Asian Invasion Continues for the iPhone

[Michael Essany]

Image via iPhoneoverload


Over the summer, as reported on MMI, Apple's growing presence in Asia earned it the distinction of "Asia’s most admired multinational company," according to the Asia 200 survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal.

Although Apple only ships less than 20% of its product line to Asia at present, the rapid growth in that part of the world suggests we're bound to see more Apple in Asia. And that's exactly what PC World is reporting this morning.

South Korean authorities cleared the iPhone for sale in the country on Wednesday by lifting a legal bar on operation of location-based services by Apple, a spokesman for a government regulator said.

This is a bigger deal for Apple and the broader smartphone community than most will likely recognize. For the Korea Communications Commission to be "flexible" about anything is usually a big step all by itself. But when it comes to global communities opening themselves up to a greater degree than ever before to accommodate new technologies, that's really something to celebrate.

Unlike Apple having to ditch Wi-Fi from the iPhone model that will be introduced in China this year, Apple isn't finding itself having to make many changes in order to gain regulatory approval for the device in South Korea.

But if the clearance hadn't been granted, Apple would have encountered some substantial obstacles in rolling out their iPhone in that part of the world, particularly since they would have needed a local operator in South Korea to run the location services and "manage user privacy for the data gathered."

The arrival of Apple's iPhone will also dramatically cut into the virtual lock that Samsung and LG Electronics presently have on the South Korean electronics and mobile phone marketplace.

South Korean mobile carrier KT is in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone, but details are not yet available, a KT spokesman said.

[pallavt]

They have iPod in their hand :P

[tudtran]

2/3 of the world population is in Asia. Soon they will be the larger market in the world.

[theguy1429]

No surprise here haha.

[Melech518]

And my stock continues to rise

[byransays]

uhhh....camera on the itouch?

[confucious]

What's an itouch?

[awesomeSlayer]

Apple might the world's biggest company...I don't think so.

[staterunner180]

uhhh....camera on the itouch?

That, my friend, is what we call a reflection.

[eZStaR]

What's an itouch?

Epic fail

[awesomeSlayer]

What's an itouch?

Let's just say it is called "iPod touch." Otherwise, people refer "iTouch" to "I touch _______."

[Quick5oh]

Go apple

[mdc929]

dammit why havent i bought stock yet!!
i need ETrade