles to "convergence," as if to say "bring it on!"  Meanwhile, in the United States, many are suggesting that it will be a slow transition to the inevitable.  The debate discussed in the New York Times never took place here, nor will it, and we are moving on to other things.  I'm not suggesting that it will be a completely easy road ahead, but as a consumer, I'm happy to live in the Korean media market versus that of the U.S., thank you.

The U.S., Korea and Broadband

Almost on the eve of President Obama's inauguration Business Week has published an interesting article, entitled "Bring U.S. Broadband Up to Speed," and its recommendations are right on target.  As the sub-head notes, "For long term economic growth Obama's stimulus package should include a $10 billion to $15 billion investment in high speed communications infrastructure.  Quoting from the article:
"The U.S. desperately needs to catch up with global leaders in two areas of high-speed broadband communications. The first is extending the current world-class wired broadband service now used by big business, smaller companies, and consumers across America. The second is increasing the transmission speed and reach of wireless service to nearly everywhere in the nation. Achieving these two goals would bridge the digital divide between city and country and provide a powerful productivity tool to all sectors of society: private enterprise, nonprofit organizations and institutions, and every level of government."
The article goes on to note how companies in other countries are leveraging broadband and the internet to operate more efficiently and create game-changing advantages.  Australia, with territory nearly as large as the continental U.S. and a very similar population distribution, has wireless network speeds of 21 Mbps to cell phones, laptops, and other wireless devices on a mobile Internet that reaches 99% of the population.  Plans are to double Australia's network speeds to 42 Mbps in 2009, "enough bandwidth to download a two-hour movie to a laptop on a beach in four minutes."
Business Week could have just as well have elaborated on South Korea.  This country built its first digitally switched network in the 1980s.  The Public Switched Telephone Network was completed in 1987, just before the Seoul Olympics.  Improvements to that network continued until, in the early 1990s leaders here saw the need for building "information superhighways."  The Korea Information Infrastructure project from 1995-2005 laid down the most extensive fiber optic, atm-switched communications network in the world, allowing those who live here to enjoy fast internet service.  However, things did not stop there.  In South Korea, development and investment have been consistent and continuous since 1981!  Policymakers here and most people have come to appreciate the productivity advantages and possibilities brought by the information revolution.  Soon WiBro (Mobile WiMax) will be available throughout Korea, but that will not be the last stage of this revolution.  Ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence will be prominent in the next phase of development.
It seems clear that the U.S. could benefit from Korea's example and that a strong government-industry partnership between the telecoms sectors of the two nations would be beneficial to both as Obama takes office.

Some Year-end Thoughts on the "Information Superhighway"

As far as I can determine from my own research, it was U.S. Vice President Al Gore who gave a speech at UCLA in 1994 that popularized the term "information superhighway."  In that speech, he outlined the Clinton/Gore administration's vision of a national information infrastructure and their proposals for creating it.  He said, in part. "We have become an information-rich society. Almost 100% of households have radio and television, and about 94% have telephone service. Three-quarters of all households have a VCR, about 60% now have cable, and roughly 30% of households have personal computers. As the information infrastructure expands in breadth and depth, so too will our understanding of the services that are deemed essential. This is not a matter of guaranteeing the right to play video-games. It is a matter of guaranteeing access to essential services. We cannot tolerate -- nor in the long run can this nation afford -- a society in which some children become fully educated and others do not; nor can we tolerate a society in which some adults have access to training and lifetime education, and others do not. Nor can we permit geographic location to determine whether the information highway passes by your door." Elsewhere in his speech, Vice President Gore alluded to the fact that he had coined the "information superhighway" term fifteen years earlier! Having lived in Korea for the past 12 years, I have enjoyed the benefits of a government-led effort that actually built the "information superhighway."  Yes it did.  The Korean government took its cue from Gore's speech and in 1995 implemented a plan to build the Korea Information Infrastructure (KII).  The government plans unabashedly used the "information superhighway" term in referring to Korea's goal. So, the idea for the "information superhighway" seems to originally have come from Al Gore. However, the important point seems to be that the highway has been built and is being expanded in South Korea, while it is still a matter for debate in the U.S.  The major current expansion of the "information superhighway" network in Korea is via WiBro, which adds an interesting new mobile dimension to accessibility.

Broadband Convergence Update

The Joongang Daily reports that IPTV operators are "baiting subscribers with cash." With local high-speed Internet service providers using cash gifts as a marketing ploy again, experts warn that the industry faces cutthroat competition which is likely to harm subscribers. Since IPTV and Internet telephony are provided on broadband networks, Internet subscriber numbers are crucial to success. Currently, nationwide sales agencies of the country’s three major high-speed Internet service providers - KT, SK Broadband and LG Powercomm - all provide up to 200,000 won ($147) in cash or other high-value gifts such as the Nintendo Wii game console depending on the number of services people take and their subscription length. For example, SK Broadband offers 190,000 won in cash to subscribers who sign up for its triple-play service - Internet, IPTV and Internet telephony - for three years.

The Portable Internet: What's With WiBro?

The Korea Times chose an interesting headline for an article today about the prospects for Korea's homegrown portable internet technology, WiBro, as it is known domestically, and Mobile Wimax internationally.  "Will WiBro Sizzle or Fizzle?"  Although this may appear brash, I'm going to predict that, in the long run, WiBro or something very much like it will sizzle.  Furthermore, there appears to be no serious downside to the efforts of Samsung and other Korean companies to push for international approval of a mobile internet standard that originated here. 
At this moment in South Korea's rapid evolution toward the ubiquitous network society, it is a safe statement that there are two desireable characteristics of the future media environment:

• It will provide broadband internet access via mobile handsets, PCs and a variety of other devices.  The term broadband internet, as used here, means speed, as in access speeds currently available in Korea, Japan and a handful of other countries.
• To the extent possible, it will be cordless or mobile. 

As things currently stand, the only reason most people would want to plug in a cord or a network cable in order to access the internet, is to achieve an adequately fast connection.   WiBro, aka Mobile Wimax will succeed because it offers both speed and mobility.   Perhaps we're getting ahead of the story here.  There are other countries and companies in the world that may be pushing for their own versions of the "portable internet," as WiBro appropriately dubs itself.  The most notable of these is LTE, which is still several years off.
WiBro has an informative English language web site.  It contains links to several other sites that may be useful for those closely following the development of these technologies, approval of international standards, and related issues.   One is the Wimax Forum.   Another is the Telecommunications Technology Association.   Also of considerable interest is Intel's view of technologies that will enable the portable internet.  

Korea's Beef Infodemic and Cyber Defamation Law

The international news agency Reuters took note today of a subject treated in several of my earlier posts on the Korean "Beef Infodemic." The Reuters headline cast the subject as "Bruised South Korean government takes on infodemics." The lead sentence in the Reuters report says that "South Korea's unpopular young government is having second thoughts about the benefits of running the world's most wired society."   Not a bad lead, except for the fact that much of Korea's networking these days is wireless, and is aiming to become "ubiquitous."  South Korean government efforts to deal with media convergence are one factor that has led to a full fledged debate here about the role of the traditional print media powerhouses here and the nation's leading internet portals.  The Justice Ministry is working on what it calls a Cyber Defamation Law. "The reality is that we lack the means to effectively deal with harmful Internet messages," a ministry official said.  The Korean Communications Commission, which regulates the industry, has come up with its own rules to oblige portals to suspend sites stepping outside the limits and force Websites to use real names of anyone posting comments. The commission says the measures are designed to improve security and reduce the spread of false information.  Predictably, voices are rising that the government moves are attempts to erode freedom in a country that has had only two decades of democratic elections.
"The regulations violate the autonomy of the Internet and are an effective tool for tighter media control by the government," said Lee Han-ki, senior editor at the popular citizen news Website OhMyNews.  For a better overall picture, read the complete Reuters report.

U.S. Digital Deficiency Jeopardizes "Super Power" Status

The title of this post is taken from the article just published by Shelley Palmer, and it pretty much says it all. He notes that children born in America this year will be the first true Digital Natives of the Information Age. They will grow up in a time when all of their telecommunications tools: video, voice and data are based completely upon digital technology. He then appropriately questions whether U.S. public policy contemplates a future constrained by the agendas of big business as opposed to positioning America to truly prosper in the global information economy. His article notes that " An average broadband connection in the United States is 1.5 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up -- about enough speed to watch a fairly low resolution streaming video or do some casual web surfing. Cable modems are faster and you can certainly purchase more connectivity, if you can afford it. But, on average, consumers are offered asymmetrical (faster download/slower upload) broadband connections and no one seems that unhappy about it. They should be. A child born in Korea or Singapore this year will be a digital native of their respective countries. They will grow up in a time when all of their telecommunications tools: video, voice and data are based completely upon digital technology. And they are very likely to start their journey through the Internet with 100 Mpbs symmetrical broadband connection." On my recent trip to the U.S., I experienced just how slow an 11 Mbps wireless connection to the internet from a motel room seems after being accustomed to fast connections here in Korea. Speed is vital to fully use and experience the modern internet. A lack of speed slows down convergence. The Broadcasting and Communications Commission (BCC) reported yesterday that Korean telecom firms (KT, LG-Dacom and Hannaro) are to invest around 1.57 trillion won ($15.8 billion) on Internet-protocol TV (IPTV) services this year. A large portion of that investment will reportedly be used in expanding and improving Internet networks in order to provide the speed necessary to guarantee high quality for real-time TV broadcasting on existing networks. Clearly, in this era of convergence and ubiquitous networks, South Korea seeks to maintain its status as an IT power. What is the U.S. stance?

Education, Age and Broadband Use in Korea

All the evidence suggests that young people in Korea, and those who are highly educated, are the most active participants in the information revolution, at least if you measure that by levels of broadband usage. The data for education are show in the figure above (just click on the figure to see a full-size image of it). It shows clearly that levels of internet usage increase with education. These data emphasize the potential, even in the most networked society on earth, for a digital divide between those who have little formal education and those that are highly educated. Age also has a strong relationship to internet usage, as shown in the figure below from the same OECD report. These two findings, that age and education are highly related to internet usage, are reproduced as other countries adapt to the internet era, and require elaboration based on other factors. However, they are clearly two major aspects of the information society, or the knowledge economy, evolving here.

Broadband Internet in South Korea

Broadband internet penetration, as measured by the OECD, the ITU and other organizations, indicates the number of internet subscriptions per 100 population. As indicated by the chart in my previous post, South Korea led the world by this measure for the first few years of the new century. It also led, and continues to lead, by another important measure--the percentage of households connected to broadband internet. As of September 2007, 90.1% of South Korean households had broadband connections, the highest percentage in the world. As shown in the chart above, other countries are catching up, led by several of the smaller nations of Scandinavia and Europe. South Korea's high household access to the internet is boosted by the extremely high concentration of its population in Seoul and a few other large cities. Beyond that, even in smaller towns a large portion of the population resides in the large apartment complexes that have, for some years now, all been wired for 100 Mbps internet connections. With such a high level of household connections to fast internet service, it stands to reason that usage levels will increase and that seems to be the case, as shown in the second graphic below. Over half of the South Korean population now uses the internet more than ten hours per week.

Information Highways: Korea's Broadband Networks

Anyone with an interest in Korea's telecommunications development and its current status as a world-leader in broadband infrastructure, will want to consult the OECD's broadband portal. This portal makes available data for all of the OECD countries and a variety of studies that help to make sense of the information revolution around the world. South Korea has been an active participant in these new OECD studies.

In an earlier post, I commented on the tendency of mainstream media reports to lag or misrepresent actual developments in South Korea. The OECD data on broadband internet penetration from 2001 through mid-2007 help us to understand why. In terms of this particular measure, South Korea was number one in the world until 2005, when some small Scandinavian and European countries caught up. The "suddenness" of South Korea's rise as a broadband internet power is probably what threw the mainstream media off course. It simply didn't fit within the story line used to report about that nattion.

There is much more information to digest on the OECD broadband portal, quite a bit of which relates to the South Korean experience. I plan to comment on it in future posts.

Useful Links and Blogs on Korea's Information Society

With a little help from my friends I've started exploring the blogosphere to see what kind of information is being published about Korea's telecommunications development and its nascent information society. For the time being I will simply post them as "useful links" on the right-hand section of this blog, but I plan to impose a more efficient topical organization on the links as their number grows. From my own research on The Telecommunications Revolution in Korea and my efforts to follow developments over the past decade, I've discovered that certain government ministries and their affiliated institutes here in Korea are an invaluable source of data, both Korean and English language. I've posted some of those links, including the Ministry of Information and Communication, The Korea Information Society Development Institute, and the National Information Society Agency. There are more links to come in this category and not all are affiliated only with the Ministry of Information and Communication. Among international organizations, the International Telecommunications Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are must visits for anyone with a serious interest in following developments here in Korea. Blogs on the topic promise to be another very helpful source of information for understanding what is going on in South Korea as it constructs broadband convergence networks that are intended to lead to a ubiquitous Korea and a version here on the peninsula and globally of Web2.0.