The iPhone's Impact on Mobile Networks in Korea, the U.S. and Britain

Having spent the past year or more reading the laments of Korea's mobile service providers and others here about low levels of data usage, and knowing that this country probably has more unused 3G network capacity than any other nation in the world, it is interesting to read about the woes of AT&T in the U.S., and now O2, one of the leading mobile service providers in the United Kingdom.

As outlined in a PC World article, O2 in Britain has now joined AT&T in the United States in blaming the "excessive data demands" of the iPhone for crippling the network!   If in fact, the U.S. and British networks are not capable of handling the data load, then Korea, with its advanced and under-utilized networks should be in an enviable situation.   The PC World article does note that some reports suggest that the iPhone itself may be the cause of problems and complaints in major metropolitan areas like San Francisco and New York.

From a consumer standpoint, the best outcome will be to build robust, high speed data networks (WiBro comes to mind here) rather than laying the blame on consumers who happen to like using mobile broadband!

Korea's IT Growth Slows Since 2005

Citing a report by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an article in the Joongang Daily notes that the growth of South Korea's IT Sector has slowed noticeably since 2005.  From 1989 until 2004 the sector grew at an annual average of 16.8 percent, but since 2005 the pace has fallen to the 4 to 7 percent range.  The report attributed the slowdown to three widening gaps.



1. Between software and hardware.  Between 2000 and 2008 the hardware industry recorded annual growth of 9.5 percent, while the software industry grew at an annual average of 7.5 percent.

2. Between finished goods and parts.  The report noted that domestic production of key parts in the IT industry remains weak.

3. Between large and smaller companies.  While the nation's 20 largest IT companies posted an 8.1 percent rise in average annual sales from 2000-2008, sales at smaller firms grew by just 4 percent annually.

Why the iPhone is Faster: Resistive versus Capacitive Touch Screens

Thanks to an informative article in the 전자신문 (etnews.co.kr) I now understand one major reason why I like my iPhone 3GS.   It is faster than my old Motorola Razr and even faster than other touch screen phones, like Samsung's T-Omnia.   There are two main types of touch screens used in today's mobile phones.  Resistive touch screens, used in most of Samsung's and LG's phones, depend upon the pressure of a finger, or a small stylus.   The capacitive touch screen used by the iPhone, on the other hand, uses the electro static field created by the human finger, allowing faster recognition than a resistive touch screen.  Capacitive touch screens also allow multi-touch functionality, such as using two fingers to enlarge the screen for better viewing of a map, picture or other document.

In a small computer or internet device like the iPhone, customers value speed. Speed matters, as I've touched on in earlier posts.  Now I know a bit about the technology underpinning this speed.   I'd only add that the capacitive touch screen also has a natural feel to it, in contrast to the more mechanical approach of the resistive touch screen, even with haptic effects added.