Will iPhone goes to South Korea and Japan?

Possibly yes, possibly no … We don’t know.

I just read David Gonzales’ post on the new (oh not now please) rumor of iPhone. He said that Apple will begin to sell their touch-screen pioneer in both of countries via Korea Telecom Freetel and NTT DoCoMo. Hmm, he probably correct or ….. Here in this post I just want to share my opinion about this rumor.

iPhone in Japan = Possibly Yes

Japan is a country which use their own specific 2G standard for cellphone, this rule will makes Apple become a little bit scary to release and sell their 2G iPhone there. However, Apple may still have a big chance to sell the next 3G iPhone since there’s nothing matter on its technology which could lead into conflict with Japan’s rule.

3Gweek also have one post that could strengthen the release of iPhone in Japan entitle “When Aiphone meet iPhone“. I wrote this post in April 25, 2008. It will show to us that Apple had made such an agreement with Japanese company about the right to use the brand “iPhone” in Japan. Though “Aiphone” and “iPhone” is a different word, still we will hardly find it different in term of its spelling.

iPhone in Korea = Possibly No

I said like this since South Korea do not accept any gizmo which its vendors don’t want to use South Korean WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability Standard). Well, except for RIM’s Blackberry which its firmware, Blackberry OS recently has been accepted by South Korean government after foreign investors forced them to do that. However, this historical permission valid only for corporate or enterprise users, not individual consumers. Market which Apple iPhone is intended to. At least till today.

So, unless Apple want to change its iPhone Mac OS into South Korean WIPI or in other case South Korean permit Apple to keep their lovable Mac OS, the deal wouldn’t be happened. Anyway, this is just my opinion. It can be wrong too.

David’s argument

We feel for you, Japan and Korea. For now, you can settle for your favorite Nokia, Samsung, and LG phones but bear in mind that Apple needs you if they are ever going to sell 10 million iPhones in time. So be optimistic!

My opinion

Although David’s argument can be real and correct, I still believe that for this short moment of time the answer maybe no since Apple will likely to fill this target from US, India, Singapore, Australia, Philipphines, UK, France, Germany, Czech Republic and ….. perhaps Japan.

Source: Unwired Review

Image courtesy of Apple

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 Print Posted by Wim Permana on May 19th, 2008


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