HTC Cedes Korea To Koreans
Top message: Local pride by Rich Brome
Replying to: Re: Just buy whatever is best.... by tethering pioneer
Re: Just buy whatever is best....
Some of these responses just make me laugh.
Please then explain why the iPhone is so popular in Korea? The Motorola StarTac was so popular, they were making newer versions of it YEARS after it ended production in the states. Motorola even released a color screen version of the phone.
Nationalist sentiments and some protectionist policies aside, I think there are some basic economic reasons. Competition in the electronics industry is brutal in South Korea. Japanese camera makers used to release their digital cameras in Korea before they did in Japan and globally because the market was better at finding the bugs.
I know many will take offense at this and there are plenty of happy HTC owners, but I also have a lot of friends who work for carriers and such who deal with all these companies. Put simply, the quality and service levels simply cannot match. There are certain things that will fly here that become near crisis level issues in Korea. Being geared to provide that level of support to both the carrier and consumer is difficult. I don't think many Americans really understand the level of immediate service that the Korean market demands and the terrifying speed at which a product will be bashed on the internet if it is seen as sub par.
Korea is a country where if demand is high enough, it will grey/black market its way into the country despite the protection policies. I remember back in the 90s people would carry on airplanes bulky Sony/Panasonic TVs, sound systems, etc. all they way from Japan. 58 million people do not identically support a highly perishable, trend driven product like a cell phone simply because they want to support their country.
Local preferences are extremely difficult to understand, much like our American preferences baffle the Koreans
Please then explain why the iPhone is so popular in Korea? The Motorola StarTac was so popular, they were making newer versions of it YEARS after it ended production in the states. Motorola even released a color screen version of the phone.
Nationalist sentiments and some protectionist policies aside, I think there are some basic economic reasons. Competition in the electronics industry is brutal in South Korea. Japanese camera makers used to release their digital cameras in Korea before they did in Japan and globally because the market was better at finding the bugs.
I know many will take offense at this and there are plenty of happy HTC owners, but I also have a lot of friends who work for carriers and such who deal with all these companies. Put simply, the quality and service levels simply cannot match. There are certain things that will fly here that become near crisis level issues in Korea. Being geared to provide that level of support to both the carrier and consumer is difficult. I don't think many Americans really understand the level of immediate service that the Korean market demands and the terrifying speed at which a product will be bashed on the internet if it is seen as sub par.
Korea is a country where if demand is high enough, it will grey/black market its way into the country despite the protection policies. I remember back in the 90s people would carry on airplanes bulky Sony/Panasonic TVs, sound systems, etc. all they way from Japan. 58 million people do not identically support a highly perishable, trend driven product like a cell phone simply because they want to support their country.
Local preferences are extremely difficult to understand, much like our American preferences baffle the Koreans
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