LED Backlit LCD Television Shipments to Rise by Factor of Eight in 2010

I first saw one of the new light emitting diode (LED) backlit Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) televisions developed by Samsung Electronics almost one year ago now.  My wife and I had walked over to a Samsung outlet in the neighborhood.  It was a jaw-dropping experience.  There was such a dramatic reduction in the thickness and weight from the similar Samsung LCD television we'd purchased some weeks earlier that it was almost hard to believe.  The graphic posted here shows iSuppli's forecast for increased worldwide shipments of the LED backlit televisions compared with the older, thicker, heavier models that depend on cold cathode flourescent lamps (CCFL) for backlighting.  In 2010 alone, shipments of LED backlit LCD televisions 40 inches in size and larger will rise by a factor of nearly eight, reaching 18.8 million units, up from 2.5 million in 2009. (Click on the graphic to see a full-size version.)
The greatest driving force in this growth is consumer acceptance and demand.  Based on my first reaction to the new television sets, I'm not at all surprised!  The new television sets are much more expensive than older models and their are still some technical issues, such as LED lifetimes and thermal issues.  However, what iSuppli notes as the "ace in the hole" for these new television sets is that they are in tune with the interest of governments, corporations and people around the world in "going green."  They consume less power than the older sets based on CCFL backlighting.  However, the form factor of the new sets, being just a fraction of the thickness (they are just over one inch thick and light enough for one person to pick up and mount a 55" set on the wall!)
Korea's leading manufacturers currently hold a dominant market position in LED backlit televisions, having introduced them early last year, months before any Japanese or other competitors.

Apple and Android in Korea in 2010

A headline from Telecoms Korea caught my eye this morning.   It proclaimed that "Six Out of Ten in Korea Willing to Buy Nexus One, If Released."  Nexus One, of course, is the new touch screen phone just unveiled by Google, which many have dubbed the "Google Phone."  The Telecoms Korea article cited a quick online poll by SmartphoneNow, a Korean-language web site.  Although the online survey is a decidedly non-scientific poll, 66 percent of a few hundred early respondents put the Nexus One first on their wish list, ahead of other Android phones soon to be released in Korea.  Now that the iPhone is selling better than almost anyone had projected, local research firms are projecting that Apple's iPhone and various Android models will provide healthy, if not overwhelming competition for Samsung Electronics Omnia Series.  This is illustrated by a market projection recently published in Telecoms Korea.  (Graphic at upper left--click to see full-size version.)

 The SmartphoneNow site also carried an interesting breakdown of major parts and their costs in the Nexus One (click on the graphic of the parts classification table in the lower left to see a full size version of the graphic). Like all "smartphones" these days, major components come from all around the world.  However, since Samsung Electronics contributes both the memory (at $20.40) and the mobile display (at $23.50), it ranks number one on this list in terms of the value of parts.  Qualcomm comes in second with parts worth $35.50.  So, if Nexus One does extremely well in Korea, taking market share away from Samsung Electronics own models, does that really hurt Samsung?
The information presented here simply confirms that Korea's mobile market is in the early stages of a complete transformation (I was going to say "upheaval,") with consequences for everyone, handset manufacturers, companies that make handset components, mobile service providers, and of course customers.  In a development that could really shake up Korea's market, Google is selling the phone directly over the internet via its own site, using a picture of the phone plus the headline and tagline "Nexus One -- Web Meets Phone."  That pretty much says it all, it is all about mobile broadband, with the content and applications it makes possible. If you clicked on the previous link, you'll see the notice "Sorry the Nexus One Phone is Not Available in your Country."  I wonder when it will be and which of Korea's mobile service providers will offer it.
The rapidity with which customers in Korea express a preference for Android-based phones, before they even arrive in the Korean market, is indeed interesting.   However, in one sense this is not at all surprising.  Korean customers are "tech-savvy" and easily capable of discerning that all phones will very soon be hand-held computers.  For Korea's mobile sector and its IT industry generally, the best strategy will be to open the marketplace up, not only for the Nexus One, but for all the new handsets, tablets and other devices that will emerge in the second decade of this century.  Doing so may mean hardships in the short term for some companies, but they will strengthen Korea's case to be one of the world's most important testbeds for cutting edge new technology.  Apple's iPhone and various Android models should do very well here this year!

Google Fast Flip--a powerful new news tool.

I've been interested in news all my life.  In college I worked for a radio station that became an NPR affiliate, and during the summer of my junior year I was a summer intern with the Voice of America in Washington, D.C.  Not surprising, then, that I would choose television coverage of international affairs as my dissertation topic in grad school at Stanford and that the dissertation would form the basis for my first book, Television's Window on the World.
Enough about my background and my books.  You can read any of them or download PDF versions via Google Books or my personal web site.  The point of this post is to recommend that you try Google's new Beta service called Fast Flip.  I especially commend to you fast flip for mobile, preferably on an iPhone or an Android with a good capacitive touch screen interface.
When I first tried out Fast Flip on my iPhone 3Gs, I mistakenly thought it was based on the 4,000 plus news sources represented in Google News.  To the contrary, it is an experiment based on an agreement between Google and the news outlets you'll be able to access via the Fast Flip service.  Nevertheless, it offers a glimpse into the future of scanning for news over the internet.  It makes news sites 1) fast to load, 2) easy to scroll or flip through, and 3) they look like the print versions.  A librarian blogger has a good description of some of the Fast Flip features and potential.
The mobile version of Google Fast Flip is a blast and I predict it will be a surefire success, at least in English.  I'm not sure whether there is a Korean version yet, but there should be!

iPhone Best-Selling Phone in Korea

Today there is further evidence that Apple's iPhone is taking the Korean market by storm, especially in the absence of Android handset models that can offer real competition.  During the first week of December 2009, the iPhone posted a 10.2% market share of all mobile handsets, not just the so-called "smartphones."   This was according to Atlas Research Group in Korea.
The tech media and blogs are full of reports about the forthcoming launch of the "Google phone."  According to these reports, it will have an AMOLED touch screen that is larger than the iPhone 3Gs's, and some other nice hardware features.  However, having used the iPhone for a few weeks now, I would underscore that it is the applications that make all the difference.  For example, one of the nicest new Beta services for mobile from Google is called "FastFlip."  It draws on the substantial resources of Google news, Google alerts and related services and is very user-friendly, even in its initial Beta form.

"iPhone Woes for Foreigners" Symptom of a Larger Problem

I started my newspaper reading this morning with an article in yesterday's Joongang Daily entitled "iPhone Woes for Foreigners."  Since I am a foreigner living in Korea and I recently purchased an iPhone, I read the article with great interest.  I've lived and worked in Korea continuously for the past 13 years and my wife is Korean.  Nevertheless, it was NOT EASY to purchase an iPhone here.
My understanding is that there are approximately one million expatriate workers in Korea now, and that the number is increasing.  Furthermore, I'm reading a lot these days about how the Korean government is seeking to attract not only foreign investment, but more foreign workers to Korea.  Under these circumstances, it seems counter-productive to make it difficult for foreigners to purchase an iPhone.   Those of you interested in the details of this matter can read the Joongang Daily article.
I simply want to note that the iPhone situation is part of a much larger problem relating to language, culture and mind-set.  Think, for example, of the generally dismal state of banking services for foreigners in Korea.  Alternatively, think of the heavy reliance on and satisfaction with Korean language web content and applications (over 70 percent of Koreans using Naver when Korean-language Google is superior for many purposes).
My recommendation:  Korea should begin to offer special services, across the board, for foreigners who are here teaching English, teaching other subjects, working in industry, or otherwise contributing to the economy and society.  If the worry is simply that foreigners will leave Korea with unpaid bills, it seems to me that could be handled for different categories of customers, in accord with the risk, by using a REFUNDABLE deposit system.