Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hugekebab]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/apple-rumor-roundup-improbable-removable-battery-edition/

[Daniel_D]

Sounds like the times wrote the article after a long night drinking.

[crossmr]

While apple does well in Korea, it doesn't quite enjoy total domination like it does in North America. Koreans seem just as likely to pick up domestic MP3 players, PMPs, and other gadgets. The iphone is obviously a big ticket item, but I know some people who aren't biting because they miss some standard korean features. Like free dictionaries (you need to buy a very expensive one to rival most of the cell phone dictionaries), TV, and other things. I think SK would be wanting to find a way to put TMoney in it. TMoney is pretty big and I use it on my phone for using the subway. I'd hate to have to go back to a separate card.

If apple could get complete uptake here on various devices it might also help break the lock of IE and activeX.

[bassexpander]

I think a competitor is trying to steal Apple's thunder and slow sales by creating rumors of a "better" product down the road.

[hugekebab]

[bassexpander]

I've seen no fewer than 5 articles this week in various Korean newspapers decrying different (and similar) negative aspects of the I-phone... talking about how Koreans don't like it, etc.

It's an obvious smear campaign bought and sold to stem the tide. They're still selling like wild, and I'm sure it's extremely upsetting to some. There have been additional announcements of "great things" coming down the pipe from Samsung, LG, et al.

Total campaign. Same theme being driven home: "I-phone is a disappointment. Don't buy. Something better is coming from your favorite Korean companies. Just wait."

[spanky1off]

there have been some valid remarks from a consumer point of view...some korean gripes my wife said has come out are :

the fact u cant swap out batteries and have the other at the wall charging...the iphone has to be plugged in to charge so i can understand it could be annoying. no more charging your battery at a convenience store i guess either.

also they're complaining about 3 hours of batttery life of multifunction use..including 3g borwsing and gaming etc....dunno how true this is. only users can really say.

plus finally we all know how big koreans are on after sales service and you go to the centres they do a mean job fixing up brokend electronics. but apples policy will be to replace your iphone with a refurbished 2nd hand phone...instead of replacing the parts that is faulty or broke. now if this point turns out to be true its disapointing they adopted that stance considering how much they make from these badboys.

now im not anti iphone in anyway infact i wanna get one after the next update come june or if the androids are out check those out b4 i decide...im just trying to give a different point of view to the 'anti iphone' conspiracy theory. theres always gonna be fanboys for and against these products.

[bassexpander]

These have always been Apple policies. I don't like them either, but they've been well-known and obvious to anyone buying an I-pod touch, for instance. The media has known of these issues for years. The funny thing is how they are being highlighted as a rallying-cry driven by the competition.

[hugekebab]

The fact is, once a Korean tries his mate's iphone out, he's going to be blown away by how usable, instinctive, smooth and efficient the iphone os is (with all its faults, it is definitely those 4 things.) This is what gives Apple the market confidence to not always budge to the common denominator demands.

However, this was in a market that didn't have android; I'm beginning to think its possible that some of the rumours will be true, as Apple will be feeling the need to tie up the edges in order to compete with phones like the Droid. by next year, the Droid phones are going to be killer (they already have vastly superior hardware; it's just the software that needs to polish itself off a bit.)

I reckon it will have the oled, a bigger screen and a better camera, but the removable battery and dual core cpu are suspect (they would probably go with the arm snapdragon, wouldn't they?)

I also think they might be mixing rumours about the tablet up with the iphone. If anythings going to have a dual core it will be the tablet.

[languistic]

From a design point of view, a replaceable battery probably wouldn't work with the iphone. I mean, a lot of the appeal is the sleek, smoot design; I am not sure that could be maintained to the same degree with a replaceable battery option.

[crossmr]