iPhone,shakes,Korea,Electronic DIY iPhone shakes up Korea's Electronic market
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The original iPhone went on sale in June 2007, five months after it was revealed to the public by Apple Inc. Over the next five quarters, it sold 6.1 million units. The updated iPhone 3G followed in June 2008, and as of the fourth quarter 2009, Apple had sold nearly 34 million units of the two phones internationally. With numbers like these, even South Korea's notoriously protectionist trade policies couldn't hold out forever.By the time the iPhone went on sale in South Korea on November 28, pre-orders had already exceeded 50,000, according to Bloomberg. By Christmas, The Korea Herald reported sales reaching 170,000, and it is now estimated that there are anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 iPhone users in Korea.Impressive numbers, especially considering the toehold that local giants Samsung and LG have maintained on the electronics market. Through the iPhone, Apple appears poised to succeed in a market where international titans like Nokia and Sony Ericsson have stumbled.The difficulty in competing with local conglomerates has a lot to do with the preference that Koreans have for homegrown products, but probably even more to do with the nation's trade restrictions. In fact, the iPhone might not even be here, shaking up the local market, were it not for the South Korean government, which exempted Apple from a trade restriction on smartphones.Once here, though, it certainly seems to have made an impression. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, South Koreans pay the highest prices in the world for cell phones manufactured at their electronics market and one of the highest rates for wireless service. In this society, the worlds most heavily wired, cell phones are a status symbol, and Koreans have responded to the image that an iPhone brings.But not just native Koreans; members of the growing foreign community have also used the iPhone's arrival here to partake in the smartphone revolution. It is complicated for some non-Koreans, many of whom are English teachers who come here on one-year contracts to get an iPhone of their own from the electronics market, as its users are expected to sign two-year contracts. As a result, they are expected to buy their phone service up front, which may exceed 700,000 won.But not everything about having an iPhone is positive: When asked about the biggest change in his life since he received his iPhone, a consumer of Korea's electronic market cited higher monthly cell phone bills and less disposable income. "I can live without my iPhone, but I dont want to," he said.Nonetheless, he feels his iPhone was worth the money. "The problem is that Korea has the highest data transfer rates in the world, so even something simple like reading the paper online is costly at the end of the month."There are also improvements that can be made on future versions of the phone. "Its biggest fault is its low battery life. My old phone lasted almost a week without any charge, but this machine barely lasts a day. It [also] could be lighter."
iPhone,shakes,Korea,Electronic