Metaverse Ethics (To Be Or Not To Meta-Be)

Last Monday, Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT updated the 'Expanded Virtual World Ethics Principles' it released last Summer. Now 3 core values and 8 principles are listed under a more buzzword-friendly title 'Metaverse Ethical Principles'.

As far as core values go, 'safe experience' and 'sustainable prosperity' were much more predictable than a 'sincere identity' you usually don't associate with virtual, avatar-filled meta-worlds. But remember that this is Korea, a netizen nation were you're never totally anonymous, and where most of your online experiences require a digital ID or a digital signature (often through public-private partnerships involving such platforms as Kakao or Naver) that keeps getting smarter and smarter, and wrapping around you with tighter and tighter technologies (biometrics and blockchain on the government's menu).

Likewise, if 7 of the 8 principles follow a classic playbook...

- 4 usual suspects: 'respect for privacy', 'protection of personal data', 'autonomy' (as in lack of coercion), 'reciprocity' / mutual respect

- 3 feel-good mantras: 'fairness' / equal access, 'inclusiveness', 'responsibility for the future' / sustainability

... one oddball looks disconnected from the metaverse's inherent... disconnection: 'authenticity' means that your virtual self should behave like your actual self, since the former will impact the latter.

Forget about role playing: that's you up there. The real you, even with those fangs and wings, this embarrassing cosplay, or this spectacular virtual gender correction. After all, this is Korea, where you can't escape plastic surgery, and where you can change your name on a whim. 

The metaverse is not an out of body experience: the economics of attention go 3D, and it's not only your clicks of browsing patterns that will be captured, but also the very way you move and breathe. The more you submerge yourself into it, the better you'll be decyphered, the faster your intentions and your decisions will be detected and shaped for you. 

The guidelines for users are one thing, and service providers have their own duties in that list, but it's mostly about not overdoing it, a very vague self moderation. And of course nothing about interoperability or portability, each one can lay its traps without many consequences. 

In short, the government tells users 'be responsible', but falls short of telling service providers a decent 'don't be evil'.

This is 2022, and the 2020 metaverse bubble has already kind of deflated, a bit like in the crypto / blockchain world, where the collapse of Do Kwon's Terraform predated that of FTX. Yet both remain strategic axes of competitiveness for Korea, so this wasn't the moment to clip the wings of players who were actually involved in these guidelines.

Ready, Player Won...

mot-bile 2022

(video: Naver Z / Zepeto Studio's world building teaser)

5G Korea, Huawei inside

According to Pulse and other media*, Huawei will open next month its first 5G Open Lab in the world in Seoul.

Of course, earlier this month, Korea became the first country in the world to launch 5G commercially (even if for enterprise customers only at the beginning). Korea Inc precipitated the launch just to achieve that premiere, SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+ literally beating Verizon on the eleventh hour.

If local MNOs don't communicate much on their 5G network suppliers, Huawei already holds significant positions in Korea, as a recent Asan Institute focus** noticed:
- LG U+'s 4G network in Seoul, Northern Gyeonggi-do, Incheon, and Gangwon-do, in other words its most strategic areas (capital region, and all borders with North Korea)
- parts of Naver's new Internet Data Center
- KT's network upgrade for NonHyeop Bank, a big 4 player

Korea Inc does communicate on a key 5G supplier, Samsung, who clearly won the first round at the smartphone level with its Galaxy S10 5G.

Another of their groundbreaking handsets, the Galaxy Fold, received mixed reviews from the few journalists who were granted one ahead of the official launch, but the manufacturer did warn them that they shouldn't have pulled out the plastic protection away from the delicate screen.

Interesting to see what happens when the veil is lifted about Huawei's presence in the country.


mot-bile 2019

* "Huawei to open its world’s first 5G open lab in Seoul in May" (Pulse 20190422)
** "Opportunities and Challenges for South Korea in the New Era of 5G" (J. James KIM, HONG Sanghwa - Asan Institute 20190321)

IoT as in the 'Internet of Turds'?

If LG U+ got, as expected, the smaller chunk of 5G spectrum in this week's auctions, they sure made a splash with their connected bidet-toilets. 

* 

Let's start with these 5G auctions, where Korea raised 3.6183 trillion won from the 3 bidders, not even 10% more than the starting point of KRW 3.3 tn; just enough to show an illusion of fight. All 3 MNOs claimed 800MHz in the 2.8GHz spectrum, and in the 3.5GHz spectrum, #3 LG U+ got 80MHz compared to 100 for #1 SK Telecom and #2 Korea Telecom. 

Note that SKT just announced successful tests with Nokia on 3GPP-approved 5G SA (StandAlone), a national first following last December's world first on 5G NSA (Non-StandAlone). You can expect SKT and KT to launch on December 1st (the date the regulator set to allow service) to continue their battle over 5G leadership. They'll probably start on 3.5GHz, at least in the capital Seoul, and key entry points such as Incheon. 

* 

Now about that bidet-toilet thing. 

You first have to understand that many people in East Asia already enjoy electronic systems, complete with water noozles and seat warmers. Here, LG U+ teams up with Inus Bath to add connectivity to the Novita model:

This most essential innovation brings IoT to new territories (the 'Internet of Turds'?). From your smartphone, you can pre-warm your seats, or post-flush in case you forgot to do it. Each member of the family can instantly enjoy their preferred water temperature, pressure, or nozzle position, and you will receive alerts if you stay too long, because no one should be above the loo eternally. 

Mercifully, no cameras are connected so far, but in this over-connected country where last week, 20,000 victims of peeping toms demonstrated on the street, there were already cases of perverts installing spycams in public rest rooms...

In any case, paranoids should worry: LG U+ announced that A.I. will john later. Not Amazon's Echo (who wants more echo in this room, or Alexa sending your personal records by email?), but Naver's Clova: when it's (paper) rolled out, you can voice control this new sentient environment.

* 

The good thing with not being the highest bidder in an auction is that you're flush with enough money to become the highest bidet. 

Will LG U+ rivals enter this fascinating Game of Thrones? 

mot-bile 2018

Korea's fourth license reload

According to The Korea Herald (May 29), the Korean government is considering reviving the project of a fourth MNO license as part of a plan to stimulate the market.

Is there a need for another 4G network? Korea is well covered with LTE to LTE-A, beefed-up locally through pervasive femtocells and WiFi. And the three incumbents don't want to sit on their laurels: Korea Telecom promised 5G trials for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and SK Telecom announced a partnership with Google on augmented reality ("T-AR for Project Tango").

Is there a need for more competition? It depends on the profile of the new player, and the impacts on a M-VNO ecosystem that, at long last, is biting into a pie still dominated by SK Telecom, Korea Telecom, and LG U+.

According to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), M-VNOs were claiming a 8.8% market share as of April 21 (up from 2.9% in June 2012), thanks to prices on average 57% cheaper than the MNOs.

But it's not as if you had one fourth player with a 8.8% market share, big enough to contest the leaders on more profitable segments. Today, Korea has 27 M-VNOs, most struggling to make their first profit, and likely to never see it. Significantly, their number of subscribers started to explode when they targeted more discount-seeking audiences (the youth, Chinese migrant workers...).

A perennial candidate for the 4th spot is actually a consortium of M-VNOs: KMI (Korea Mobile Internet) revived their candidacy in October 2013, and defending the existing M-VNO ecosystem could be a stronger argument today. In December 2011, the Korea Communications Commission not only rejected KMI's bid, but also that of IST (Internet Space Time lost the backing of Hyundai Group at a critical moment). Note that the KCC also canceled the auction for the WiBro spectrum. I explained a few months earlier ("A Kbiz MNO ? SMEs vs Korea Inc") how the attempt by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses (Kbiz) to enter the market looked more like a lobbying stunt to push WiBro.

A much bigger fish could also seek the fourth license, with more brand power. Typically, CJ Group is already a major player in telecom, IPTV, or multimedia contents. It has the money to invest on new networks (Daum Kakao or Naver would need serious backing), the customer bases to leverage, and the contents to fill the pipes..., but don't bet on price wars with fellow chaebol on the juiciest segments. 
 
A true new entrant from overseas? Global MNOs know how difficult it would be in a country where foreign majors are seldom allowed to take or maintain leading positions (see retail for example: Carrefour and Wal-Mart already gone, Tesco on the back seat). But joining a consortium, or creating one remains a rare opportunity for international platforms to push their solutions in an otherwise locked Korean market. And nowadays, the dominant platforms do not necessarily belong to telecom operators...

Anyway, expect more lobbying ahead of the government's guidelines, expected by the end of June.

• See also "Daum Kakao, Google Campus... Korean platforms on steroids", other posts related to innovation in Korea.

mot-bile 2015

* "Consortium to bid for 4th mobile carrier in S. Korea" (Yonhap News - 2013/10/08)

Daum Kakao, Google Campus... Korean platforms on steroids

Yesterday, Daum and Kakao Corp announced that they would merge on October 1st, and Google that its first Google Campus in Asia would be located in Seoul.

The Daum Kakao merger looks rather defensive: before everything, it creates a stronger competitor to NHN, the leader operating among others the main rivals to Daum and Kakao Talk: Naver and LINE.

NHN and Daum are rare exceptions as successful newcomers in a country where start-ups struggle to survive in an ecosystem dominated by chaebols: as soon as a new gem shows some potential, the big fishes try to eat it, or to destroy it with me-toos leveraging on in-house countless entry points, or to control it by becoming its sole 'partner'. 

NHN and Daum could storm the web at the turn of the millennium, when mobile operators where busy building proprietary environments, and other chaebol focusing as usual on hardware. They built competitive platforms that even resisted Google, who only managed to gain strongholds in Korea thanks to Android. Typically, even if Naver maintains its leadership in web searches, Google could 'crowd-boost' Google Maps or Google Translate, with the help of smartphone manufacturers who were too happy to have a platform rivaling Apple to care about the hidden costs.

As we've said before, Samsung and LG helped Google BtoB (OEM) succeed where Google BtoC (portal) failed, and all they can do now is send a Tizen to nibble at the heavyweight champion's ears. 

There's a finite space for major value aggregators in Korea, and as Samsung's latest attempt to build a sustainable platform beyond hardware, Tizen probably accelerated the need for rivals to stretch their reach.

Big G needed to beef up its Asian ecosystem and Korea seems the perfect choice: Android rules, start-ups need competitive platforms to survive chaebol bullies, and Mountain View has the opportunity to weaken some of its most serious competitors on their own turf. Bonus: by supporting Korea's SME and creative ecosystem, you gain the favors of local authorities and regulators.

Anyway, good news for Korea's attractiveness... but yet higher entry barriers for potential major newcomers.




ADDENDUM 20140828: let's guess which 'independent' whistleblower suggested Korean watchdog to investigate Kakao Corp in the wake of the merger ("Kakao under probe for allegedly abusing market power: sources")




mot-bile 2014

joyn or die? forget about KakaoTalk and Anipang?

Remember last year, when KakaoTalk celebrated its 10 millionth user (see "Kakao Talk of the day")?

Well, 1000 days after launch, the Korean player claims 70 M users in 13 languages, with daily averages of 27 M users, 43 mn per user, and 4.2 billion messages. Even if Skype remains far ahead with its 280 M users (and the support of Microsoft* - whatever that's worth nowadays), Kakao Inc. has already become a global phenomenon  - maybe level 5 on Gangnam Style scale - , and remains as ambitious as ever.

The way Anipang on KakaoTalk turned into an instant hit in the competitive game apps arena** probably scared the heck out of pure players (messaging services, VoIP...), not to mention much bigger netcos, starting at home with Daum and Naver, two giants on the Korean market who've - so far - failed to reach international recognition. Note that Kakao Inc. founder KIM Beom-soo is not an outsider: he created Hangame Communications, Inc., and headed NHN after the merger with Naver.

Even top players are paying attention. Sundaytoyz (Anipang's developer) is not Rovio, and Kakao is not Facebook, but I bet many people in Menlo Park start wondering what kind of value the Kakao platform will aggregate after games. And if Big G can leverage its superiority in searches to boost Google Voice (and counter Apple's Siri), the brand itself is not exactly a success.

Of course, the most nervous of all coopetitors are the MNOs, who see their customers use KakaoTalk for their calls and messages, and their own networks, even LTE-enabled, glogged with that booming data traffic. No wonder all 3 Korean cellcos decided to implement joyn, the GSMA's "Rich Communication Services" platform.

To start with, the "joyn" logo is the perfect anti-KakaoTalk: a double black on yellow speech bubble to counter a single yellow on black speech bubble. And RCS brings what operators who cooperate do best: interoperability. As the GSMA puts it in its sales pitch, the solution "delivers an experience beyond voice and SMS by providing them with instant messaging or chat, live video and file sharing across any device, on any network, with all the enabled contacts in their address book".

That's what cellcos will sell to their endusers - something young, sexy, colorful:

But first, the GSMA must convince its own customers, the MNOs, to implement the solution. Everybody must be on board for the promise to be delivered.

So further down the same page, the sales pitch sounds much more defensive and frigthening:

"Don't lose out to OTT  – stay competitive and innovate with APIs

Your consumers are hungry for access to the entertainment and interaction offered by RCS-based apps. Agile and innovative, Over The Top (OTT) providers are exploiting the massive penetration of Smartphones by developing appealing rich communication apps available at little or no cost to the consumer.

Research conducted by one operator discovered a direct link between the penetration rate of cross-platform messaging services and the reduction of outgoing SMS traffic. Without RCS, the decline of voice messaging is likely to be next, as consumers increasingly engage with alternative IP based voice solutions.

Once consumers start using an OTT app service, that offering becomes, for them, the lead brand for communications services. Operators remain more competitive by responding more rapidly to consumers’ expectations and behaviour, and by using RCS to enhance the value of their network and bring richer calls to their consumers."

And those most dramatic final words: "Act now before it’s too late - Implement RCS today!"

Stop pulling your hair out, try this air lotion and stop the airtime loss. We don't guarantee return of love.

And be quick: the end is nigh.


mot-bile 2012

* see "Skype keeps moving, Google googling"
** over 20 M downloads, only on Android (iOS to follow soon)

Skype keeps moving, Google googling

Microsoft purchased VoIP 1.0 leader Skype. Not for the technology but for the address books and the entry point to interhuman communications, something Redmond still has trouble getting into.

Google Music sounds like Google Book redux. No agreements yet, but a statement, and an invitation to store your stuff on Big G's cloud. You know, Google, not the major media company but the tech nerds with the big servers that never crash (take that Jeff - see "Melting clouds"). And as YouTube turns 6, Google promotes user generated quality content (YouTube Next, YouTube Creator Institute, YouTube NextUp...). So beyond storage, the idea will soon be to source new talents and to give everyone the opportunity to broadcast oneself.

The main news here is not the service but the branding: it's not "Google Music" but "Music Beta by Google", which allows a future brand to fill the blank (ie a future purchase), but furthermore echoes Google's pervasiveness on Android. In Korea, for instance, a country where it was lagging far behind Naver or Daum, the company managed to accumulate an impressive content far beyond mobile searches, through its no-logo apps and in particular in the LBS fields (maps, places...).

The debate shouldn't be only about collecting personal data but about dominant position in collaborative contents.

mot-bile 2011

Kakao Talk of the day

Kakao recently claimed its 10 millionth KakaoTalk user - or is it app download ? -, including 10% overseas (mostly in the US, thanks to the Korean diaspora, but the service is also available in English and Japanese). Now the Bundang based venture wants to go global.

Good luck : VoIP is a highly competitive field where "incumbent" Skype almost looks like the obsolete PTT running on grand dad PCs. In Korea, Kakao faces giant netco Daum's MyPeople, a more comprehensive social networking tool, or pure players like NeoMecca (OlivePhone app)... not to mention Google Talk, present on all Android smartphones.

Note that rivals Daum and Naver are considering suing Google for its dominant position as Android's favored search engine.

Indeed, the Google brand is indeed reigning on every Android smartphone's main screen, and more discreetely but pervasively present across the app menu : "Talk" for Google Talk, "Maps" for Google Map, "Places" for Google Places, "Latitude" for Google Latitude, "Finance" for Google Finance. Also there : Gmail, YouTube...

What puzzles me most is the way local MNOs deserted the battlefield : where a Vodafone would have branded the UI, KT / Show remains in the background. You know you have an iPhone or an Android device, but the operator appears simply as the hardware salesperson, and a not so proud carrier.

As we saw earlier, Korean MNOs have very poorly prepared for the smartphone revolution, but even now, it almost looks as if they want to dump their own app stores.

mot-bile 2011

As Daum goes (a bit) mAd, SK Telecom jumps to L Commerce and Mobile Virtual Banking Operator

I've been expecting a lot from Korea's leading portals Naver and Daum*, but so far, they've not exactly revolutionized mobile internet. For instance, they've only recently set a timid foot into mobile advertising**.

To their credit, it's hard to get a slice of the wireless pie consistent with their impressive web portal market share, even after the implementation of USIM cards, which undermined Korean MNO's lock on handsets, and even after the rise of smartphone apps, which also weakened their positions on the value chain.

According to KoreanClick, #1 NHN / Naver controls 63% of the portal market (31 M Unique Visitors for Naver.com in April 2010) and #2 Daum 21% (28.9 M UV), but #3 Nate (10% MS, 24.7 M UV) can leverage on key enablers provided by owner SK Telecom : the leading cellco, already a quadplay giant, has always put a lot of importance on Location Based Services and financial enablers.

That focus has become even more evident with the creation of the Hana Bank - SKT JV (see "SK Telecom's Wild Hana Card"), confirmed by the first services earlier this year***. The recently rebranded Hana SK Card targets 400 to 500,000 cardholders by EOY 2010.

SKT has also been redefining the "mobile wallet" concept over the past few weeks : leveraging on Visa PayWave radio frequency technology, the "T Smart Pay" (always that "T" umbrella brand of SKT's) concept allows the consumer to monitor up to 8 credit cards, 30 mileage / point cards, and 50 coupons with the same '13.56MHz RF SIM' card (always that "technerdy" trend of SKT's), to the risk of storing all your most critical information on one single device. Each time you present it for a contactless payment, you're proposed the choice between all registered cards.

Of course, Hana SK Card holders can also enjoy a simplified UI :



Here, SKT almost acts like a Mobile Virtual Banking Operator roaming on tens of rival networks and helping the consumer make the most of each buck, picking the best provider depending on the store, account status, promotion... Needless to say that this entry point will be massively exploited for contextual offers : ever since NATE Coupons, SK Telecom has been a major innovator in couponing and in July, SKT will launch 'L-commerce', a new set of Location Based Services bound to confirm the return of its mojo.

About ten years ago, I was impressed by how deep this player ventured into new trades like media or banking. Since then, SK Telecom didn't fully succeed overseas as a classic mobile operator, and at one moment lost some appeal as the marketing king at home, but lately, it seems to be experiencing a revival. Even telematics are back in fashion (SKT MIV / Mobile in Vehicle).

Note that on the more traditional battlefield, SK confirmed 8 more Android handsets by EOY (see "SK Telecom pushes Android"), and KT remains the most likely guess for the iPad exclusivity : Apple's latest gizmo is being approved for import, and TriGem, Samsung, and LG will suffer from a minimized delay before their own tablets****.

mot-bile 2010


* see "KT claims 500,000 iPhones"
** "Daum rolls out mobile advertising network" (JoongAng Daily 20100511)
*** see "Wal-Mart's Vudu Trance - home entertainment and apps"
**** see "Samsung S Pad in a Flash"

iFad's deliberate marketing blur - Naver / Livedoor

With 700,000 units sold on launch day including pre-orders (according to Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray), iPad already found its spot on the market. Apple hypists fueled this early success, but other segments may follow, including technophobe seniors who are neither interested in computing nor in exotic web browsing.

Other players targeted this segment, but the Orange Hello and Orange Tabbee proposition, for instance, is clear a deterrent for hypists (see "Orange Hello, is it me you're looking for ?"). Why ? Because it is marketed around functionality-segment duos that mirror the very classic engineer-marketer binome.

The smartest thing about the iFad is the deliberate marketing blur : Apple refuses to build artificial segmentations and prefers to let the market decide, hoping the device will find more niches than initially thought. But the manufacturer pushes the concept with a clearly identified "software-level warranty" to help the hardware concept look more sustainable in the potential purchaser's mind : iPad v1.0 is not the best tablet*, just like iPod was not the best PMP or iPhone the best smartphone, but just like iTunes came from Apple computers to secure the launch of iPod, iPod music platform served as a base for the iPhone, and iPhone apps are paving the way for the iPad.

So if the iPad is not a category killer per se, it could help kill artificial categories, and tear down artificial walls.

Just one word about NHN / Naver, who would be about to snatch the Livedoor portal and its 30 M subs put on the market by LDH Corp (formerly Livedoor Holdings). It reminds me of the Daum / Lycos deal a long time ago. Korea gains an entry point in Japan the same way it did in the US : in a very traditional way. And I hope Naver has bigger plans than Daum. For instance, I wonder which role Naver, as it enters a new country using non-latine alphabet / characters, intends to play in the promising hosting business related to Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA).

mot-bile 2010

* and certainly not the best ebook : too heavy, UI and screennot optimized for reading...

KT claims 500,000 iPhones

We've seen earlier how Korea, a laggard in smartphones, woke up with the help of iPhone* and the arrival of Android**. Now "smartphone" and "apps" pop up anywhere anytime, relegating "ubiquitous" or "well-being" to corny conversations. Among recent developments :

. KT announced today that it sold its 500,000th iPhone four months after launch, and that it's now batting a steady 4,000 new ones every day. Good score, but Samsung's Omnia 2 (Windows Mobile) will remain ahead (600,000th handset sold yesterday). Yet, Apple reaches beyond the smartphone, and KT estimated its market for apps, contents and software at KRW 470 bn, plus KRW 230 bn for accessories (KRW 700 bn means about USD 600 M these days). Unsurprisingly, early bird iPhone caught heavy mobile internet users : 44 times more than other KT customers (includes the majority of non users).

. Last month, Samsung made the headlines by snatching Android trademark for hardware in Korea, preventing rivals from branding any Android gizmo beyond the OS. LG's "Andro-1", an horizontal slider with keyboard sold exclusively by KT, definitely sounds borderline. Andro-1 itself is borderline : even if it came after Motorola's MotoROI (2.0) and the Samsung SHW-M100S (2.1), it runs on Android 1.5...

. In a country plagued with voice / email phishing scams, or even North Korean e-blitzkriegs, the brutal success of smartphones was bound to cause a considerable number of attacks much scarier than Rick Astley***. Competition among crimefigthers is quickly going wireless, and local expert AhnLab released new versions of its star antivirus : V3 Mobile for Android and V3 Mobile+ for iPhone. But operators don't want netcos to claim their own territories and the next day, mobile leader SK Telecom decided to offer McAfee antivirus to all its Android subs. Besides, even if for the moment the bulk of smartphone users are over 18, adult content is also becoming an issue...

Local internet powerhouses Naver and Daum don't want to be followers - Daum even planned to equip all its staff with iPhones ahead of the launch. Both are seizing opportunities and multiplying applications, and the coopetition between Korean netcos and MNOs will really become interesting.

mot-bile 2010

* "iPhone rocks Seoul and sacred cows"
** "SK Telecom pushes Android" followed by "Wal-Mart's Vudu Trance - home entertainment and apps"
*** see "iPhone worm raises its ugly head : Rick Astley"

Google.co.kr stopped the diet

This is google.co.kr in English :




The same URL, Korean version ? Ta-daaa :



OK... looks like a weak North Korean attempt to compete with the flashy and animated homepages of local rivals Daum or Naver, but that's a giant leap for Googlekind. Images beyond the logo - heck, actual photos ! - an embryo of menu, some bits of news... Plus 2 small PNGs to catch your eye :
- (top) the little house on the prair-e to reach your iGoogle page
- (bottom) a "+" which becomes a "-" when you click it : Big G then unfolds its own menu of services without refreshing the whole page

Time is money. Google used to prove it by skimming all fat tissues from its most essential URL, but now they're following the adage in a different meaning : let's not waste time catching up with leaders, even if it means bending sacrosanct rules.

But if low carb homepages are history in Korea (and probably Japan and China, where Big G's market shares are also below "normal"), "don't be evil" is still standing.

For the moment.


mot-bile 2009

---
ADDENDUM 20091211

According to Joseon Ilbo, Rankey estimated that the new Google homepage, launched on Friday the 4th, gained 83% Saturday (reaching 921,000 visitors), plus 29% Sunday, plus 9% Monday. No comparisons were given with the previous week.

iPhone wakes up Korean mobile internet market

Amazing : Korea, a world leader in mobile innovations in the early 2000s, Korea, still nowadays the land of broadband and home to such IT giants as Samsung and LG, Korea is lagging behind European countries in both IPTV and mobile internet.

As we saw with IPTV (see "IPTV in Korea, an update"), lobbying and regulation played an important part in this paradox, and the country is finally trying to fix the bug.

For mobile internet, the first opening came last year with the abandon of WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability) as the mandatory platform for smartphones, opening the market to Blackberry and other players. Today, we can hardly speak of a shift from an industry-based to a consumer-based regulation, but the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) just cleared the way for iPhone in Korea by stating that Apple, after all, doesn't need an extra license for Location-Based Services as long as there's a MNO with the relevant license in the loop.

KT is expected to launch the iPhone in the weeks to come (October or November), and to subsidize the device down to a retail price of around KRW 240,000 (about USD 200). Apple wants more than the 300,000 units announced by its Korean partner, who will have to release its own KT Apps Store ahead of the iPhone in order to mark its territory. In order to leverage on the operator's strong leadership in fixed and fixed wireless services, KT's apps will be downloadable by Wi-Fi.

Competitors have been bracing themselves for the iPhone, fearing market disruptions : wireless leader SK Telecom opened the first App Store earlier this month. But unfortunately, "T Store" has been bashed by the critic : users can browse as much as they want on their PC (tstore.co.kr - about 6,500 references), but can only download apps via their 3G phones, and via 3G only (not Wi-Fi). Worse : the price doesn't include connection costs ! Needless to say the service is WIPI-based : SKT is the mobile leader and bets on a wider installed based from the start. I can already see marketers scratch their heads : we want our customers to rediscover their own handsets and find them sexier than the ultimate hype machine... good luck ! Needless to say T Store won't remain WIPI-based : SKT plans to go "global" within two years and to generate a 1 trillion won turnover in 2013. If SKT maintains its 30% cut, we're talking about over half a billion bucks. And since SKT happens to be also a major content provider, that's a rather conservative estimation... provided the store succees, of course.

Korean developers will have fish to fry, as well as the editors' sectoral federations (ie games), in charge of okaying new apps. Furthermore, Microsoft is also roaming the country to snatch some gems (USD 19M planned for game developers over the next 4 years).

Netcos have been barred by cellcos but grow new ambitions, like NHN for its "web" brands. Beyond Naver, NHN wants to push Me2Day, a K-"twitter" acquired last year and already on iPhone.

Now How about endusers ?

Mobile TV is very popular but doesn't require 3G. And wireless internet echoes more Wi-Fi / WiBro than 3G. Even if half of the core target (12 to 59 year-olds) is somehow using services, mobile internet over 3G remains ways too expensive, and most players would like operators to slash connection costs, particularly to welcome revenues from social networking platforms. MNOs already had to undergo significant cuts in calling charges, but their rates remain high and the percentage of turnover made on wireless internet very low (below 20%) compared to advanced European nations (in the mid 30%s).

Usages are bound to soar once MNOs accept to share more with the rest of the ecosystem, to grow a much bigger pie. All together, now.

ADDENDUM 20090927

More precisions regarding the cuts in mobile charges (announced this week-end) :
- wireless internet basic rates : 50% reduction for LGT, 88% for KT. To be defined for SKT, but from next March on, the leader will calculate call charges per second (every 10 second now). note that Long Distance has disappeared in Korea : calls within Seoul and outside will cost the same. VoIP also gains ground, even if rates are not as slashed as in other countries (ie nothing is actually free).
- basic access fees slashed (KT : from KRW 30 to 24,000 - SKT : from 55 to 44,000)
- loyalty discounts (KT 5,000 / mo, SKT up to 22,000, LGT up to 25,000) - NB: all 3 MNOs have also triple play discounts. Logically, #3 LG Telecom (mobile portal brand : Oz) is the most aggressive player.

IPTV in Korea

A 100 Mbps connection, a brand new Homevita home networking service including a complimentary Samsung Q1 Ultra (slick, black, DMB enabled, lovely keyboard). And all I can get is VOD channels. The closest thing to live TV I get is through classic web browsing or through CCTV (most exciting Reality TV program : who paid me a visit the last few days ?).

Forget about real time broadcasting : the Ministry of Information and Communication is in favor of it but the Korea Broadcasting Commission lobbied against it. The freshest news, sports or series you can get must be at least 24h old. And provided your IPTV service reached an agreement with the broadcaster, you must pay for them (like KRW 500 apiece - never mind those corny loyalty program points).

24 hour old ! Ancient by the standards of a (supposedly) information / knowledge society where 90% of households are already enjoying pay TV, where internet / mobile banking is commonplace, where interactivity starts when you wake up and stops when you fall asleep.

In spite of this key regulatory hurdle (the only reason why France is still a leader in commercial IPTV), and the competition of so many technos (including DMB*) IPTV is on its way to 3 M subs by EOY 2008.

And Daum still wants to become the 4th player this summer ; a TVNO on its competitors' backs with powerful partners : Microsoft (platform and Xbox 360 access), Celrun (set top boxes), and NHN / Naver (Korea's second portal and already a key VOD and TV aggregator - see Naver VOD or Naver TV news for example)

The competitors ? The usual suspects :
- SK Telecom : the mobile leader is wolfing pionneer and leader Hanaro Telecom down. HanaTV targets 1.8M subs EOY (800k EOQ1 2008) with a break-even point at 2M.
- Korea Telecom (on the way to merging with KTF) : Mega TV has the cutest logo and the best network (optic fiber all the way through its Megapass broadband subsidiary).
- LG Telecom : #3 as always for the TTM as well as the market share. myLGTV has the weakest VOD catalog but that's better than nothing.

These 3 players just reached the 10M 3G subs plateau : 5.28M for KTF (+440K for Show in April), 4.68M for SKT (+470K for T Live) and 190K for LGT's Rev. A service.

* KBS, a top broacaster, is also national and regional T-DMB license holder (with KTF) - about U-KBS (VOD, KBS Star, KBS Heart, KBS Music, KBS Data, KBS-Mozen TPEG telematics... - yet another "Ubiquitus" service), see kbs.co.kr/dmb.

Smells like tin can spirit

Bell Labs' prez, Jeong Kim, announced in Seoul that thanks to nanotechnologies, mobile devices will sense changes in facial expressions and even smell people or things. You'd better not eat garlic before videophoning your girlfriend. And watch out next time your company offers you a Blackberry : it might beep your boss each time you lie or recover from booze or pot smoking or all of the above. What a Xmas gift !
"Merry Christmas" is the name of the software developped by Sookmyung Women's University for a PR firm : it crawls across the cyberspace and displays a rather graphical way both the positive and negative opinions on people or issues. US firms are already using such tools to roam the blogosphere, when their employees don't do it directly. And when I say "do it", I mean either roaming (funny how people keep visiting from Redmond, WA or Cupertino, CA) or building the blogosphere (e-pinion minions). Not always in the open.
Speaking of which... Korea's MIC seems to confirm the implementation of its "real-name system" plan by the end of this year. Before posting any comment on the web, Koreans will have to enter their personal ID. Not that of their service provider but the official one they use in their everyday life. The public seems to want that reform, and not only for the big internet players (who often have already implemented it) but for the whole web. Yet, major portals like Daum or Naver fear users will switch to foreign based providers.
So now both your mobile and your cyberalter egos will expose your true self. Not much will change for me : I decided to use my real name on my personal spaces as well as on public fora as a challenge. Every lapse, every mistake, every stupid joke will remain somewhere : I'm sick of the forgiveness of word processors and other polishing softwares, allzusoftwares.