How about them apples? Apple is now the number 1 mobile phone vendor in the US, with a record of 34% market share. Samsung will surely be keen to recapture that title in 2013 by launching improved new models such as the rumored Galaxy S4. LG is still the third largest player in the American mobile phone market. beSUCCESS investigates the three key reasons why Apple’s sales improved, but what do you think?
beSUCCESS covers weekly news in Korea, 3 Feb.
‘그레이의 50가지 그림자’는 전자책과 맞춤형 소량 출판(이하 POD)을 이용한 종이책으로 2011년 5월에 처음 출간됐다. 전체 3권이 완간될 때까지 순전히 입소문만으로 팔렸다. 급기야 랜덤하우스 자회사 빈티지 북스가 판권을 승계해서 2012년 4월 개정판을 냈다. 2012년 아마존 영국에서는 ‘그레이의 50가지 그림자’ 시리즈가 ‘해리 포터’ 시리즈 판매량을 뛰어넘었다는 발표를 했다.
In the past top Korean business men have used their position to escape jail, but in the recent presidential election ‘democratizing business’ in Korea was a major talking point, by both front-runners, amid a growing wave of discontent among the public that top business tycoons have been getting off lightly, despite clear cases of corruption.
Jimmy Lim (CEO of K-Cube Ventures) and Bum-Su Kim (Chairman of Kakao Talk) have invested 500M KRW in a new mobile gaming startup, Dryad January 31 2013. Dryad have not yet got round to setting up a website, such is the speed of their ascent.
We reported last week that in-house developer teams at large Korean Corporations were earning their keep by copying mobile apps from small-time entrepreneurs. Now news that a small-time entrepreneur from Korea is the culprit of a similar theft.
More than one in three people, 38%, have recommended a brand they “like” or follow on a social network. On average, almost one in four people worldwide, 22%, said they bought a brand because a friend recommended or followed the brand online.
In the face of South Korean lay-offs Chinese corporations are poaching skilled IT workers from Korea, promising promotions and better pay. The exodus could hurt Korea’s long term aspirations for increasing the country’s profile as a top IT center.
SoftLayer is giving away free hosting for 1 year to startups in their Catalyst Startup Program. This offer represents a huge saving, which includes mentoring and marketing support. After 1 year you can leave or stay as a paying customer.
Quick on the heels of Pantech’s announcement of major new investment from Qualcomm, comes the release of the largest full HD smartphone on the market; Vega No. 6. Apparently the largest HD phone screen on the market.
Samsung Electronics sold 213 smartphones globally last year. This figure is higher than the combined sales of number No. 2 and No. 3 ranked manufacturers, Apple and Nokia. This figure also represents the first time in the company’s history that it has crossed the 30% of market share mark.
beSUCCESS covers weekly news in Korea, 27 Jan.
LG U+, Korea’s third-largest mobile carrier, will release the nation’s first unlimited-data plans for customers using LTE networks. From Jan. 31 to April 30, customers who switch from another provider will be eligible for the free plan, fueling the intensifying battle for new LTE customers.
Will Bada fuse with the TIZEN project? The Tizen Association was formed in 2012 by executives from Samsung, Intel, NTT Docomo and Vodafone to support the open source software. Having Samsung’s own ecosystem will give them a full control on features, updates and hardware specifications of all of the products. But some say that if Samsung moves away from Android, they would be shooting themselves in the foot. Before they were introduced Android to their phones, Samsung had a line of feature phones. Samsung tried making their own OS for smartphones, Bada – but some say that this was pretty much a flop, and some say that it is still being developed.
Global games platform, Trion Worlds, has signed a major deal with South Korea’s renowned XL Games to bring the much anticipated MMORPG, “ArcheAge”, to Western markets.
Apple Korea will attempt to improve its flagging sales figures by holding a one-day sales event in the run-up to Lunar New Year, on February 10th. “Red Friday” became an annual event in 2011, similar to “Black Friday” held in the US. The event is held in several Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea.
Korea has GooDoc, and America’s got ZocDoc. Earlier on this month, ZocDoc received more than 2.5 million people visits and 130% bump in bookings. Annual physical tests booked on ZocDoc are up about 650% since 2010. Consequently, it has raised $95 million in funding to date. What are their 3 reasons for success? In Part II, we will investigate the differences and provide an analysis of the current Korean market.
The creator of “Between”, VCNC (CEO: Jaewook Park) recently received a whopping 3 billion KRW (approx. 3 million USD) investment from four investors.
500 year old Oxford University Press has signed a major partnership deal with Korean iPortfolio as the preferred supplier for their expanding digital textbook platform. iPortfolio expects royalty revenue of at least $100k per year as a result of the deal, which is based on a new model for Korean software exports.
Qualcomm will be investing $23 million in Pantech, the company ranked 3rd in the mobile industry in South Korea. Who is Pantech? Will there be a shift in dynamics? Will there be significant changes made in the industry? Why is Kanye West relevant in all this? beSUCCESS answers these questions.
