One of the biggest things forgotten here is that Apple is not a Korean company, it is an American company and its first market will always be the US market. Korea, is just another country that the iPhone, and soon the iPad is sold. Priority will always go the the US market and there is little any other country can do whether we are in Korea, Europe or Asia. Launches of any Apple product will always happen in the US first. Fact.

Another difficulty for Apple is individual country’s regulations. The iPhone is built primarily for the US market, therefore many features in the iPhone are not always available in other countries. For example, the wonderful voicemail feature does not work in Ireland or Korea, it does in the US. Also, much of the technology is new and most countries need to test the iPhone on their own networks before allowing its sale. Europe has an advantage here as there is a European wide regulation on all phones, therefore once the iPhone has passed the European regulations it can be sold simultaneously  in 27 different countries. Japan has the same regulations as the US, and many other countries follow the US standards. Clearly from a business point of view Apple will always launch their new products in countries that require little or no testing.

Korea, on the other hand, has very strict testing criteria. It make no business sense whatsoever to put the iPhone 4 through all the testing regulations for Korea, when it cannot keep up with existing demand from all the other countries that have already passed the iPhone 4 for selling.

Apple are not blaming Korea for its testing procedures, all Apple are doing is making a business decision based on the path of least resistance – a decision that pretty much any successful Korean company would do in similar circumstances.

Another problem for Korea is the ‘Apple bashing’ that the Korean media love to do. There always appears to be negative reports about Apple products, their after sales care and business practices. One example here – recently there was a report that there had been 250 complaints about the iPhone since its launch last November. Now to put this in perspective nearly 1 million iPhones have been sold in Korea so the percentage of complaints is 0.025% – very small really. Then, it turns out that of those 250 complaints, nearly 180 had been on ‘jailbroken’ phones (a form of hacking) – Apple have always been very clear – if you jailbreak your phone, you lose your warranty. Simple. So, the number of genuine complaints is actually 70. Not really a newsworthy story.

As a comparison – in the same period the Samsung Omnia 2 had received 400 complaints on 350,000 sold phones. Sadly, there was no ‘news’ story there.

So, for all of us here in Korea, we have to be patient. We have to let the process of regulatory approval take its course, the Korean government knows what it is doing, I hope, and we have to accept that Apple is not going to care too much about the Korean market when it is much easier to get products on sale in other countries first.

Well, here’s my take on the situation.

The truth is Samsung is not really in big trouble, but they do have problems. The problem they have is that they have changed their innovation strategy from following the American model, to following the Chinese model. Basically, they copy other company’s products and try and convince themselves they are being innovative because they have a brighter screen or they have more functions. That is is not innovation – that is evolution. And that is a huge difference in the technology industry.

One of the biggest problems in the cell phone market, and essentially that is the focus of this post, is that the market has changed. It changed in 2007 when Apple launched the iPhone. From that date, the cell phone market became less about functions and more about customisation. People now want to ability to customise their phones with the functions they want, and not the functions the manufacturers want to give them.

So, OK. Samsung now offers customisation on their high end smart phones. But this only became available two years after customers demanded it. In an industry that is measured in months, not years, this was far too slow.

Anyone playing the catch up game will always lose. And whilst Samsung has in the past proved many experts wrong, in this particular market, Samsung’s lethargy may be their undoing.

Samsung never did take the iPhone threat too seriously, they thought the iPhone would be just another Apple ‘niche’ product, that appealed only to the Apple faithful. Sadly, their assessment was wrong. Very wrong. The iPhone continues to grow every day, it’s users spend millions of dollars every month on applications they want, and the developers making these applications are building successful businesses from selling these applications. And therein lies the problem for the future.

Because Samsung (and to a large extent LG) was too slow in this market, the lifeblood of the smart phone market, the developers, have made their decisions. They are either developing applications for the iPhone or the Android system. Samsung’s belated Bada, and also Microsoft’s WIndows 7 Mobile, are too late. Of course they will have a hand full of developers, but nothing like the numbers making applications for Android or iPhone. Why would any customer want to go with a cell phone that does not support their favourite applications?

So what can Samsung do to recover in this market?

Samsung needs to be brave. Forget following the Chinese business model, after all, Samsung is far better than the Chinese electronic companies. Samsung needs to reinvent the smart phone. The iPhone is a great product, but it is not perfect, and Samsung has the history, and ability to make a Smart phone that is not only better than the iPhone, but a product that reinvents the whole market. Instead of looking at what the iPhone does, look at what the iPhone does not do. Think about what the everyday consumer wants and create something that has everything the consumer wants, and that little bit more.

One more thing…

To really make something special needs evangelists. Evangelists are everyday consumers who talk about how wonderful your products are. You do not create evangelists by “making average products for average people” you create evangelists by making amazing products for amazing people. The Korean people are amazing people, and making a product that not only reinvents the market, that gives consumers the things they want and is a truly awesome experience to use, will give Samsung access to one of more voracious evangelists any company could wish for – the Korean people.

Here is an email exchange I had with O2′s representative yesterday. I think it clearly shows just how stupid O2 Ireland really is:

Hi Carl

O2 have tried to contact you but have been advised you are currently out of the country.

Can you confirm your foreign mobile number to contact you on?

My reply

I find that very hard to believe. My phone is on 24 hours a day and there have been no missed calls at all over the last two weeks. Indeed, my parents have no trouble calling me from Ireland.

And if it really was that difficult to contact me your client has had two weeks to write an email. Is it really so difficult to type?

My number is: +82 XXX XXXX

One more thing. Does you client speak Korean? My telephone operator only speaks Korean, so to know that I am outside the country is quite impressive.

Carl

I believe they called an Irish number and were told you were out of the country; I have given them your Korean number to contact you.

My reply

Then all I can say is that there must some very stupid people working at O2 as all my correspondence with you, the solicitors and my calls with O2 has clearly stated I am currently working in Korea.

I seriously cannot believe that O2 have even read my file. I have been waiting for a call from this company for nearly three weeks, after being promised they would call me within 24 hours. If this is what they call customer service then I would suggest they rethink their policy.

]]> http://fandcorp.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/stupid-stupid-o2-ireland/feed/ 0 Carl o2-iphone-uk.jpg http://fandcorp.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/my-interview-with-the-korean-digital-times/ http://fandcorp.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/my-interview-with-the-korean-digital-times/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:26:35 +0000 Carl http://fandcorp.wordpress.com/?p=830 ]]>

You can view the whole interview by clicking here

But the biggest mistake that Mr Jung is making, is believing, with a high level of certainty, that the iPhone will soon lose ground to the Android platform. I think Mr Jung is very mistaken if he truly believes this.

Let’s for a moment take a look at a different technology sector. The PC sector. The Linux operating system was born in 1969, the whole idea behind it was, and still is, an open source system. Today, that operating system only commands a 1 to 2 percent market share. MS Windows commands a whopping 89% market share.

There are no guarantees that Android will be successful. Consumers at the end of the day will decide.

But the elephant in the room that Mr Jung is clearly unable to see is the huge market share that Apple has in the applications business. Smart phones have moved on, and consumers want to choose the applications they have on their phone. Google has missed this and clearly SK are missing this very big point. Consumers want choice, they do not want network providers or cell phone manufacturers telling them what they can and cannot have on their phone. Apple have seen this and have moved the iPhone clearly, and aggressively, into this market. Once an iPhone user begins using the applications they have chosen, they are locked in. And that is the point.

Apple have a 95% share of the applications business. Hundreds and thousands of software companies have been created specifically to write software for the iPhone (and soon iPad). For the Android operating system to be a true success, it needs to address this big point, and all attempts so far have failed. Yes, of course there are a few developers out there making apps for the Android operating system, but there really is not enough of them doing so to make a significant impact on Apple’s market share.

Mr Jung and the rest of the SK team need to open their eyes a little more. They need to develop Cyworld software for the iPhone platform very quickly or they will see their wonderful, but dated, social media giant killed off. They also need to address this big elephant – to have a real iPhone killing competitor, it is no going to be enough to have a nicer, easier to use handset, it is going to need to allow consumers the choice of applications, and to do that they will need to get developers developing software.

That is where the battle is going to be. It is not going to be over the operating systems.

UPDATE….

Further to my post yesterday – Here’s an article in this week’s Business Week.

The whole iPhone phenomenon is not the phone itself, it is the apps that are coming with it. For Mr Jung to be correct, people are going to have to ditch their (sometimes paid for) apps in favour of another phone and operating system, and I really cannot see that happening.

But Mr Jung has been wrong before. He predicted that the iPhone would be a failure in Korea – well, the iPhone being the fastest selling handset in Korea ever, sort tells you he really does not get what the customers really want.

I think after nearly four months of experimenting I have finally come up with a system I am happy with. This system is based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done system

Here are the objectives I set myself:

1. To have my email inbox empty at the end of each day

2. To have a system that managed all my projects

3. To have a system manages my inactive projects and ideas

4. to be able to put ideas in a self contained place either digitally or manually.

Let me go through my system step by step:

1 Collection

I use a combination of digital and analogue. My main source for collection is my Omnifocus for iPhone app. Any quick ideas, or thoughts can be inputted very easily using the inbox. The beauty of using a digital method I find is that no matter where I am, on the subway, in a taxi or just running between meetings / classes I can type in a one line reminder to my idea. The analogue method I use is a Moleskine square lined pocket notebook In this little book I can write down any lengthy ideas, or project headings.

I can also keep track of my appointments on a busy day this way.

When I am reading my online newspapers, blogs or just surfing the news I use Evernote to send any articles I want to read or review later, or to keep for reference. The great thing about Evernote is that I can use the plugin in my Safari browser to just click and save the webpage. It also has an iPhone application which means I can catch up on reading when I am waiting anywhere or just on a bus.

2 Main Processing Application

This one is easy, but the choosing was more difficult. When I first started changing over from Franklin Planner to GTD I chose Things as my processing application because it had a synchronisation tool between my iPhone and my main Mac. Unfortunately within a couple of months I changed my working routine and found myself working more and more using my laptop computer in a coffee shop (I found the atmosphere in there more conducive to work than at home). Things does not synchronise over the internet, it synchronises over a network, and so I found Things was useless if I wanted to do a review while I was in a coffee shop.

I therefore changed my system to Omnifocus. Omnifocus is much more expensive than Things, but it has the ability to synchronise over the internet, and therefore should I be possessed by the urge to a weekly review at 3pm on a Wednesday, then I could do so using my laptop, and not have to wait until I get home to do it.

My set up in Omnifocus is thus:

I have all my current projects at the top. A of R stand for “Areas of Influence” and these relate to things than are ongoing and have no completion date. I also created a purchases file as I find that I often get a book title to buy or some software when I am on the fly. Now I have a handy place to put all those things I may want to buy in the future.

My weekly review is carried out on a Sunday night as I find this sets me up perfectly for a great week ahead.

You will also notice that I have created folders for “Life Plan” these relate to my long term plans and it a great place to put projects that are important to me, but I am not doing anything about at the moment, for example, in the next 10 years I want to learn to fly a helicopter.

3 Email

Email was the most difficult to get organised. I did a test when I first started GTD to see how old was the oldest email in my inbox. I discovered that the oldest email was 5 years old and it had no value to me whatsoever. I also discovered that I had just over 800 emails in my inbox.

This was ridiculous. 95% of those emails had been actioned and I did not need anymore. So, just in case, I created folders for each year and labeled them “archive 2004″ etc. Once I had gone through all the emails in my inbox, deleted spam that had got through my filters and placed finished with emails in their respective archive folders, I now had a clean inbox. This process took almost 2 weeks. But I can honestly say it was well worth it.

Now I have a strict policy that before going to bed my inbox must be at zero. This is a lot easier than it sounds because all I have to do is place any emails in an appropriate folder.

You will also notice that I have a “reminders” folder. This folder is linked to my iCal calendar and tells me 2 days before any bill is due for payment. I find this particularly useful as I used to forget bill payment dates. I can also use it to remind me of birthdays, events or anything else I need reminding of.

4 Calendar

I use Apple’s iCal for my main calendar because this is synchronisable through my iDisk and keeps in synch with all my devices. The only things I put in iCal are things that are absolutely certain to happen. I also schedule GTD time everyday as this enables me to focus on those little tasks that quite often get forgotten because they are not always a part of a project.

My calendar is split into parts for each business area of my life as well my personal appointments, for example going out for a beer with friends or dinner with my wife.

Conclusion

Having now created s system that I feel confident and comfortable with, I feel that David Allen’s GTD system really does work. There were a few leaks initially in my set up, but I was able to close those leaks quickly. Now, I have a system that works, I have that wonderful feeling that my life is organised, all my ideas and thoughts are down either on paper or on my computer and I find I have some much more time to spend with my wife and family.

I hope that this little post, is helpful to anyone who is toying with the idea of getting their life organised. The first step? invest in a copy of David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. It is a system that really works.

Here’s a new blog I have started. If you are not a native English speaker, and you have to present in English, then here’s the blog for you.

In this blog I write about some of the tricks and give you some of the tips that you need to present in English professionally and elegantly. From using the correct grammar, to designing and preparing your slides artistically. I am hoping that the blog can become a one stop resource for anyone who has to give a presentation in English.

Click here to go to the blog.

If you have any suggestions or questions; please feel free to leave a comment or email me direct at carl@presentinenglish.com

One of the things I noticed is that KT have actually brought out the phone cheaper than the US and UK.

Below you can see the like for like comparison. It was difficult because AT and T in the US have a very confusing price package. The UK is based on Orange’s price plans.

I hope this is useful for you.

Well, well, well – this is something I have only ever dared dream about. I never thought it would happen. But it truly has happened now.

Thank you KT, and thank you Apple for finally giving the most online country in the world the chance to buy and use the iPhone. It’s taken 2 years, but we’ve finally got it.

Thank you also to all the guys and gals who have commented on the iPhone posts I have made during the course of this year. It feels like there have been so many people out there who have self the same way I  did about the iPhone, and it is truly wonderful to read so many comments written in English, which I know for many of you was very difficult. I really appreciate the effort you guys made in writing here and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Now it’s time for us all to go out there and prove the doubters wrong. Buy the iPhone and enjoy the experience. Prove that Korea really does want the iPhone and lets create a waiting list.

The main reason is that I have been very busy. After a quiet September, October came at me like a tidal wave. This left me with very little time to write anything useful. In addition to work work, I have also moved house (a very stressful time) and did all that while working incredibly long hours.

But mustn’t grumble eh?

Anyway, the main reason for the post is to give you guys a heads up on the GTD system I have been changing to. GTD stands for “Getting Things Done” and is written by David Allen

I am currently changing my system from Franklin Covey to the GTD system, and so far everything is running smoothly.

As soon as I have changed my system over completely, I shall be writing a full review. But for now I just wanted to point you guys in the right direction.