Status Report on Korea's "Smart Phone Revolution"

An article in the Joongang Daily today reports that the "Smart Phone Revolution" in Korea is finally starting.  It was accompanied by the graphic shown to the left (click on graphic to see a full-size version).   Last year only about two percent of consumers used smart phones, defined as those capable of accessing e-mail or the internet and performing functions much like a small hand-held computer.  This year the percentage of smart phone users has risen to 22 percent.

Expert predictions when the Apple iPhone was introduced have been shown to be way off target.  For example, experts predicted that 1.8 million smart phones would be sold in 2010.  Now the predicted figure is up to 5 million.

Not surprisingly, the introduction of smart phones has been accompanied by a boom in wireless data transmissions.  This is not surprising because most, although not all of the applications on the iPhone and other smart phones, rely on internet access.

Worldwide Trends in Sales of Mobile Devices

CNET has an interesting report on the trends in sales of smart phones over the past year.  Overall sales of mobile phones increased 17 percent year on year.  However, smart phones showed a 48.7 percent increase as 54.3 million units flew off the shelves.

The most interesting data in the report were in Table 2 (click on the graphic here to see a full size version).  Note that ONLY the iPhone and Android phones increased their market share year on year.  The report notes that the first quarter of this year was Apple's strongest yet, helped in part by overseas sales from mature regions, such as the U.K. but also in new markets such as China and South Korea.

Gartner's forecast for the near term suggests that the most successful companies will be the ones that control an integrated product in terms of operating system, hardware and services.  To stay competitive, manufacturers must integrate hardware, the user interface, the cloud and social networks to continue to attract customers.  Enough said. The challenge for Korean handset makers and mobile service providers should be apparent.

Korea's RFID Plan

According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea will introduce high-tech identification tags on steel, electronic and pharmaceutical products as part of its ongoing effort to enhance overall inventory control of its businesses.    As reported in the Joongang Daily, the effort, which will receive 5.1 billion won ($4.5 million) in state support, aims to attach radio frequency identification tags (RFID) and build related sensor network systems to maintain real-time accurate monitoring on various products.

The ministry said Posco plans to use 2 million tags on its steel products and help set up related information technology infrastructure for 17 affiliates. LG Electronics said 860,000 tags will be used within the year on its flat-panel displays, while another 5.9 million may be used next year on monitors.  The latest support measures are part of a larger effort by Korea to become one of the top three industry leaders in RFID and related sensor networks.