It was KT, the no.2 mobile carrier in Korea, that launched iPhone 2 months ago. Obviously, SKT needed counterpart smartphones of its own and decided to launch 15 Android phones in 2010 alone. The Asia-adapted model of Motorola's Droid, named MOTOROI, was the first Android phone introduced in Korea. Today, Samsung finally made an announcement about Korea's second Android phone.

Samsung had already launched 2 Android phones in the U.S last year: Galaxy and Behold 2. In the new model, Samsung completely localized the product for Korean consumers. What message do I get out of this? Samsung IS indeed very serious about the smartphone market. Samsung wants the smartphone phenomenon to happen in Korea.

Samsung's Omnia sold more than iPhone in January. Hey, does that mean Samsung easily beat Apple? Not so quick. According to an article published by Donga Daily, iPhone is far more popular than Omnia among smartphone users (link in Korean), but Samsung exerted more "local player" power on the retail side. The article even goes on to say Samsung knows such a move is nothing more than a bandaid. Samsung very much needs to start producing better smartphones.

Either way, I'm happy. As I keep saying, the Korean digital market has been dark, if not dead, for years. Now the wind of change is blowing strong and more competitions and even "confusion" are being spotted across the field. All the better for us consumers :)

Korea's two heavyweight mobile champions, Samsung and LG, will (have to) learn a lot this year, competing against Apple. It ain't just about technology no longer. It's about design, culture, ecosystem, and most importantly people.

The magical, but most obvious formula: Technology empowers and enables. Culture gives comfort. Design moves the hearts.

image from:http://pictures.deadlycomputer.com/d/30819-2/pic_3564.jpg

Yes, I did say it. In Korea, I believe Apple will soar and Google will not.

It isn't about how awesome their products and services are; it isn't about how smart their strategists are; it isn't even about how much cash they can pour into the Korean market. It's about us; the Korean people.

As I mentioned before, as much as the Internet is being used for "informational" purposes in Korea, it isn't really about efficiency and productivity here, which Google has mastered. Rather, when we say information and productivity, we mean more of "how socially compatible are you when you work with others" or even "how keen are you to what everyone else is talking about?" which is where Google might miserably fail, at least in Korea.

To be more precise, I think Google needs to be more "social" even when giving out information, which is what Naver is doing best. This is also why Google finally gave in here by portalizing itself. Information matters--only when it matters to everyone else at the same time. Google is not particularly good at this--at least not yet. The importance of social belonging and interdependence in the meaning of information is one of the major topics I'll be covering throughout 2010, so keep your eyes closely.

Now, why do I think Apple will soar? I think Apple touches upon the emotional side of the Korean consumers. As much as the tech industry is becoming more like the fashion industry, Apple represents the new "social upper class" among the Korean people. Apple is the new Louis Vuitton and the new Chanel. Asian people love luxury brands and Apple is becoming one of them.

Looking at Korea through the angles of companies--Samsung, LG, Google, Apple-- will be a fun way to learn about Korea. I've started developing a strategic framework on how to attack the Korean tech/digital industry and deeply move our minds and hearts.

I want Google to soar here as well; but that might require too much for Google's pride, at least for those in Mountain View.

2009 was a dark age for both the digital Korea and my blogging career. Fortunately, it was only dark on the surface. Some significant progresses were made and we're seeing the fruits in 2010.

As for Korea, there's probably no bigger milestone than iPhone's invasion into the Korean market. It's been out only for 2 months now and it's literally changing everything in the digital landscape. How fundamental do I think the change is? The iPad news last week was reported by more than 500 Korean news entities, probably making the biggest IT/digital headline ever in Korea. SKTelecom says it has nearly 15 Android phones lined up for this year. How exciting! (For me, I am carrying around a 8G iPod Touch with Wibro Egg for now, which I'll cover more later)

As for myself, I learned a lot, especially about being a serious blogger and a businessman. As a blogger, I used to whine about  myself "not being in the field"; I always thought unless you've actually done some "real" stuff, being a blogger/journalist/analyst/consultant/critique/spectator always will have limitations. 2009 was all about execution, which took away the privilege of sleep from my life. Now I'm finally back, hopefully ready to roll again.

2010 is going to be a big year for both the digital Korea, (which is the main topic of this blog), as well as TechnoKimchi itself. After the Dark Age came Renaissance. There are many good signs that'll happen soon here as well.

Now, why didn't I start this on Jan 1st? I had followup tasks to finish for 2009 and things pretty much ended last week. Or should I say "the mental fiscal year for TechnoKimchi ends on Jan 31 of every year?" ;)

Digital Korea will soar again and TechnoKimchi will expand: those are my predictions for 2010. Thank God, I still got 334 days to prove that!

The reason I've been so quiet in 2009 was because I've started doing something and it made me work A LOT. One of such endeavors is a campaign named Streaming Seoul 2009 (currently running until Dec 31st).

http://www.streamingseoul.net

I'm not sure how much you can infer from the picture above; but yes, this is a campaign open to everyone to upload a "video" about Seoul. In short, Streaming Seoul 2009 is a video contest campaign run by Seoul Metropolitan Gov't in order to promote Seoul to the rest of the world.

As we've been planning for the campaign, our goal was to make it as natural as possible to non-Koreans. The participants can come from all the world--China, Japan, English-speaking countries, and all other. Obviously, execution is always a different story and the output so far hasn't completely satisfied us insatiable planners. (wasn't it me who mentioned something about Korean people working too much? haha)

More than anything, here in my blog, I'd like to introduce some of the "cool" or "oh that's right" points we were trying to bring into existence during the course of preparation. Below are the summary and some points about the campaign. The campaign really comes with a plethora of awards, so I'd personally recommend you all to join. For me, this is the video I made to enter the contest. Quite simple, isn't it? ;)

I'd also like to ask you guys not only to participate in the event but also to spread the word around. I've already asked some other bloggers to introduce the campaign to others, if possible. (it wasn't an easy thing to do!) Of course, don't hesitate to give me any honest feedback about the campaign.

Again, the site is http://www.streamingseoul.net

Hope to see you all there :)

Korea is notorious for being an extremely-difficult-to-survive market for many global brands due to some of its very exclusive nature, or rather some unique market characteristics. Included in this "failed" list are even the giants like Walmart and IKEA.

This trend has not been an exception in the tech industry. In the hardware sector, two Korean locals in Samsung and LG dominate the market while Naver and Daum are the kings and queens in the Internet sector. Sorry, Apple and Google.

Things might change now. Google decided to go portal and hurray, iPhone is finally out.

For all of Google's supremacy around the world, Google barely holds 5% search marketshare in Korea. Why? How Google displays information doesn't satisfy Korean Internet users' needs for information. There are many "emotional" factors related to how or why people look for information. Google is basically, well, too "American" for Korean people.

Google became a little more Korean by adding a feature named "Hot Topics", which functions as the real-time Google Zeitgeist, or the "hot search terms" on Naver. Basically the Korean market has forced Google to go portal. (of course, this portal is, just like Google News, technology-based) Remember how Asian people are more "inter-dependent" rather than "independent" and constantly look for what others are interested at the moment? Google, until now, only has provided what "you alone are interested" through search results; it now displays information completely right next to search results. The thing is Koreans will click on these links! (I'll definitely come back in a couple of weeks on the traffic on Google Korea)

Now, for Apple. Thousands, if not millions, have been waiting for iPhone to come out over a year; due to many complexities in the telco industry, we were not able to get iPhone into the Korean market. And praise the Lord! The The wall has finally collapsed and I'm just loving my life right now as I'm reading streams of iPhone reviews written in Korean! There was a report yesterday that over half a million iPhones will be sold by the first half of next year. What more would I need to say?

Things might change now. Hopefully it'll be more fun.

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Just in case you were all wondering.

I've started/joined a venture business back in spring and the amount of work I've had and the amount of growth I had to go through was simply way beyond my imagination. It's been like riding a rugged rollercoaster; but hey, I'm still alive and, I think, well.

Remember this article I wrote a long time ago about how Korean people are just about "speed" and "change" and being "workholic"? Well, that's me right there!

But, as much as I've been neglecting my blog, as I've been really "working", there are many more insights Ive learned over the course and I'm more than willing to share them with you all.

Let's see. who missed me? (no, it's not like too much work and no life have made me either insecure or lonely..... no.... maybe yes... sigh....)

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Just to clarify for the TechnoKimchi readers, I just wanted to tell you that I live in SOUTH Korea, not NORTH, and the news article above indeed is happening in South Korea.

It's going to take a long time to explain the whole situation, but here's the gist of it:
Google told the Korean government "I'm sorry, but I'm bigger than you."

Yeah, the decision by Google came at a crazy cost: Google basically had to shut down its core Youtube services and say goodbye to all the government support it's been enjoying. (Korean government supported Google with over $1 million when Google Korean R&D center was founded and is also bringing quite a bit of cash to Google Korea by using YouTube as one of the government's main marketing channels.) This is a pretty big gamble for Google itself, obviously even more so for Google Korea. I'm sure the Korean government is feeling quite a lot of steam right now.

But you don't mess with Google. You do it, next day it's gonna be all over New York Times, CNN, BBC, or what not. Oh, did I forget to mention the Google Search? :) Heck, tons of people in the world won't even be able to tell the country that launched a rocket few days ago is not the same country making its citizens do this.

Not to bash my own government or anything, but there is a tectonic shift I see here. The Internet is so border-less now that it's going to be increasingly difficult for local governments to lay hands on it. For example, Google actually made a way for users to get by just by selecting "another country" on Youtube, even without having to physically be there. So as a government, ultimately you only have two options on the Internet: be completely closed (China and North Korea) or be completely open (many other places).

You can go even further and ask "what does it mean to be 'local'"? Being physically local isn't the only option of being "local" any longer. Are you interested in Canon digital cameras and want to meet the 5D lovers from all over the world on flickr? That's your new local. Interested in NBA? That's your new local. Should I call TechnoKimchi a new local? I'm not sure because there's too much physicality here.

Many have begun worshipping Google for its brave act and a nice punch. How this will all end up remains to be seen, but this was a very crucial step forward for the Korean Internet industry as all others basically gave in to the government. And this was possible because Google is both big and global.

Wrong. Who are the "labor" people to the Internet companies? It's none other than us, the users.

Especially in an environment like in Korea where the scale is relatively small and homogeneity is the word that governs the culture.

What does that mean? By instigating a small number of zealots to form an opinion, you can easily maneuver in the direction of the crowd at will. How does that happen? By making them work FOR YOU.

Now, add in the "pali pali" culture as an ingredient. Everything in Korea moves just F-A-S-T, as if holding on to something old is actually a shame. As a result, what you get is people lined up to react to changes and do something dynamically 24/7. And it's all done manually, often even without getting paid.

It's widely known that much of Naver search is operated manually by hiring people to add links for certain topics and to edit the search results (for like $4/hr. Now I call that cheap labor!) Even when it comes down to content creation, many people are still paid to do so at an extremely fast pace, going after popular keywords at the moment. What's even more interesting is we have armies of 댓글알바, a.k.a. paid comment spammers, who'll just paint the Internet plaster with commercial content while masquerading as innocent housewives, students, or prosumers. Wrong. They aren't. They're often just college students that are dying to make the same $4/hr for leaving 100 comments on a designated topic.

Again, this is possible because Korea has a relatively small Internet market; people's interests don't vary much so it can be covered through manual editing. For Google, which tries to cover the entire Web, this might not be as cost-effective. You can't hire people or even instigate people to cover every single topic on earth. It just won't cut it. At the same time, for Korean users, Naver's handpicked materials are far higher quality meat than the automated version like Google's. This partially explains why Google still holds less than 5% of search market in Korea and the siloed portals are still dominant.

Want to succeed in Korea? Hear my words: work hard. I mean, real hard.

A blogger meeting/interviewing another blogger is always a great thing. In short, Robert was such an awesome guy. Very exciting and encouraging. And smart and nice, at the same time. No wonder he's enjoying what he's doing.

Unfortunately, my camcorder runs out of battery in the middle of the interview (he talks about innovation across the world) Oh, well. We'll definitely catch up for more later, right? :)

In the interview, I ask him about his blogging career, what it's like to blog for a company and now as an independent, a common pattern among innovative companies, and what's up for web companies now, etc. Enjoy the interview!

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And..

My twitter page is the ugliest I've seen so far. But you can clearly see the TechnoKimchi logo on it. Please let me know if you find an uglier one. Maybe we'll put up an "the ugliest Twitter page" contest :)

Anyhow, as I repeatedly find myself not living up to my own expectations on updating TechnoKimchi, I've come to a compromise: that is to update lightly on Twitter. I know I'm a really late comer to the game, but this will surely make me feel less guilty about myself.

So, follow me and you shall prosper. More interesting stories to come soon!

p.s. I'm in Paris again, so if anyone's still around, let me know :)

I just wanted to say "THANK YOU" to you all for all your support throughout and interests in TechnoKimchi. Although I have not been the most diligent (or even dependable) blogger, what I have actually learned through TechnoKimchi goes far beyond what words can describe.

So, I'm excited about 2009. There are still many cool and awesome things happening around the Internet in Korea and I'm just more than eager to see how my life will change along.

I've made some new years' resolutions already and one of them is to make TechnoKimchi one of the top priorities next year. Hopefully I'll have the tenacity to execute them. :)

The beautiful lady bowing in Korean traditional costume called 한복 (Hanbok) in the picture above is Jang Yoon Jung, one of the best known singers in Korea. Of course, I won't dress and bow to you guys like that, I really want to express how thankful I am.

2008 was personally a very difficult year for me in many ways; at the same time, TechnoKimchi really opened up many ways for me to explore more opportunities out in the world, and especially to meet you!

Expect more from TechnoKimchi; both you and I will enjoy 2009 more ^-^

Happy New Year! 새해 복 많이 받으세요!

In this 3-minute video interview, I talk about the impact of the Internet and new media on society, the candlelight vigil, and the fading of Cyworld. I look pretty nervous in the video, so take that into consideration :)

Yesterday, I came across an interesting article about the the Internet usage stats in Korea in 2008. (As you know, it's the end-of-the-year time and we're getting tons of statstical reports summarizing 2008, so it's good time for TechnoKimchi.)

So, to make it brief, you know that the top 3 traffic sites in Korea are Naver, Daum, and Cyworld. And guess what the top 3 search keywords for 2008 are? Yup. They are Daum, Cyworld, and Naver.

Wait a minute. Am I saying that people don't type in the URLs for those sites, but search for them to get there? Apparently so. Basically what this means is that Naver is the biggest traffic generator for Daum and Cyworld. It's like saying "most of Yahoo traffic comes from Google."

Indeed. Among other top 10 search keywords are gMarket (4), Auction (5) (gMarket and Auction are the top two ebay-like sites in Korea), Kookmin Bank (6), Yahoo (7), Woori Bank (8), and Shinhan Bank (9). Take notice the keyword ranking almost exactly aligns with the the most popular sites in Korea.

I've been personally watching some young kids at my church (around elementary school age) use the Internet. They actually do search on Naver for the names of sites they want to get to and get there by clicking on the links. I asked them, "why do you search instead of typing in the URLs?" The answers typically come in two ways: "Why not?" or "URLs?"

This is the power of the search economy. The fact that the top search keywords are Daum and Cyworld, not Naver and Cyworld, means it's the No.1. search portal Naver that sends out traffic to Daum and Cyworld, making them the greatest beneficiaries of their greatest competitor in Naver. Traffic means money, but apparently that's the cost Naver will gladly take.

Display ads are dying. URL games are dying. Newspapers are dying. The only thing that seems to be certain in the midst of economic downturn and flood of information is the efficiency of search engines. No wonder Google is the king no matter what.

(After reading through comments provided by Channy and Chang, I realized this is not a trend only unique to Korea but rather a universal one. Guess who's been behind, haha. Sorry, folks :)

Loic came to Korea for Open Web Asia and obviously he deeply understands what it means to have global presence on the Web: he's French, doing his business in the Valley, with lots of interests in Asia.

So here is my brief inteview with Loic. It's unedited, but the content is great :)

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