Resurrection of Pantech's SKY brand in Korea

Pantech SKY brand will be revived in three years since last launch whice was June 2016.

On January 13, employees at the Incheon SKY Service Center are showing prototypes of wireless earphone, 6-inch smartphones'Sky One' and Sky Folder Phone that will be launched in the first half of this year.

It will be distributed by self-subscription service, and the company is also trying to supply to three mobile telecom operators. The price for smartphones is expected to range from 200,000 won to 300,000 won while the price of folder phones is expected to be around 100,000 won.

South Korea's longest-used app November 2018

YouTube turned out to be the longest used app in all generations, from teenagers to over 50s.

On November 11, according to Wiseapp which analyzed Korean Android smartphone users app usage by age groups, the total usage time of Youtube apps of all generation was 31.7 billion minutes in November.
The teenager used longest amount of time with Youtube with 8.6 billion minutes, followed by the 50's with 7.9 billion min.

Following YouTube, KakaoTalk, Naver, Facebook, T phone, etc. have been ranked in long-used apps.

Teenagers spent about 3.7 times more time on Youtube than KakaoTalk (2.3 billion minutes) which ranked second with 86.6 billion minutes during the month of November.

50's or oldr age groups used YouTube app for longer than 20s, 30s, and 40s.
20's watched 6.4 billion min, 30's 4.6 billion, and 40's 4.2 billion.

KakaoTalk which ranked second most usage app, 50's used it for the longest time(5.5 billion minutes) and teenagers only spent 2.3 billion minutes. Total usage time was 19.7 billion minutes, 34% less than YouTube.

The survey was conducted through a sample survey of 23,000 Android smartphone users across the country during the past month, by the app analysis company Wise App.

"The best product ever, Samsung QLED 8K TV" received the highest ratings from the review media

The QLED 8K TV released by Samsung Electronics in the second half of this year is well received by global professional media and evaluation agencies. It is a good news to be heard right before the full-scale consumer electronics season, and it is expected to make a considerable contribution to raising the credibility of Samsung's household appliances.

Samsung Electronics announced on November 5 that its new QLED 8K TV (Q900R) which was launched recently received the highest evaluation from the video magazine, Germany's AV review media.

In the latest issue of 'Video' magazine, Samsung's Q900R model received 949 points, the highest in the TV category. In the video category, the TV screen scored 1030 points, the 2017 QLED TV received 920 points, and the 2018 model received 937 points. The Q900R received 949 points, the highest score in the TV section of the video.

Video magazines highlight the strengths of the Samsung QLED 8K TV: △ 8K resolution detail, △ best HDR color based on brightness of up to 4,000 knots, △ high contrast ratio, and "Samsung's technology at 8K resolution adds a new era to picture quality.

In particular, the media said, "Samsung QLED 8K TV has the technology to implement the existing SD low-quality video in 8K class video." The biggest strength of Samsung 8K TV is to express hidden details. "

Samsung QLED 8K TV 'magic screen' was also well received.

Magic Screen is a function that utilizes a TV monitor as an interior props or a picture work by floating various patterns and pictures on the screen even when not using the TV. Samsung added ease of use by adding functions that provide time, weather, and news that users want. The video gave a good score on this feature reminiscent of the smart phone's Alaways On Display (AOD).

The magic style, which combines the deadly wires into one, and the "magic style" that makes it possible to put the TV on the back of the TV when hanging it on the wall, is also a new technology that focuses on video.

Based on these evaluations, the video awarded Samsung QLED 8K TV in three categories: Reference, Innovation, and Highlight. 'Reference' is the highest quality product, 'Innovation' is the product with excellent innovation, and 'Highlight' is the award for the notable products.

"QLED 8K is a product that enhances the image quality of existing TVs," said Choo jong Seok, managing director of Samsung's display division. "We will lead the super premium TV market through QLED 8K."

The Samsung QLED 8K TV launched last month was named "Best TV of the Year" and "Future TV of Amazing Quality" by Forbes, the best economic magazine in North America and Europe, AVS Forum for IT evaluation, Trusted Reviews and HD guru . In recent years, the UK-based nonprofit 'World Branding Forum' has selected Samsung Electronics as the top brand in the consumer electronics (TV) category

LG OLED TV ranked best TV of 2018 on review media

LG Electronics recently announced that USA Today's review media 'Reviewed.com' awarded a 10-point for its 55-inch OLED TV as the best TV of the year.

The media said LG OLED TV will continue to be the number one TV ranker this year after last year.

LG also said that the US IT media "Digital Trends" awarded 9 points to LG OLED TV on a 10-point scale.

About speech recognition, LG said, "It is not just the only technology that is worth using now, but also the future of speech recognition technology."

LG Electronics said that major consumer magazine in Europe including QUE CHOISIR in France, OCU in Spain, Rad & Ron in Sweden and Altroconsumo in Italy all ranked LG OLED TV #1 in its performance evaluation.

What happend to premium smartphone sales in South Korea?

A new report claims the latest flagships from Samsung, LG and Apple are seeing record-low sales in South Korea.

After the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X, LG G7 has also been confirmed to be a flop in Korea.

According to the mobile service provider, the G7 ThinQ series, which was launched in Korea on May 18, was sold 79,194 units for one month. Average daily sales volume is around 3000 units.
The G7 had cumulative sales of 42,000 units for eight days since its launch, but its sales volume has plummeted after that.
Some pointed out that the launch of the G7 ThinQ followed by series of products with similar features and designs such as Q7, Q7 Plus, V35 ThinQ (scheduled for July) was one of reasons for weak sales of G7 in Korea.

LG Electronics' smartphone sales manager said that it was very rare that the average daily sales volume of 3,000 units was reached in less than a month for premium phone.

As with the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X, mobile carriers and experts interpreted that the G7 could not overcome decreasing demand for premium smartphones as well.

According to the data obtained by ET News, Apple managed to shift just 475,000 units of the iPhone X via the major South Korean carriers over the course of its first four months, with a peak of 163,000 devices in December and a low of 70,000 in February. The latter figure of which is very weak when the lack of rival launches is taken into account over the tracking timeframe. Also, the total number of units over the period marks the lowest-ever sales figures for an iPhone launch in the country.

In regards to Samsung, the brand certainly faired better than Apple, managing to ship a total of 707,000 Galaxy S9 and S9+ units via carriers since the line’s March launch. However, despite the higher numbers, it’s worth noting that South Korea is the brand’s home country, a territory where its flagship devices tend to perform extremely well. Unfortunately for the giant, though, the sales of its new devices have also set a new record-low for the brand. In fact, for reference, last year’s Galaxy S8 line managed to ship a respectable 1 million units over the two-month period.

Coinciding with a number of previous reports, the cause of the weak demand is once again said to be the higher pricing of the new flagship devices, and the latest report goes on to warn that the slowing sales could potentially become a long-term trend in the premium smartphone market.

LG U plus released the Kakao Little Friends phone in Korea

LG U plus released the Kakao Little Friends phone in the nationwide store and official online mall U + shop on the June, 11th.

Kakao Little Friends Phone is a child's mobile phone that applies familiar kakao characters such as Little Ryan and Little Planet to background, lock screen, icons, case, protective film and so on.
Based on Android performance of Samsung Galaxy J3, it provides real-time location inquiry and prevent malicious apps.

The most noticeable feature is real-time location lookup.
Parents can view their child's location in real-time with the Guardian app preinstalled on the phone.
It is also possible to view the surrounding situation by operating the front camera of the child's phone.

There is the control and management functions to prevent harmful content by being pre-blocked to children.
With a guardian Kakao kid app, children can use only allowed app services and the functions such as calls and letters are limited. In order to exit the Kakao Kids app, you need to enter the password set by the parent.

The Kakao Little Friends Phone can be used through the youth special rate which provides basic monthly voice / video calls, letters, and data of 750MB per month with 32,890 won($30) per month (including VAT).

The color of  phone is blue silver and comes with two cases, Little Ryan and Little Muzi.
The background and lock screen can be set to any of the eight Kakao Little Friends characters.

Korean Smartphone market share in the first quarter of 2018

Samsung Electronics gained a 60% share of the Korean smartphone market in Q1.

According to Strategy Analytics (SA), a market research firm, Samsung Electronics shipped 3.9 million units in the domestic smartphone market in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 65.3% of the market.

Apple ranks second with 16.7% (1 million units) and LG Electronics third with 12.2% (700,000 units).

Samsung Electronics increased its share compared to the previous quarter or the same quarter of last year due to early release of the Galaxy S9. The Galaxy S9 series exceeded 1 million units in domestic market in about 60 days since its launch on March 16.

According to the same survey, Samsung Electronics accounted for 58.2% of the Korean smartphone market in the first quarter of last year. 18.2% for Apple and 14.9% for LG Electronics.

In 4Q of last year, Samsung Electronics' market share dropped to 46.0% due to Apple's 10th year anniversary iPhone X, iPhone 8 and others. Apple's share in the quarter was 28.3%, the highest ever in the Korean market. LG Electronics was 15.7%.

In the first quarter of this year, global smartphone market grew by 2% compared to last year, while domestic smartphone market shipment increased by 9% from 5.5 million to 6 million in the first quarter of last year.

Samsung and LG's new smartphone marketing partnerships with game industry 2018

The lastest smartphone marketing strategies of Korean smartphone makers is the alliance with game industry.
Mobile games are the best content to experience the high-end specifications of smartphones, making it a win-win opportunity for both sides.

On the 4th, LG Electronics announced that it will give Nexon's mobile MMORPG 'Kaiser' game item worth KRW 150,000 as one of the benefits for its customers to commemorate the launch of its next strategic smartphone 'LG G7 ThinkQ'.
One of the four accessory packs that are sold separately is Nexon Kaiser Pack. The Nexon Kaiser pack consists of a 250,000 won Kaiser game item, two leather and hard cases, a spare battery and a cooler mount.
LG Electronics launched the Kaiser App in the LG G7 Square, an experience zone that was opened to the public on April 4, and provided a place to experience the Dark Avenger 3 that was launched before.

LG Electronics has been concentrating on game enthusiasts, mainly by cooperating with Nexon, such as providing the overheat experience zone which is packed with 200 V30 phones at 'G-Star 2017' held in Busan last year.


Samsung Electronics has also provided game items through partnerships with domestic game companies at the time of new product launches.
During the launch of 'Galaxy S9' this year, they worked with Pearl Abys to provide MMORPG 'Black Desert Mobile' game items as well as to optimize the game on the big screen through the mobile accessory Dex Pad.

At the time of the launch of Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Electronics has been promoting similar forms of joint promotion such as the Lineage 2 Revolution item of Net Marble Games.

An official of LG Electronics said, "The game is the tool that enables users to experience the smartphone display and sound quality at once." Game users do not simply replace the smartphone for games, but when purchasing a new smartphone, it is important to consider the specifications associated with the game".

Meanwhile, marketing using popular messenger characters is also popular in Korea.
As one of the accessory packs that customers can choose from, G7 ThinQ users will be presented with a "Line Friends Pack" that includes a case with linefriend characters, a wireless charger, and earphones.
Samsung Electronics presented Galaxy S9 pre-buyers with a case of applying Ryan characters from Kakao Friends, while also offering the opportunity to purchase a Ryan Recharging Stand at 5,000 won.

Apple enthusiasts are prepairing event for first Apple store grand opening in Korea

Apple (Apple Korea) will open its first Korea Apple store in Garosu-gil in Seoul's Gangnam district on Saturday 27th.

The various open events were scheduled for this day by Apple enthusiasts in Korea.
Among them, sleeping out gathering event on Garosu-gil to be one of the first customers of Korea Apple store attracted most attention.

Generally, Apple has presented Apple T-shirts to 2,000 first-come-first-served customers on official Apple Store grand opening.
Perhaps the purpose of this event is to get a T-shirt and also to get the media attention as "Korea's first Apple Store customers".
(There is no iPhone first opening event, and there is no special event planned by Apple on this day)

Netizens who saw this event news showed concern about weather forcast that it will be freezing for few days before Apple store grand opening.

Samsung as only Korean company to made it on the list of World's most innovative company 2018

Samsung is the fifth most innovative company in the world.

According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a management consulting firm on Monday, January 17, Samsung is the only Korean company to be among the 50 most innovative companies in the 2018 list.
This ranking is based on the Global Innovation Survey conducted last year by BCG.

Samsung moved up to 5th place from 7th place in the rankings last year.
Apple and Google ranked first and second for two consecutive years.
Microsoft and Amazon also outperformed Samsung.
Tesla, which was third in last year, dropped to 6th.

By region, there are 27 North American companies, 16 European companies and 7 Asia companies.
While Samsung ranked the highest among Asia companies, China and Japan included three companies each on the list. China's Alibaba ranks 10th for the first time in the ranking.

Seoul ranked 21st in Smart City Index 2017 among 500 cities around the world.

Seoul ranked 21st in 'Smart City'index among 500 cities around the world.
"Digitization" is excellent, as smartphone penetration ranks second in the world, but seoul ranked sluggish in "eco-friendly" measurement such as clean energy.

According to the '2017 Smart City Index' announced by EasyPark in Sweden on the 12th, Seoul ranked 21st on average with 7.13 points out of 10.

This index is based on the following criteria: △ transportation (smart parking, car sharing, traffic congestion, public transportation) △ sustainability (clean energy, smart building, (Business ecosystem), digitization (4G LTE, Internet speed, WiFi deployment, smartphone penetration rate), living standard, and expert evaluation.

Seoul was noted for its digitization. In particular, the point for penetration rate of smartphones was 9.91, second only to Luxemburg. In addition, establishment of WiFi ranked 9.74 (3rd place), 4G LTE penetration rate 8.8 (11th), and Internet speed 8.44 (18th).

However, sustainability evaluation criteria such as clean energy (2.69 points), environmental protection (2.04 points), and urban planning (3.24 points) stayed at the bottom of ranks.

In addition to Seoul, Daejeon ranked 63rd with an average of 5.48 points, including two Korean cities in 100th place.

Copenhagen, Denmark, with an average score of 8.25, was ranked first. Copenhagen is investing heavily in the clean energy sector with a goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2025. It was followed by Singapore (7.83), Sweden (7.82), Zurich (7.75) and Boston (7.7).

Japan ranked seventh with 7.59 points, followed by San Francisco with 7.55 points, Amsterdam with 8th place with 7.54 points, Geneva with 7.53 points and Melbourne with 7.5 points. .

By country, Germany was prominent. Ten cities including Berlin (13th), Munich (25th) and Frankfurt (33rd) were ranked in the top 100.
Seven cities including New York (24th), Washington DC (28th) and Philadelphia (35th) of USA were among the top 100 as well.

American economy media, Business Insider evaluated "The concept of Smart City is expanding to include the environment, transportation, education opportunities, new technology ecosystem and local economy, Smart City Index shows which is the best prepared city for the future."

Naver's simultaneous interpretation wireless earphone 'Mars' won CES Best Innovation Award

On November 10, Korea's largest portal site, Naver announced that Bluetooth earphone MARS was selected as the best innovation award in the headphone field at the world's largest consumer electronics exhibition 'CES 2018'.

Mars is a fully wireless Bluetooth earphone that works with Naver's AI platform Clover.

It features simultaneous interpretation function using 'Papago', Clover's AI translation and interpretation service. One pair of earphones is worn separately, which can be interpreted to different language in real time.

It supports 10 languages including Korean and English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian.

It also features external noise cancellation and voice recognition.

Mars will be released first in Korea in the first half of next year.

Most popular mobile apps in South Korea 2017

Koreans are most likely to use smartphones for communication, photography, video recording, and news subscription.

According to a survey by Internet Statistics Service (KISA) last year, 78.3% of Koreans used communication applications such as chat and social network services (SNS) as the most popular applications. Photo and video apps accounted for 62.2%, news apps 54.4%, game apps 22.7%, music apps 18.7%, navigation and maps apps 16.2% and shopping apps 8.9%.

The most popular chat app for communication is KakaoTalk. 99.2% of Koreans used KakaoTalk, Facebook Messenger was second with 29.7%, and the line was third with 13%.
Koreans are using chat apps most often for conversations, sharing photos and schedule or making voice and video calls.

The reasons for using SNS such as Facebook, Instagram, etc., 67.1% said that they are sharing their personal interests. 65.2% for hobbies and leisure activities, 55.4% for recording daily life, and 47.6% said they use it for friendship.

According to Wise App, the most popular video apps that Koreans used in August were YouTube, Naver TV, Video portal, Oksusu, and Africa TV.
The most popular mobile payment app used in September was 'Samsung Pay', which had 6.4 million monthly users.

Koreans use an average of 45 apps a month. Total usage times are Kakaotalk with 4.2 billion hours, Naver with 2.9 billion hours, and Google with 3.20 billion hours.

Samsung and LG to hold more than a half of the Latin America smartphone market share

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics swallowed more than a half of the Latin American smartphone market.
The two companies ranked first and second in shipments, accounting for 51% of the total in the second quarter.
In particular, Samsung Electronics overwhelmed Apple, Huawei and Motorola with the highest market share ever recorded.

According to the counterpoint, US market research company on the 21st, Samsung Electronics ranked first in Latin America's smartphone market with the highest market share of 40.9% in the second quarter. It is a 6.7% p increase over the same period last year. Shipments increased 27%, mainly in low-priced models, the Galaxy J series in 2016.

Samsung Electronics' success is attributed to its marketing investment, which lasted more than 10 years, and its rapid launch through the establishment of a local factory.
Counterpoint said, "Samsung Electronics succeeded in shortening time to market by producing smartphones at Brazilian and Argentinian factories." "For example, the Galaxy S8 was launched in Brazil 20 days after the global launch and the Galaxy S7 was launched in Brazil in 40 days."

LG Electronics ranked second with a market share of 10.1%. Shipments fell 5%, losing 1.5% percent market share over the last year but barely kept double digits.
LG Electronics launched a sales strategy focusing on the K series, including the K4 and K10 models.

Motorola, however, grew rapidly as its shipments increased 65% compared to last year, while LG Electronics was stalled. Motorola's market share is 9.9%, which is only 0.2% difference from LG Electronics. Counterpoint added, "If Samsung is the most robust brand, Motorola is the fastest growing brand."

Latin American smartphone market grew 9% compared to last year as economic growth and the launch of LTE services in some countries. "Peru and Chile have grown backwards, but Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are growing steadily," Counterpoint said. "While the market is centered on mid to low-end models, demand for premium models is growing, and there is room for companies like Apple to grow."

The Reason Why Korean Spend So Much On Buying Smartphones

Korea has a fastest smartphones replacement rate.
According to the "2016 Internet Usage Survey," Korean consumers change their smartphones every two years and seven months.
The proportion of premium products in the market is certainly high as well.
In the first half of the year, 60% of the domestic sale accounted for high-end phones priced higher than 600,000 won($550).
So Korea got a bad reputation as a 'smartphone overspending' nation.

On august 9, one of the domestic mobile industry experts said , "There might be some socio-cultural characteristics of Korean reflected in the preference and replacement of premium smartphones in Korea," but "the most fundamental reason for overspending on smartphones is the current distribution structure of smartphones in Korea."

Most smartphones sold in Korea are bundled with the mobile network service from the major providers with monthly smartphone installment payments of 24 months, 30 months, and 36 months.

An industry source said, "The mobile communication store sells the high-end smartphones with card discounts regardless of the credit stability of the consumers anywhere in the country."

"When you buy a TV, the price is either 3 million won, 150,000 won or 500,000 won. You set your budget and make a reasonable shopping according to your cash and card limit, however,  when you buy smartphones, mobile service provider attach installment payments of smartphones to the monthly service bill and only provides the greatest discount when buying a high-priced premium phones with most expensive service plan, thus this sales method usually causes an illusion to the consumer and encourage over-spending," he pointed out.

Another official said, "Mobile operators are paying a lot of subsidies to high-end smartphones and combine them with high-priced plans, while paying low subsidies to cheaper smartphones so it leads to customers to buy more expensive phones than they need."

"In order to reduce the phenomenon of over-consumption on premium smartphones, it is necessary to separates smartphone sales and mobile network services." he added.

The reasons why LG refuse to give up smartphone business even after 9th straight quarterly loss

LG Electronics' smartphone business is still in a slump.
The MC division, which is responsible for smartphones sale reported losses of just two hundred million won($180,000) in 1Q and expectations for recovery. However, it was reported that the deficit expanded to 10 billion won in 2Q.
LG Electronics' smartphone business deficit continues for the 9th quarter consecutively since the third quarter of 2015.

So some critics are saying that LG have to ditch their smartphone business.

However, from the perspective of LG Electronics, the smartphone business is a field that is indispensable for the complexization and smartization of household appliances.
LG consider smartphone is a business that can not be abandoned even if there is one who sees the deficit.

Kim Jong-ki, director at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade’s ICT & emerging industry division, said, “Smartphones with new functions such as artificial intelligence technology and Internet of Things will create a new market in the fourth industrial revolution with the mobile network shifting from 4G to 5G.”
"smartphones are imperative for the future mobility era in terms of the smart home and Internet of Things,” he added.

The experts’ remarks are in line with LG Electronics’ CEO Jo Seong-jin, who also said at the latest consumer electronics show the company would not give up smartphones and would make a turnaround this year. The mobile communications unit is what will act as a point of cohesion for home appliances that are becoming more complex and smarter, he said.

LG recently launched smart home appliances controlled either by its Hub Robot or smartphones.

LG said, “We plan to continue to invest in the handset business because its communications technologies are deeply linked with other businesses such as smart home and vehicle components.”

Other experts pointed to smartphone’s symbolic significance as to why the tech firm continues with this business.

“It is not easy for LG to take the risk of ditching smartphones because the device is symbolic. Smartphones, unlike home appliances or vehicle components, are portable, meaning it is a very powerful tool to raise a brand’s profile among consumers,” said Yeo Joon-sang, a professor at Dongguk University’s business college.

The other reason why LG won't ditch smartphone is its synergy with the automotive electronics equipment business.
In the automobile industry, smart car technology is also progressing, which combines communication and AI, including autonomous driving and connected cars.
In light of this, given the synergies with the smart car business, which LG Electronics is developing as a future growth engine, LG can not give up smartphones either.
Services such as turning the car on and off, opening and locking the car are already commercialized on smart phones.

Give directions and help shopping: Robots comes deeper into life in Korea

Robots to guide the way and help shopping are emerging one after another in Korea.
It is not only in the laboratory, but you can find these robots at Incheon International Airport or department store in Seoul.

LG announced that it's deploying a fleet of robots at Incheon International named 'Air Star'
It tells you the location of platform and the time of arrival and departure and it even gives you a ride to right platform if you get lost.
It recognizes four languages ​​such as Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese.
The cleaning robots, which are placed together, move around the airport and remove floor dust day and night.

At a department store in Seoul, a robot named "Elvot" welcomes customers.
It can tell the location and menu of store information, restaurants and cafes,
Department store staffs also recommend robot services that allow you to try out clothes imaginatively on robot's display.

Lee Myung-gi / Omni Channel and Head of Department Store said " We will provide customers with more fun and new shopping experiences with service robots."

With the development of technology, it will not be long before robots can be utilized more throughly in real life.

Samsung's Galaxy Wide 2 is selling much better-than-expected in Korea

Samsung's Galaxy Wide 2, which SK Telecom launched in May this year, is gaining unprecedented popularity which is every bit as popular as other premium smartphones.

According to the mobile communication industry on May 5, the Galaxy Wide 2 has been selling more than 2,000 units a day since its launch.

Galaxy Wide 2 was ranked fourth in the smartphone sales rankings of SK Telecom as of July, following the premium products such as Galaxy S8 and S8 +.

The Galaxy Wide, which was released in July last year and surpassed 500,000 units cumulative sales, is ranked fifth in sales after Galaxy Wide 2. In fact, the Galaxy Wide series is sold at an average of 3,000 to 4,000 units daily.

Galaxy Wide was the number one surprise in the domestic smartphone market in the first week of April when new products such as LG flagship smartphone G6 and Samsung's 2017 Galaxy A5 were released.

According to SK Telecom, customers of the Galaxy Wide 2 are more popular than those in their 50s and above, with more than 55% and teenagers accounting for more than 20% due to the relatively affordable price which was less than 300,000 won($250).

According to industry sources, SK Telecom is expected to launch another dedicated mid-range phone Galaxy A7 in mid-July.

An industry representative said, "The market is divided into two segments: a premium customer who wants a brand and the latest features, and a mid to low-end customer who emphasizes the cost and the basic feature." The telecom companies are constantly launching mid-low-end smartphones for various customer's needs."

"I am K-pop idol too" Virtual Reality bringing Karaoke into the future in Korea

When karaoke machines first appeared in Japan in the 1970s they were considered an expensive fad. Almost 50 years later, Karaoke room which is called noraebang in Korea is one of Asia’s favorite pastimes and in Korea, it is already absorbing the newest trend in entertainment – virtual reality.

VR integrated Karaoke rooms are getting ready to pop around South Korea’s cities on a massive scale in near future.

On the June 14th, Karaoke franchise maker M-Star released the VR karaoke system 'Sing VR' developed by TJ Media and VR content producer, The Monster Lab.

You can experience singing together with your favorite singer on one stage at karaoke room equipped with a Sing VR device and headmount. After selecting your favorite band's music and turning your head to the side, you can see the band member who plays live next to you. When you look at the front, you can enjoy the enthusiasm of many audiences toward the stage.
In the VR space, you can also experience dancing and singing with your chosen idol dancers.
Currently, Sing VR is being piloted at MN Star's Karaoke branchs at Seoul Boramae Station, Shinlim Station, and Hongdae Station.

"It has been more than 25 years since the karaoke has become one of Korean's favorite pasttime, but there has been no major change except to show the lyrics," said Kwon Joon-eun, vice president of MNSA. "Now we are using the existing karaoke room to experience new things through VR. "

The reason why mobile MMORPG games are popular in korea

The mobile MMORPG games such as NCsoft's Lineage M, Netmarble's Blade Soul Mobile (tentative title), Nexon's AxE and Com2uS's Summoners Wars Mobile (tentative name) are emerging as a game industry trend in the second half of this year.

Lineage 2: Revolution set record sales of $178.5 million within a month, while MU Origin is still in the top 10 in the country after launching two years ago.

Now there are roughly 15 more MMORPGs preparing to launch in South Korea. But why is the MMORPG genre so popular?

The popularity of MMORPG in South Korea is largely due to the influence of Netmarble's Lineage 2 Revolution, which hit the mobile game market in the first half of this year.

One of industry official said, "The popularity of Lineage 2 Revolution has led to the belief that MMORPG genre will work well on mobile," he said. "There is an increasing trend of developers preparing for MMORPGs, dreaming of a second Lineage 2 revolution."

Another reason mobile MMORPG games are popular in Korea is that the mobile network environment is well established.
A fast internet environment is essential for mobile MMORPGs, where large users have to play games at the same time. However, there are not many smartphone penetration rates in regions such as Europe and Japan compared to Korea and WiFi and Long Term Evolution (LTE) are not well equipped.
Korea is well equipped with mobile phone network environment which is essential for mobile version MMORPG.

The industry analyzed that Korean culture, which likes to compete with others is a major factor as well.
An official of a game developer said, "While Western users are interested in setting up strategies and performing them, Korean users tend to prefer systems that compete and show off  in a genre such as MMORPG."