Apple Vs Korea’s homegrown

The World Cup has kicked off and S.Korea is still in the game having scored two goals against Greece on Saturday. But while Korea is scoring on the soccer pitch, its mobile firms are having to play a tough game of defense at home.
In recent months, Korea’s Samsung electronics has been less fortunate than the national soccer squad, finding itself unable to secure its position as a main player in the smartphone game against Apple’s iPhone.
Actually, with roughly four percent of the smartphone market, Samsung has only just managed to keep its head above water.
Samsung is hopeful, however, to win back some Korean pride and worldwide recognition thanks to the introduction of two new sought after team players into its game; the Wave and the Galaxy phone, shown off at the CommunicAsia show in Singapore this week. It’s hoped by the firm that these latest subs will help calm the iPhone frenzy and win the home crowd back.

That still might be difficult, though, especially considering the impact the iPhone continues to have on the Korean telecommunications landscape, marked by the use of the terms “BI” and “AI” (before iPhone and after iPhone”).
Also, with the upcoming and imminent release of the iPhone 4G, the game is far from over and a spectator sport of the most exciting variety.
According to sources, Apple also plans to break into the digital music service in Korea, which would be another blow struck by team Cupertino against Korea’s mobile side.
The local music industry in S. Korea is currently led by five companies; Bugs, Melon, Soribabda, Mnet and Dosirak.
Korean iTunes users who were previously only able to access the service on PCs are now able to access podcasts and iTunes services through the iTunes store on their iPod Touch.
Most of the music available on iTunes is still not yet available in Korea from other sources, so the recent take-off of smartphone popularity in the country provides Apple yet another channel through which to sell music from its store.
With the potential competition heating up, it could be time for Korea’s local companies to keep their eye on that ball.