The plunge in Samsung's profits

As reported by The Korea Joongang Daily, Samsung's operating profit plunged during the third quarter of this year, primarily due to decling sales of its smartphones.  The accompanying graphic (click for a full-size version) shows the overall picture.  The article noted that, "According to Samsung yesterday, its IT and mobile communications business performance plunged in the third quarter as its revenue from smartphones shrank 32.8 percent year-on-year and was 13.6 percent less than in the second quarter. Samsung Electronics’ operating profit for its IT and mobile communications business dropped nearly 74 percent year-on-year and also declined 60 percent from the previous quarter."

Perceptions of Samsung's innovativeness

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has released its annual ranking of the world's fifty most innovative companies, based on a survey of more than 1,500 senior executives in a wide range of countries and industries.  In the latest survey, tech and telecom firms led the ratings.  As shown in the accompanying graphic, captured from the BCG's online interactive guide, Apple (the blue line) has led the rankings every year since 2005, and Google (in dark pink/red) has been number two or three every year since 2006.
Although innovation can be a somewhat slippery concept and this is only a survey of executive perceptions of it, what struck me about the study was the pattern shown for Samsung (the bold green line).  The surveys asked about the Samsung group and were not limited to Samsung Electronics.  Nevertheless, the steep drop in its ranking in 2008 coincided with the first full year of worldwide sales of the iPhone, introduced by Apple in 2007.  The iPhone was a disruptive technology that no doubt helped explain Apple's number one rank over the years of this survey.  Also, Samsung's rise in the rankings coincided with its introduction of Android mobile devices, beginning in 2009.  Interesting, if anecdotal, patterns!

Themes of the ITU meeting in Busan: ICT4D and the multistakeholder model of internet governance

As noted in the prior post, Korea's President Park Geun-hye's welcoming address at the ITU Plenipotentiary strongly underscored the theme of ICT for development and South Korea's willingness to contribute toward efforts to remove the digital divide wherever it exists. In an interview with Yonhap News on October 22, Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, the United States' chief delegate to the ITU meeting stressed the same goal, saying that "The United States hopes to narrow the digital divide around the world to give people the opportunity to create a future for themselves, even those living under authoritarian rule." With reference to the ITU Plenipotentiary, Sepulveda said that "The main goal of the United States government... is to ensure the ITU and its member states focus on bridging the digital divide."  This is in line with a policy statement made by Ambassador Sepulveda at the WTDC-14 ITU conference in Dubai earlier this year and shown in the accompanying ITU video.
Another major theme inevitably forms part of the backdrop for the ongoing ITU discussions in Busan.  It is the question of the current, evolving multistakeholder model of internet governance versus the position taken by some governments that the ITU itself should play a greater role in such governance.  This issue arose sharply at the December 2012 ITU meeting in Dubai, as noted in an earlier post, and in a recent report by Adam Segal for the Council on Foreign Relations.

ITU Plenipotentiary in Busan (1): President Park Geun-hye's address

Earlier this week, on the opening day of the ITU Plenipotentiary in Busan, I sat in my office at SUNY Korea, here in the Songdo Global University Campus and watched the live internet feed of President Park Geun-hye's address at the opening ceremony.  The video included with this post summarizes a few of the points President Park emphasized, but the full text of her speech, and a video with simultaneous translation are available at this link.   The following excerpts from the ITU's English translation of her speech are also important. She noted that "Telecommunications and ICT has been catalytic in the rapid development of the Internet and mobile communications. This brought about great changes and made it possible to share knowledge in all areas of human lives including politics, economy, society and culture. More recently, with the Internet of Things, interconnectedness, and Big Data analytics are precipitating the convergence of technology and industries. We, thus, have reached an inflection point in the hyper-connected digital revolution – a revolution defined by 'increased connection, smarter connection, and faster connection.'" Later, the President referred to technical and policy challenges, stating that "The rapid growth and diffusion of telecommunications and ICT and the creation of diverse ecosystems will make it necessary to mediate the different interests of multiple parties in order to develop technological standards and international rules that govern order in cyberspace. In order to address this challenge, governments must forge stronger partnerships with the private sector and build a more open and flexible framework for decision-making." Then, with reference to the digital divide, which she referred to as the ICT gap, she said "I propose that the international community commit itself to narrow this global ICT gap so that telecommunications and ICT can serve to improve human rights and welfare for all mankind, irrespective of region, country, gender or class." After noting Korea's low level of telephone penetration in 1980, she suggested that "To lead the hyper-connected digital revolution, Korea plans to build a nation-wide Giga Internet Network by 2017. We also are focusing on technological development and infrastructure upgrade with the aim of being the first country to launch commercial 5th generation mobile communication services in 2020. The high-speed network is the basis for pursuing our Creative Economy strategy, which aims to transform our economic paradigm from being a fast follower to a first mover. The hyper-connected digital revolution is in essence the convergence of and innovation in industry, technology and culture through ICT. The driver of such convergence and innovation is the imagination and creativity of individual people. The Creative Economy is an economy where the imagination and creativity of individuals are fully leveraged to drive convergence and innovation and to create new added value as well as jobs." President Park also stressed that "Korea is ready to share its experience of growth through ICT. I believe Korea's experience in building its broadband network, e-government, and Creative Economy will provide useful references in formulating national ICT policies."

President Park Geun-hye elaborates on Korean unification at the U.N.

Last month President Park Geun-hye addressed the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.  While addressing a number of regional and international issues, the speech elaborated on her vision for Korean reunification, a frequent topic of this blog over recent years (for example, see these posts).  Her address, as published by UN Web TV, can be viewed below.