Korea Herald | March 4, 2011 | Shin Hyon-hee
SK Telecom will begin selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone on March 16, it announced Sunday, ending the exclusive distribution here by its rival KT Corp.
The country’s largest mobile carrier said it will take pre-orders starting Wednesday at its T World branches and online.
“We at SK Telecom are glad that we can introduce the iPhone 4 through Korea’s best network,” said Seo Jin-woo, chief of SK’s platform business division. “Customers will be able to enjoy more plentiful benefits through iPhone-customized plans and higher quality service (than KT’s).”
SK, which controls around half of the country’s wireless market, has been striving to stay ahead of the smartphone competition since KT launched the hugely popular iPhone in Nov. 2009.
SK has been providing Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S and other gadgets powered by Google Inc.’s Android platform.
KT has registered more than 2 million iPhone users as of January with 1.03 million units of the iPhone 4 and 977,000 units of the iPhone 3GS, the firm said.
SK’s launch comes as part of a string of Apple’s early breakups with exclusive distributors in an effort to defend its share in major markets.
…..
