Hardware versus Software

The Chosun Ilbo carried an opinion piece today that focused on the relative lack of development of South Korea's software industries.  Among other things, it pointed out that

• Last year Korea exported IT products worth U.S.$121 billion, which accounted for a third of the nation's total exports of U.S. $363.5 billion.


• The leading exports were all manufactured products: memory chips, displays and mobile handsets.


• On the other hand, exports of Korean-made software totaled just U.S. $300 million, less than 1 percent of all IT exports.


• Foreign products take up 78 percent of the local software market.

The editorial concluded with reference to the rapidly growing smartphone market, which shows that manufacturing good handsets is no longer enough.