A little while back, we wrote about the Korea Communications Commission’s decision to make an exception for the iPhone, essentially clearing the way for Apple to submit the phone for radio approval (a la FCC procedures in the States). Now, two months later, the KCC has officially approved Apple’s iPhone for sale in South Korea.
No doubt, this is a shining example of the impact of the KCC’s decision late last year to allow foreign handset manufacturers to sell mobile phones in South Korea after April 1, 2009 without Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability (WIPI) technology built-in.
Anyhoo, the KCC’s ruling says that the iPhone can now be launched at any time. Thus, it makes sense that two of the biggest mobile carriers in South Korea, KT Corp. and SK Telecom Co., have already been talking to Apple about selling its flagship mobile phone. Not surprisingly, neither of the carriers, nor Apple, has made any mention of if or when it might begin to sell the biggest mobile thing since wireless sliced bread. Either way, Samsung and LG must be really excited about the news.
SKT looks to be backing from iPhone going for Androids from LG and Samsung. Protectionism lol.
And they would have no problem winning approval from North Korea Government. Show them the App Store approval process, and Kim Jong-Il would go meosjin ige geugeo yeyo!!!
don’t forget how long it took the iPhone to breakthrough in Japan. Like Japan, Korean phones can stream live TV and have cameras that are much better than what’s on the iPhone. MMS is also a huge part of texting over there. Also, If this pricing chart is indeed accurate (http://tiny.cc/LDxNV) it looks like it’s going to be more expensive than other smart phone plans (though still cheaper than the US). At 95,000 won (82 dollars) you get 800 minutes, 3 gigs of data, but only 200 SMS (internet calls are free though).