Seoul Video Contest: "Streaming Seoul 2009"

This post is to call your attention to a very interesting and worthwhile video contest being sponsored by the City of Seoul called "Streaming Seoul 2009."   Click on the title or here to access their web site.  The contest is open to all, regardless of nationality, but there is a particular interest in how people from other countries and foreigners residing in Seoul experience and view the city.
Those of you who follow this blog know that I've long been concerned with questions surrounding national image and brand image, whether that be for a city, a corporation or another sort of organization.  Of course, this blog also concerns itself with developments in mobile communication.  One part of the big transformation taking place is the growing ease with which video can be recorded and shared with others via the internet.
I notice that the deadline for submissions to the contest is December 31.  That leaves just over three weeks for videophiles to shoot some video and put together a potential prize-winner.  The contest offers cash prizes for several categories of video.
My personal thanks to Danny Taewoo "Technokimchi" Kim for calling this contest to my attention.

"Korea has not yet begun to develop its mobile technology":Google's Expansion Plans

The Joongang Daily carried a brief report today about Google's expansion plans in Korea.   It noted the changes that Google is making to its home page.  I discussed this in an earlier post that referred to Google's plans to "Koreanize" its home page.
What really caught my eye about this latest article is the quote at the beginning, "Korea has not yet begun to develop its mobile technology."  As readers of this blog will note, I agree with the basic sentiment expressed by this quote.  As Cho Won-gyu, the head of Google Korea's research and development suggests, with the introduction of more smart phones next year, Korean consumers will begin to learn about many broadband internet applications from which they have been shielded to date.  Take for example video.  Although Youtube is now the most widely used video service in South Korea, it is not yet widely used on mobile phones.  Now that the iPhone is already here and numerous Android phone models are coming next year, that is about to change.  Given Google's strong array of web-based information services and their availability in Korean language versions, it is not too difficult to predict what will happen in Korea's mobile market next year.  Google will gain market share for all of its internet services, as Korea's customers become acquainted with them via the new Android phones that will probably come to dominate the mobile market here.

How Well will the iPhone Sell in South Korea?

A report by the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, is now suggesting that Korea Telecom could sell more than 700,000 units of the Apple iPhone next year, on the assumption that 10 percent of KT's new subscriptions are driven by iPhone demand. It seems that this prediction is based on the lively reception of the iPhone thusfar. I stand by the predictions I made in an earlier post, that the iPhone will sell millions over the next year ( I should clarify that to say 1-2 million iPhones). The Nomura estimate fails to take into account the rapidity with which mobile communications worldwide are becoming internet and cloud-computing capable. Nor, I think, does it account for the power of old fashioned word-of-mount communication in Korea, that is leading to a possible Apple iPhone mania here.

The iPhone Effect in South Korea

There is rather widespread reference these days to the "iPhone Effect," following the introduction of the Apple iPhone to the Korean market.  An example was yesterday's article in The Korea Times about the customer service war heating up between KT and SKT.    The article notes that, "triggered by this import" SK Telecom plans to introduce Android-powered handsets early next year.  It also notes that the introduction of the iPhone is "leading a new trend."
It is being called the "iPhone effect" because the iPhone got here first.  However the trend toward mobile handsets as internet-capable handheld computers has been apparent for several years now.  If the truth be told, it would be better to characterize the overall effect on South Korea's mobile market as the "Android effect," since that is likely to be broader and more sustained than the iPhone, which has its own built-in limitations.

Korea Joins Top Ten Exporting Countries, Led by ICT Sector

There has been a great deal of commentary in the local media lately about the performance and goals of South Korean exports. The country has broken into the ranks of the top ten exporting nations in the world, with total exports valued at about U.S. $260 billion. and it has done so during a global economic crisis and with ICT-sector exports leading the way. As reported in the Korea IT Times and other media, it appears that three of the four top spots in Korea's exports this year will be IT products. These are cell phones, semiconductors and display products including digital LCD televisions, which rank, which rank second, third and fourth on the list of Korean exports, following vessels (the shipping industry). The last year that three out of the top four exports came from the ICT sector was 2004.

Perhaps more important than the ranking of these major product categories is their total value, which this year will account for almost 25 percent of all Korean exports. Also, display exports showed a greater percentage increase relative to cell phones and semiconductors. The reasons for the increase in ICT exports are different for each of the sub categories. For example, exports of displays (including television sets) skyrocketed after the introduction early this year of the new LED backlit models. They represented a breakthrough from the older models, being much thinner, lighter weight and lower in energy consumption. In other words, they were a breakthrough technology in the marketplace that made all of the competing products seem old fashioned. On the other hand, the increase in cell phone handsets, while reflecting consumer preferences for Samsung and LG products around the world, was not based on significant increases in the rapidly emerging "smart-phone" segment. This has been the subject of other posts and should be of great concern to Korean exporters. Especially since the worldwide transition in mobile communications is clearly toward hand-held computing and internet devices. It is a transition that will perhaps be more important than the arrival of personal computers three decades ago.