iPhone News Updated

Hype over, the iPhone is finally going on sale here

After years of rumors and long delays, the iPhone is finally here, threatening the dominance of Samsung and LG Electronics’ smartphones in the Korean market.

KT, Korea’s largest Internet operator and second biggest mobile operator, said yesterday that it will start selling Apple’s popular smartphone product in Korea starting this Saturday. The company will hold a launching event for around 1,000 preorder customers picked through a drawing in Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul. It added that it also plans to include interested people who have not preordered iPhones in the event.

Preorders are possible now through the company’s online handset mall (http://phonestore.show.co.kr) as well as at 2,600 KT stores nationwide.

Both the older iPhone 3G model and the newer 3GS model, released this June, will be sold here. The price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G is 132,000 won ($114). The 16-gigabyte 3GS model will go for 264,000 won for customers who subscribe to KT’s iPhone-specific 45,000 won payment package. The 32-gigabyte 3GS model will cost 396,000 won upon subscribing to the same payment package.

The price of the devices goes down if one chooses a more expensive monthly package.

“I am extremely glad to be able to introduce the iPhone to Korean customers,” said Kim Woo-shik, head of KT’s individual customer division.

The iPhone is available in about 80 countries worldwide. Before KT’s announcement, Korea and Iceland were the only two countries of the OECD to not have launched the phone, named “invention of the year” by Time Magazine back in 2007 when it was first introduced.

KT’s announcement comes after the nation’s telecom regulator gave Apple Korea the green light to launch the phone here last Thursday, making an exception to the law that requires handsets sold in Korea to use domestic locating technology.

Although forecasts about the phone’s success here have been mixed, most industry experts predict that the phone will sell well, at least initially.

Hwang Sung-jin, an analyst at Prudential Life Insurance, said that he expects to see 200,000 to 500,000 units sold in the near future.

“The important thing about the iPhone’s launch here is not that a certain popular brand has finally been introduced to Korea but that it will be a catalyst for the local smartphone market to grow,” he said, adding that the relatively low price of the iPhone compared to other smartphones sold in Korea will also produce lower prices for domestically-made smartphones in the future.

By Cho Jae-eun [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]
[Thanks: http://joongangdaily.joins.com]

Tweet This Post