2016년 10월 28일 금요일

Top 10 best selling smartphones in korea (third week, Oct 2016)


Top 10 most selling smartphones by national mobile carrier during the 3rd week of October (oct 16~23) according to the ATLAS Research & Consulting.

Sales of Samsung Galaxy S7, S7edge and LG V20 soared after Galaxy Note 7 recall and discontinued in Korea.

1. Galaxy S7 (SKT)

2. Galaxy S7edge (SKT)

3. Galaxy S7 (U+)

4. LG V20 (U+)

5. Galaxy S7 (KT)

6. Galaxy S7edge (U+)

7. Lg V20 (SKT)

8. Galaxy J5 (U+)

9. Galaxy S7edge (KT)

10. galaxy wide (SKT)

Domestic sales of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus which was released in Oct. 21 are expected to dominate the chart of 4th week in Oct.
Apple's iPhone 7 was a huge hit in Korea selling more than 200,000 units in its opening weekend.









2016년 10월 23일 일요일

Top travel trends and hot domestic destinations for 2016 in South Korea


According to Expedia (www.expedia.co.kr), online travel agency's data of hotel bookings from January to September this year, Sokcho city in Gangwon province emerged as hot domestic destination and solo traveler increased during the peak travel season.

Sokcho saw significant increases in domestic tourists due to augmented reality (AR) game, "Pokémon Go".
Sokcho was the only area in South Korea you could play the augmented reality game that has swept the world, largely thanks to a technical loophole.
Accomodation booking has increased 139.5% from January to September compared to same period in 2015.

During the same period,  Jeonju city in North Jeolla Province and Yeosu city in South Jeolla province saw significant increase in domestic travelers, 118.1% and 89.2% respectively.

Like last year, Seoul (26.7%) had the highest hotel reservations market share, followed by Jeju (24.4%), Busan (15.9%)and Incheon (6.1%).
Seoul and Busan saw decrease in domestic traveler compared to last year's 34.6% and 19.9% respectively while domestic traveler to Jeju island increased from last year (21.7%).

There has been a change in number of tourists by season as well.
More korean travelled by group or family in spring while solo traveler increased in summer.

Solo traveler visited Seoul city most by far, more than half (53.8%) had visited Seoul this year followed by Jeju (9.2%), Busan (8.7%), Incheon (4.6%) and Gyeongju (2.1 percent).




2016년 10월 17일 월요일

After Typhoon Chaba hit Busan city, a story of the foreign mother and her daughters touched the hearts of Koreans



On the morning of Oct. 5, Typhoon Chaba made landfall on the southern coastal regions of Korea, causing huge gusts and tidal waves that swept over Busan and adjoining regions. The powerful waves broke through some seawalls, engulfing water-front property and major roads along the coast. By the time afternoon came, the skies had cleared, but the typhoon had left in its wake an absolute disaster.

The few pics of foreign mother and her two daughters cleaning Gwangalli Beach in Busan city for many hours after Typhoon Chaba swept the region became hot topic online early this month.

The story of the mother and daughters voluntarily cleaning the beach caught on camera by bypasser got broadcast on news channels, newspapers and has touched the hearts of Koreans across the country.

Various social media sites have also praised the mother and her daughters, setting them as good examples for others to follow.

Korean media even revealed the identity of foreign mother and daughters recently.
Mother is Diane Rupert, 38years old American who is working as teacher at Busan international school, and her two daughters Fiona (11), Stella (5) living in Busan since 2009.

Rupert said, "I became aware that our family picture at beach became talk of town on Korean websites through American friend of mine some time later," "My daughters acted spontaneously and it attracted voluntary participation from Korean citizens and bypassers, I am happy to participate with my children in restoration of typhoon damage in community i belong to".










2016년 10월 14일 금요일

LG to star in aggressive marketing campaign to benefit from discontinued Galaxy Note 7 in South Korea

LG Electronics which released their new flagship smartphone 'V20'on Sep,29 is slated to compete for market share in the absence of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 in Korean smartphone market.

LG went on aggressive marketing including slashing the price of G5, their previous flagship phone which was released march this year from 836,000 won($736) to 696,000 won($616).

Customers who are familiar with Android-based smartphones are likely to prefer smartphones from Google and LG, while others who have lost trust in the Samsung brand are expected to take this opportunity to switch to Apple’s iOS-based iPhone models.

LG is trying to gain domestic premium smartphone market share as much as possible before Apple iPhone 7 and 7 plus's Korea relaese date, Oct 21 and Google’s new premium Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones upcoming release in Korea.

However, many Korean netizens pointed out that LG should lower the price of V20 to attract Galaxy Note 7 owners looking for alternative high-end smartphones, not G5 which was already admitted 'failed product'even by LG itself.

The LG V20 is slated to launch in the US by Oct. 28.



2016년 10월 5일 수요일

Black women in Hanbok graffiti earn favorable response in US


Korean graffiti artist Shim Chanyang posted the photo of his lastest work on Oct.5, 2016 and received praise on social networking services and local press in US.
He drew this Korea-inspired graffiti at workcontainer yard arts district in Los Angeles that features a black woman wearing Korea's traditional costume hanbok.

He said he put Do Jong Hwan, Korean famous poet's phrase "Flowers Shaken While Blooming" on graffiti because he wanted to leave Korea's beautiful flower and Hangul in US.

Shim was invited to a graffiti event in San Francisco at which he drew another Korea-inspired piece.

"I felt the pride and appreciated the beauty of Hanbok even more after watching American enjoy the painting of black female in Hanbok and Korean culture," he said.