I would like to pose a question for readers of this blog, and would encourage you to post your answers as "comments." If you do not want those comments to be publicized, please make note and I will respect your wishes.
The question is as follows. How could South Korea, while possessing arguably the most advanced and dense digital networks of any nation in the world, be a laggard (80 or so other nations preceded it) in the adoption of the Apple iPhone and even Android-based "smart phones"? In your answer to this question, I would appreciate it if you could specify the major reasons why this happened. For example, was it a failure of government policy? Was it that the private sector (LG, Samsung, SKT, KT) feared loss of profits? Were there cultural or linguistic factors?
I would welcome comments from scholars, government officials, industry executives and any interested members of the public.