well, this is the story of AutoMobiles, Cell Phones and Cell Phones .

   

[ First, the AutoMobile ]

as mind-boggling it is to imagine this Planet grew to offer the /perfect/ atmostphere for Life to emerge in, it is amazing to realize some aspects of life in the Korean Penninsula simply don’t add-up, yet life goes on as if they ALL know it’s out-of-place but heck, it always has been, and is going eerier, but oh no, I’M not gonna be the one to speak out . thus c’est moi ici : jotting down in the most incomprehensible manner in an under-dog BLog . (cough)

fact : South Korean automobiles sell a tad cheaper in the States than in its home country .

fact : European Import AutoMobiles in South Korea sell mucho expensive than in the States .

rebates, tax AND agents’ fee are at work here but it all comes down to the fact that drivers and owners of European Import Cars in South Korea expect it to be expensive for the presitige it accompanies . thus at the on-start only expensive lines of Japanese automobile companies have been imported . but from this fall, mainframe mid-level ranges of Japanese Imports will start to land, alerting direct competition with mid-range local Korean cars .

[ then the Cell Phone ]

at least in the local Cell Phone market, it all started with “Prada Phone” manufactured by LG Electronics and sold 2 months earlier than the first iPhone did in the States, to “raise the ante on prestigeousness on mobile electronics”.

although by concensus local youngsters prefer SamSung Electronics’ AnyCall brand more due to its stylishness as well as its ease-of-use (especially in SMS messaging character input), they flocked to buy this Prada Phone at the time for there were no SamSung’s full-screen phone yet at the time . ofcourse after which SamSung came out with an endless series of “Haptic”s whose post is so popular on my BLog .

and now this Fall the second round of fight is on the way with Prada Phone 2 coming, PLUS SamSung raising another ante in introducing Giorgio Armani Phone ~ how’s that for a punch under your belly ?

[ now the iPhone ]

but not-so-fast on this one, Junior .

amid lagging AND confusing rumours about if AND when iPhone would /finally/ land on Korean shores, the watch-dog of all things on-line AND up-on-the-air in South Korea : Korea Communications Commission has finally signalled “Go !” (mucho reluctantly) on Sep.23rd. and /that/ is all that is sure up to this date, sorry .

but again you would want the inside scoop with understandable errors contained, so here’s the Story of the Two Strings attached to the iPhone, version Coreen . the main technical issue they’ve been holding it back as long as possible was Apple’s location-seeking ability, which in fact crashes with local Location Information Laws . and although (their quote) “Apple’s current technology does NOT intrude into citizen’s privacy, however its development AND combination with other technology might eventually lead to do so . thus it is necessary to consider its long-term effects to the well being of the consumer.” thus the authorities held a meeting to allow the influx of iPhone as long as :

  1. Apple directly abide by local Location Information Laws to apply for Location Information Operator, or
  2. use a local company that already has such a service such as KT to use as THEIR service within South Korea .

yeah go ahead and ponder what that /really/ means on your own time but like another other big deal around the Globe, local businesses want a slice of the deal (AND the tons of revenue it will produce).

another side to the coin here is the now-proud morality and prestige of South Korea as a prime IT-Nation . to delay iPhone any further when its location-seeking technology is already being used in so many countries, would AND is interfering with the desires of its consumer. besides, this nation is past its time when authorities can put a lid on what the People so badly want . in the 80’s it was Democracy (oh, no we still haven’t achieved it yet NOT in the American Constitutional sense but) and come the Millennium : the glorious wireless, electronical Swiss Knife of (the classic Sci-Fi movie) 2010 (The Year we make Contact) : the iPhone .

– Korea Tech BLog, October 25th 2009 –