More On Android

Things are definitely afoot in the Korean mobile space with SK Telecom coming out yesterday saying they are about to jump on the Android bandwagon - in spite of Apple it would seem:

SK Telecom, South Korea's biggest mobile telephony carrier, plans to release a "smart" phone powered by the Google-backed Android operating system next year.

Korea Times

Like the would-be iPhone this would have some serious ramifications for the Korean Internet sphere as a whole - in particular favouring Google in one of the few markets where it is not the dominant search/cloud player. From the same K-Times article:

"The local smart phone market will gain an additional momentum for expansion as local carriers and handset vendors are strengthening their smart phone-related line-ups and services," Kim Sung-in, an analyst at Kium Securities, said.

The company is currently talking with local phone giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics about developing handsets based on Android 2.0, the latest version of the open-source operating system, which it plans to release sometime during the first half of 2010.

Here is what Android on a Samsung headset looks like, the ubiquitous Chaebol having offered up it's first Android phone in The States earlier this month:

(Via Engadget Mobile)

Nice. That cube interface is butter!

Of course the reason for SKT for jumping on the Android bandwagon? Well they say things along the line of uncertainty of popularity. (You're kidding m right?) and profitability. That latter one is a little more believable in that I be SK Telecom doesn't want to enter into the revenue sharing agreement that Apple imposes on it's resellers.

Some SK Telecom insiders told The Korea Times that the company's top decision-makers are seriously considering dropping the company's previous plans to release the iPhone.

Although KT, SK Telecom's bitter industry rival, is betting heavily on Apple's iconic handset, SK Telecom officials claim that Android-powered phones may prove to be better for data processing and securing a wider range of applications.

Apparently, SK Telecom is not crazy about the idea of sharing data revenue with Apple, as the American device maker does with all of its partner carriers around the world.

Well exactly....

The thing that will fuck things up entirely will be SKT's need to meddle in proven markets, in this case the Android App store. They sure as hell aren't happy at not being able to control iPhone apps sold directly through the App Store in iTunes, the openness of the Android platform allows SK Telecom to stick their sticky midget fingers right in there!

The company was also concerned about surrendering its tight control of the content value chain, as the carrier wouldn't get anything from software downloads on Apple's App Store online applications market.

However enormous charges on data, and SK Telecom's poor effort with it's WinMo Application store don't bode too well at all.

Read the rest here.

Comments

[José María]

It's exactly that "openess" of which SK is talking referring to the Android OS what have kept the best cell phones out of the Korean market.
What I see in these announcements is an attempt to reduce the impact the iPhone will have in Korea and KT next month.
Taking about the Android... There is a great one out there (the Motorola Droid) which, surprisingly, isn't sold here.