Will iPhone fare better in South Korea than China?

The iPhone has had a troubled journey into South Korea. A playground fight of corporate proportions broke out because of the iPhone, and legal difficulties had to be overcome. But with the device finally launching, will it perform better than the disappointing Chinese launch?

Indigenous mobile operator KT Corp will be selling the King of Smartphones in South Korea. Much like with Softbank in Japan, KT Corp is an important operator in the country but is a long way behind the dominant SK Telecom in terms of subscribers. After a drawn-out process, KT Corp won the Apple contract - but as was so sharply highlighted by the Unicom launch in China, just having an iPhone to sell does not guarantee success. The sale also has to be handled well.

What we think?

There seem to have been three major reasons that the device staggered off the shelves for Unicom. First, it was hilariously expensive. Second, it couldn’t access WiFi. Third, it was very late to market.

KT Corp hasn’t mentioned anything about disabling WiFi - so barring any last minute surprises, that should be fine. As for pricing, South Koreans will be able to buy their device for costs much more in line with international averages. Depending on which iPhone you buy, with which monthly plan, the iPhone will range from being free to an upper cost of under $350. Which is a lot better than prices from Unicom, which could see the device going for as much as $1000.

On the third point… well, KT is still very late to market. Much of that was due to legal hurdles thanks to the incredibly insular and closed South Korean telecoms industry. Other smartphones are already available. You also have to factor in that South Korea is one of the most saturated mobile markets in the world. SK Telecom itself is desperate to expand internationally because sales are so hard to make at home. So iPhone has to contend with that as well.

But despite these obstacles, things aren’t looking so bad for the device. The launch is tomorrow - and KT is already claiming over 50,000 pre-orders. It’ll be interesting to see what the sales figures look like over the weekend… if we get them.