Korea’s SKT battles lucrative adult apps

SKT are bringing SXY back
In July 2006, South Korea Telecom (SKT) withdrew from its customers the option to buy applications containing adult content suitable for years eighteen plus.
Today, sources report that fifty percent of the top applications downloaded by SKT customers fall into this previously banned category. A plethora of adult mobile applications – including explicit pictures – were discovered filed under the “fun” category in SKT’s T store.
To make matters worse, around 50% of the 100 most popular paid applications downloaded were classed as “red-labeled contents for those above age 18.”
So what went wrong?
SKT, which boasts that maintaining a squeaky clean reputation and providing quality applications is far more important to it than cashing in on the juicy 70 billion won ( $60 million) the adult app industry churns out, is said to be genuinely surprised at the explicit pictures now popping up in its online store.
Troubled by the potential impact that such content may have on its image, SKT quickly released a statement claiming that the availability of these applications  are a result of the open market and that the firm has no intention to reverse previous decisions.
SKT was not the only Korean telco which prohibited the selling of mature content some four years ago already. The company’s main rivals KT and LG telecom were right behind it as in 2006 all three firms responded to a public outcry over explicit content by cleaning up their act.
Which makes it all the more puzzling how the smutty content has miraculously found its way back into KT’s tightly regulated application store.
It would appear that regardless of the tight controls that these telco heavy-weights exercise, the structure of the open market continues to make these applications accessible.
Nothing to do with the reportedly thirty percent share of profits from this multimillion dollar market then?
Hmmmmm.