Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!
If there was any question that there was a duopoly in the cell phone game, it's gone. A recent study shows that Apple and Samsung accounted for 95% of all the mobile phone industry's profit in the last months of 2012.
Apple alone claimed 70% of the cellphone industry's total worldwide profit of $16 billion, while Samsung had 25%, according to a report released late Thursday night by Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
In third place was Nokia with 2%. That left the remaining 3% to be split by about 300 companies.
"Apple has essentially created the smartphone sector as we see it today and its combination of beautiful, easy-to-use products coupled with a rich content and application environment has enabled it to attract outsize profits," Couterpoint Research said in its report. "Only Samsung has come close to replicating this success."
The two leaders' shares of the profit pool are up from sharply from 2011, when Apple had 51% of industry earnings, followed by Samsung with 15% and Nokia with 12%, Counterpoint said.
In 2010, Apple had 43% while Nokia had 20% and Samsung had 16%.
Given that Samsung is a major components supplier for Apple's smartphones, that arguably makes the South Korean tech behemoth the predominant player. Sure, Apple's still the largestsecond largest company in the world, but with lackluster sales (or rather, less than super stellar amazing), some are arguing that the gild is off the lily at Apple.
Perhaps Apple should focus more on innovation in Cupertino than in the courtroom. They just lost another bid against Samsung, but one has to wonder if all the litigation isn't a drag on the company's creativity.
I'm in the middle of an intense week to ten days, so there might not be much posting besides food porn like this venti sized coconut mocha frappucino that is half off at Starbucks every day from 3 to 5 from now until May 13.
My busy weeks have me living in and on Starbucks and/or Coffee Bean.
I would also like to not that my iPhone keeps autocorrecting "porn" as "pork."
Flexible displays aren't much good unless there's flexible memory alongside. It's been attempted before, but bending memory pushes the individual transistors so close that they begin to interfere with one another -- causing degradation and shortening the device lifespan to just a single day. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has solved the problem by pairing transistors with memristors, which are immune to such annoyances.
There are just two things I want, computer-wise. First, a monitor projected from my eye. And second, a computer I can roll up or fold up and take anywhere I want to go.
Yes, in the year 3011, it's called an EyePhone.
Come to think of it, I might not need both. Anyway, the meme has long been that countries like Korea and Japan follow rather than lead when it comes to new technology, but this is definitely an example of bucking that trend (if the trend is even valid).
"Oppa, I'm a big Apple fan, but please stop taking pictures of me with that not wholly new, uncompetitive, losing luster iPhone 4S. Shirǒ!"
Various people in the K-blogopshere have noted that the Korea Times seems to have it in for Apple's iPhone, leading some to even suggest that they might be on the take from Samsung, Apple's home-grown rival (note, however, that the iPhone is full of Samsung innards).
This KT article on the release of the iPhone 4S seems to fit that mold. While I can see a number of reasons not to buy the iPhone 4S (I have an iPhone 4 purchased in June 2010 and I had passed on the iPhone 3Gs a year earlier), the article seems to overstate the case a bit. This sentence in particular stands out as sounding contrived:
"I dropped my plan to buy the iPhone 4S. It’s not wholly-new and also there are big problems relating to hardware-related issues. I am a big Apple fan. But I’m very disappointed by the uncompetitive iPhone 4S," said Park Yeon-gee, a 31-year-old office worker in Seoul, who’s been using the iPhone 4.
This is an all-too-common technique used by Korean reporters (though I know from first-hand experience that American reporters are guilty of it as well): massaging an actual quote to fit the reporter's narrative, or removing it from its original context. Although it's possible Ms Park referred to the iPhone as "not wholly new" (an unfair criticism, methinks), I have doubts that she referred to it as "the uncompetitive iPhone 4S."
And how would this "big Apple fan" know about the "big problems" relating to hardware-related issues (that's a lot of relating) if she actually hadn't bought one?
Ultimately, unless I see similar "losing luster" articles on Samsung, or see a more balanced one about Apple, I'm going to have to go with my running theory that the Korea Times is in Samsung's pocket. You can't spell on the take without KT.
So I spent much of the day yesterday at Ala Moana Shopping Center, Honolulu's premier mall and a mecca for tourists (Japanese and Korean in particular). Armed with my iPhone 4, I like taking pictures of the mundane stuff all around me, though some of it seems downright iconic at times.
Our first stop was Sears, where "M" was shopping for a golfing-related gift for her mother. While Sears's selection of cutesy golf stuff was extremely limited (i.e., nothing), they were already going full force with Christmas paraphernalia. Mind you, it's October — the beginning of October, not even Columbus Day — and this is what's on display. I guess they really want to corner the market early on being the "Christmas Shop."
I actually did go into the Apple Store to see if they knew what time on October 7 they would start pre-orders for the iPhone 4S (I'm not getting one, but "M" wants to upgrade from her two-year-old iPhone 3Gs). I have to admit, I was also curious to see how the Apple Store might be honoring Steve Jobs. As I expected, there was a picture with people laying leis around it.
I'm guessing the Ala Moana powers-that-be, who don't even like you plugging in your laptop in the food court because it distracts from the aesthetic appeal of Panda Express and some burger shop behind you, may have been telling the Apple Store folks to keep the outdoor memorial low key and as neat as possible. Actually, the above setup was originally on the ground, but by the time we did our respective shopping and came back this way, someone had thought to put a bench out for the picture. By the way, we weren't the only ones taking pictures of this.
And then there's this. I wear a small or medium at Old Navy, but I couldn't help but notice this XXL shirt. Please note what is written just below the plus-sized size.
Oh, and kudos to Old Navy for not making everything in China.
On Thursday the Photojojo Store released the iPhone SLR Mount, a hardware attachment that allows you to use your fancy Canon EOS or Nikon SLR lenses while shooting pictures with your iPhone. It costs $249 for the iPhone 4 version and $190 if you get it for the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G models.
"The iPhone4 takes pretty decent photos and gorgeous video, but its limitation is the lens built into it that can't go wide or give you shallow depth of field," said Amit Gupta, founder of Photojojo who worked with a company in Hong Kong to get this product made. "But if you use an SLR lens you can focus on a person or subject and blur out the background for that shallow depth of field effect."
It also allows you to zoom in without compromising the resolution.
I want one. But the whole grad school tuition thingee will probably get in the way of that dream.
Let me start off by saying I am not a shill for AT&T, even though they've been my (mostly) reliable service provider since I first owned a cell phone in the US (November 2006). And I have nothing against Verizon, well, except for them ripping off my septuagenarian auntie to the tune of nearly a thousand dollars by jerking her around from plan to plan, telling her she would be getting the cheapest plan for her needs when they were actually spinning her into excessive 45¢/minute calls, and then using predatory practices on her by browbeating the poor woman into a cell phone she didn't want or need and thus locking her into another two-year contract, while also neglecting to tell her, until a month later when it would be too late, that there would be a $150 service deactivation charge for ending service on her the phone formerly used by her octogenarian husband, a World War II veteran who is now in a nursing home she can't really afford.
But other than that, I have nothing against Verizon. This is all about the iPhone4, recently released in a Verizon-ready edition.
For starters, it has the same antenna issue as the iPhone4 for AT&T: if you hold it in just the right way, so that your fingers and palm bridge all the little gaps in the three-piece antenna that rings the device, your signal deteriorates, sometimes to the point of dropping calls. Like the AT&T version, it can be fixed with a bumper. And frankly, the bumper can be an enhancement, preventing the device from slipping and guarding the body from coming into contact with something hard during a drop, all in colorful style.
The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests.
The problem is similar to the one we confirmed in July with the AT&T version of Apple's newest smart phone. It can occur when you hold either version of the phone in a specific but quite natural way in which a gap in the phone's external casing is covered. The phone performs superbly in most other respects, and using the iPhone 4 with a case can alleviate the problem.
But that's no reason to buy the AT&T version over the Verizon version. The real problem is something else: Verizon's network is such that some of the most important multitasking features are lost when talking on the Verizon-based iPhone4, something that does not happen when using the AT&T-based iPhone4.
Using a Verizon iPhone4 at the Royal Hawaiian Apple Store in Waikiki, allow me to demonstrate.
This is a screen grab of me trying to browse the Internet while talking on the phone (I called myself from the demonstration phone inside the Apple Store). It simply states that I cannot use Safari while I'm talking on the Verizon iPhone4. As soon as I hung up, I could go back to browsing.
Now some of you might say, "What's the big deal? I don't need to browse while talking." Well, I do enjoy being able to look stuff up while on the phone. Sometimes the conversations I'm having, like with the aforementioned auntie, require me to look things up while I'm talking.
This extends to other Internet-based services as well, such as Google Maps, demonstrated below:
Please bear in mind, this is not an obscure test of some rarely used functionality: the fact is that I frequently go to the iPhone4's map function (which is Google Maps) while on the phone. You might be trying to locate someone, or help them locate you, etc., or figure out where you're going.
Similarly, I also check out the apps for Yelp, Wikipedia, and even the Apple Store (which I used to make Genius Bar appointments) while using the phone. With AT&T, this is absolutely no problem; with Verizon, it is absolutely impossible.
Now, there are other reasons to consider Verizon over AT&T. Supposedly some people get better service with Verizon, although I have had little complaint about my AT&T service. In Hawaii, it's great. In California and Nevada, it is as good as my auntie's Verizon service. The only time I had a problem was on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where I had to literally sit on the edge of the canyon with my hand extended over the abyss in order to pick up the faint signal coming from the South Rim's Grand Canyon Village, ten miles away, but that's apparently a problem for everyone. However, if AT&T's service is not a problem in your area, go with the AT&T phone. Otherwise you're missing out on what I consider one of the key features of this very smart smartphone.
Some say that AT&T's service, relative to Verizon's, will improve as more and more iPhone4 users shift to Verizon or Verizon picks up new customers who had waited for the iPhone4 to come to Verizon: much of AT&T's slowdown (wish I could find the link for this) came from having so many intensive iPhone users, a problem Verizon may now face.
And with a new iPhone5 (or at least an iPhone 4s) expected in the pipeline sometime around July, why not just wait a little more? Maybe the Verizon model of the next-generation iPhone will have resolved these issues.
When it comes to the highly competitive smartphone market, it looks like Apple is trying to expand... by shrinking. From Bloomberg:
One version would be cheaper and smaller than the most recent iPhone, said a person who has seen a prototype and asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Apple also is developing technology that makes it easier to use the iPhone on multiple wireless networks, two people said.
Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who remains involved in strategic decisions while on medical leave, would use lower prices to widen the iPhone’s appeal and keep it from losing further ground to Android devices. Less expensive iPhones may also ratchet up pressure on Nokia Oyj, whose handsets are especially popular in Europe and some developing markets.
All I can say is: Meh. I have the iPhone4, bought after two years of using the iPhone 3G. For my taste, the iPhone4's "retina display" got the resolution just right so that you can fit enough on that small screen and have a comfortable, workable browsing experience. If they make the screen any smaller, it would be like going back to the 3G screen (similar to the 3Gs), and that means a less-than-stellar user experience by Apple's own standards. Prior to last June, I used my iPhone 3G for all kinds of things, but with far less emphasis on web-browsing; with the iPhone4, however, it is like having a portable computer in my pocket.
This idea of theirs, if true, is not like shrinking the MacBook Air to an 11-inch screen, which Apple has done quite handily, and methinks Apple may realize a bit too late that it has made a mistake. If some consumers want a "cheaper" iPhone experience, Apple should let them keep buying the older model at a cheaper price (as they do now with the 3Gs, just $49 in the US, down from $99 when iPhone4 first came out).
Anyway, if this is the big new iPhone-related item that is supposed to be coming out in late spring, I'll give it a pass. I am perfectly happy with my iPhone4 and can't imagine many non-software-related upgrades that would make me switch to a new iPhone5, whatever it may be.
Steve Jobs hold press conference to taunt
iPhone4 users that he has a white one and they don't.
Apparently Park Chanwook is a bit strapped for cash, as his latest film, a thirty-minute piece called Paranmanjang ("Ups and Downs"), was shot entirely on an iPhone4:
“From hunting for a film location, shooting auditions, to doing a documentary on the filming process, everything was shot with the iPhone 4,” Mr. Park said after the screening. “We went through all the same film-making processes except that the camera was small.”
And a tad shaky. I've used my iPhone4 to interview people, and while the picture quality can be very good, the outcome can be very bad if you actually hold the stability-lacking camera in your hand. Of course, I'm not Park Chanwook.
UPDATE:
I guess I should have updated this a long time ago, since the English title was announced not long after I wrote this: Night Fishing.
And here's a teaser bit of the movie. As you can see, it's just the kind of wholesome fare one would expect from Park Chanwook.
The Reuters article goes on to explain some of the challenges faced by KT in the saturated South Korean market, but the release of the iPad is expected to bring a new wave of cash.
I am on my second iPhone4 right now. As I reported in the second half of this post, my first iPhone4 handset went out of control and had to be put down. A few days later, it was replaced with a new one, or so I hope.
I mean, that would suck if the brand new phone I'd bought from the AT&T Store in California were replaced with, say, a refurbished unit at the Apple Store in Ala Moana. Right? But apparently that's exactly what some are accusing Apple of doing with some of its customers in Korea.
It’s alleged that South Korean iPhone users have been given refurbished phones when their devices needed to be replaced (within the 14 day replacement window), instead of providing customers with new handsets. That’s a problem for most, and I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’d be pretty annoyed about it as well, despite Apple’s positive track record for replacement phones.
If you buy a new phone, and that new phone is broken, you should be getting another new phone, not a previously loved phone.
And that's why Apple executive Farrel Farhoudi will be talking with members of the ROK National Assembly on October 21, to explain the replacement process. Of course, Macgasm couldn't help but get a dig in at the National Assembly themselves:
How lovely that's the meme so heavily associated with South Korean nowadays. M*A*S*H, Hyundai, Samsung, Kia, K-pop, Old Boy and The Host, and now donnybrooks beneath the dome.
The unlimited data services will begin Friday, when KT plans to launch Apple's iPhone 4 in Korea to compete with Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S, provided by SK Telecom.
KT will join SK Telecom in providing unlimited data services for smartphone users paying 55,000 won ($46.95) or more in monthly service charges.
The carrier downplayed concerns about unlimited services overloading its wireless networks, saying they were being expanded.
I predict data networks grinding to a halt on launch day, followed by KT frantically (but eventually successfully) getting things back on track.
After several delays, KT has finally given us a release date: September 10.
Preordering is possible, but you'll have a better story for the grandkids if you queue up (the iPhone64 will be embedded in your jawbone immediately after birth), so start getting in line now. Quit your job if you have to.
Foreign Minister Yu Myunghwan announced his resignation so he could be first in line at the COEX Mall Apple Store.
I wonder if they'll release a Mac edition of IE9. I don't think I've used Internet Explorer in the past three or four years, and that was only because my version of Safari on my then-five-year-old iBook suddenly crashed and I need something to get to the Safari site and get a newer edition. As for regular use, I think I quit using it back in 2000 or 2001 (in favor of Safari and, to a lesser degree, Firefox; I keep both open when I'm running video).
It frustrates me to no end that South Korean computer users still use IE6 (or IE7?) as the go-to browser. I'm hoping the popularity of the iPhone will change that.
No, this is not some direct connection between Apple and, say, some factory in Shinŭiju using underpaid forced labor to produce the shiny parts on iPads. Rather, it's some folks likening Apple's business practices to those of Kim Jong-il. Echoing the thoughts of Google guru Andy Rubin who likened Apple to North Korea last April, this writer goes a bit further:
Apple may be an American company, but it seems the company works exactly like the suppressive regimen of North Korea.
Things are moving from bad towards worse. According to reports Apple has applied for a patent called, 'Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device'.
According to TG Daily, "the patent application refers extensively to the protection of sensitive data. If Apple's informed that a phone has been stolen, for example, the techniques described in the application would allow the company to retrieve all sensitive data from the phone remotely, transmit it to a storage server for safe keeping, and erase it entirely from the phone."
Another outrageous feature of the patent is Apple's ability to control the device's camera to take a picture of the user and sending it to Apple, along with the user's location -- without user's knowledge. The patents also explains how Apple can force a phone to be remotely restored to factory settings.
None of this is what majority of users want. It's what Apple wants. It also mean Apple's direct access to sensitive data on your iPhone. How would governments around the globe take this technology? Is it possible that Apple may spy through its iPhone and iPad?
I always thought a suppressive regimen would be something like "200 pushups, run twenty miles, and then 200 more pushups."
Um, anyway, this is as good a time to report that my iPhone 4 went totally whack yesterday. I pressed the earphone switch to turn on whatever was in my queue on the iPod portion of the phone (most likely "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me") and the phone went blank. After trying to start it up with the various starting-up methods (I knew it wasn't a dead battery, as it had been plugged in all day), I remembered about the force reset (pushing the top button and the home button simultaneously for about five seconds).
That turned it on again, but when I did the same thing, pushing the earphone switch to turn on the iPod part, it not only went blank again, but the phone was vibrating as if there were a phone call. Well, not exactly, as the vibration was continuous. Forced reset no longer worked.
I was at the grocery store, where I used my friend's phone to call the local Apple Store and ask, "what the hell?!" and also to make an appointment for the Genius Bar. I wanted to go right away, lest my convulsing phone run out of battery power and the geniuses not believe me.
I got there early for my appointment an hour later, and the staff were both bemused and bewildered at my perpetually vibrating phone. The one who handled my appointment assured me that I would get a replacement part (i.e., a new phone). Yay for me, but the new phone won't come for a couple days.
In the meantime, the vibration went on for about three or four more hours, until the battery died. After having it in my pocket for an hour while at the grocery store and Ala Moana Shopping Center (where the Apple Store is located), I was afraid I would develop that "phantom call syndrome" where people think that they are feeling a vibration in their rear end indicating they are receiving a phone call, a condition particularly acute when they have been away from their cell phone.
Anyway, when I recharged the thing and restarted it, it no longer convulsed. It seems okay, for now. I'm going to take that new phone, as this one is suspect. The upshot is, while I'm not happy I had this problem at all, I'm quite happy with how Apple is dealing with it.
Let's see if you can get that kind of customer service in Pyongyang.
KT's online ordering site for the iPhone 4 ground to a halt today. Apple and KT representatives assumed it was due to 70,000 people ordering the beloved smartphone, but it turns out it was a roving band of bored netizens randomly taking down a website in protest over Apolo Ohno existing on the planet.
This married woman is taking note of the iPhone 4's
"find my phones" feature, which helps you track down
exactly where your spouse is, no matter what he says.
Hey, those of you in Korea who stood in line for hours or waited weeks or months to get your grubby little hands on an iPhone 3Gs, guess what? Be prepared for people who weren't huge fanboys to get their grubby little hands on the iPhone 4, now that South Korean regulators have approved its sale in the Republic of Korea.
Regulators Tuesday authorised the sale of Apple's iPhone 4 in the lucrative South Korean market, after the firm's decision last month to delay sales in the country upset consumers.
The Korea Communications Commission said in a statement it had granted Apple a technical certification to operate in the country, four days after it applied for the approval.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced last month the iPhone 4 was going on sale in 17 of 18 new markets. He said at the time it would "take us a little longer to get government approval" in South Korea.
The remarks sparked concern among tech-savvy South Koreans, who still remember regulatory barriers that kept the previous version of the iPhone out of the country for more than two years.
KT Corp., Apple's South Korean partner, said at the time the delay was needed for further testing and there were no regulatory hurdles.
KT said Tuesday it hoped to get the iPhone4 on the market next month.
In case you're wondering if the iPhone 4 is worth it, the answer is yes. But if you're wondering if the iPhone 4 is worth it when you just bought yourself an iPhone 3Gs, the answer may be maybe. In a couple weeks, when "M" has a chance to see my iPhone4 side by side with the iPhone 3Gs she bought in October, I'll let you know if she pulls her hair out, screams, and/or throws things at the wall.
Well, it turns out that, according to the Wall Street Journal's Evan Ramstad, some folks in Korea aren't too happy about that, including the iPhone's carrier, KT, and the ROK government whom Steve Jobs blamed for the delay:
While Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4 weathers a public-relations storm over reception issues in the U.S., it is facing a different tempest in South Korea: People are upset the country was dropped from a list of markets that are to get the phone this week.
The news came during the press conference Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs held July 16 to discuss problems with the new phone's antenna.
Mr. Jobs said that, while the new iPhone was dropping calls at a marginally greater rate than its predecessor, Apple would push ahead with plans for a rollout on July 30 in 17 of 18 new markets—omitting South Korea. "It's going to take us a little longer to get government approval there," he explained.
The news appeared to surprise the phone carrier that sells the iPhone in South Korea, KT Corp., which has been using the device to gain ground on market-leading SK Telecom Co. Since the introduction of the iPhone 3GS last November, KT has sold more than 800,000 of the phones in a market where about 20 million cellphones are purchased yearly.
And Mr. Jobs's explanation upset South Korean government officials, who have strived over the past year to repeal nontariff trade barriers that kept out foreign mobile-phone brands. The main communications regulator said last week that neither Apple nor KT had yet submitted the iPhone 4 for approval here.
Well, that sure paints an entirely different picture. Now it's entirely possible that had Apple submitted the iPhone 4 for approval as soon as it could, the company might still not have gotten approval in time for a July 30 release. But if it's true that neither Apple nor KT has even bothered to submit the iPhone 4, I think it's unfair to blame the later release on the government for not yet approving it.
The big news conference on Friday at 10 a.m. PDT (2 a.m. on Saturday, Korea time) held a few important bits of information. First, the white iPhone 4 will be available on July 30, which means I may consider plotting how to return my black iPhone 4 by July 29 (the thirtieth day since I bought it and the last day to return it) and then get the white one I had wanted in the first place the following day.
It was also announced that Steve Jobs owes me twenty-nine bucks, for the black/gray bumper I bought so that I could lay the iPhone 4 on a flat surface without worrying about the thirty-times-stronger-than-plastic surface getting scratched, and also so that I wouldn't accidentally drop all my calls when I'm on the Interstate or hiking toward Kaena Point or toward Makapu'u to see the whales.
It was a mea culpa of sorts, but the unwashed masses thought Steve Jobs wasn't contrite enough, especially when he insinuated that people were picking on and nitpicking at Apple now that it was on top. And what was interesting was the way he said it:
Maybe it's human nature — when you're doing well, people want to tear you down. I see it happening with Google, people trying to tear them down. And I don't understand it. What would you prefer? That we were a Korean company, [or] that we were here in America leading the world with these products? Maybe it's just that people want to get eyeballs on their sites. We've been around for 34 years... haven't we earned the credibility and the trust of the press?
The Korea reference aside, that kind of tu quoque argument you're-picking-on-us-unfairly talk sounds very much like something coming from the PR wing of an overly sensitive Korean entity after a round of bad press in the blogs.
There are a few other things I could say about that, including that there is a lot of Korean product built into these things, but yeah, Steve Jobs has a point that you don't see as much scrutiny about Samsung or LG phones, though there are far fewer Samsung and LG fanboys which draw the ire of everyone else enough to have their beloved products taken down a peg.
Anyhoo, the other bit of news is that I was wrong about this post. Steve Jobs removed South Korea from the list of countries that would receive the iPhone 4 in July, "cuz it's going to take us a little longer to get government approval there," Mr Jobs said.
The entire conference can be viewed in high-resolution Quicktime here.
UPDATE:
People in South Korea are not happy about the iPhone 4 delay, not just because Korea was taken off the list, but also because the reason sounds insulting and bogus.
UPDATE 2 (September 5, 2010):
Korea Telecom (KT) has just announced an iPhone 4 release date of Friday, September 10. We're going to hold them to that.
