Mobile Internet explosion likely in 2010

Kim Tong-hyung

SEOUL, S.KOREA: 2009 was the year of the smartphone and 2010 is likely to the year of Mobile Internet. In the last 12 months, the Korean mobile market was hit by a wave of intriguing devices, such as the iPhone 3GS, Blackberry Bold and T-Omnia II.

The popularity of these devices will undoubtedly carry over to 2010, and this year will have wireless carriers competing to provide better systems to maximize the abilities of such handsets and also offer a larger variety of flat-rate data plans to increase user revenue.

Suddenly, the mobile Internet explosion, which, up until now, had been an unfulfilled prophecy, seems to be just around the corner, and this could very well prove to be the biggest story in technology for 2010.

"It looks like 2010 will be remembered as the year when mobile Internet finally takes off, as the conditions are ripening,'' said Lee Wang-sang, an analyst from Woori Investment and Securities.

"The release of the iPhone was the difference, as it sparked an interest in smartphones in the average user. The popularity of these devices and the moves by carriers to lower their data rates will combine to significantly increase mobile Internet usage."

Smartphones, which support a variety of functions such as Web browsing, e-mail and multimedia atop of voice, had been a hard sell here in previous years, as the devices were too expensive for most mobile users.

Obviously, there was little reason to pay the premium for feature-rich phones, when data rates were absurdly high and wireless carriers often stripped Wi-Fi from the devices to shove users to their cellular networks.

However, carriers like SK Telecom and KT appear to have finally come to the realization that they will never get a significant return for their massive third-generation (3G) investments without making the mobile Internet more essential to the average user.

Of course, the decision by the companies to make their data services more affordable was also connected to their confidence in hardware, as they finally felt they had sexy enough devices to stoke the interest of their hard-to-please customers.

For full report click: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/01/129_58373.html