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Dan Swinhoe (Asia)- Retrospective: How IT Boomed in Korea

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September 2012
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What you're Saying Kathryn Cave (Global) - Is Facebook Another Britney?

I can't b elieve an article on Faceb ook and it's decline didn't even mention the huge adverse reaction to the new "Timeline" format, near universally excoriated... Cecil Rose 09-10-2012

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Today, South Korea is known as one of the most hi-tech nations in the world. It has advanced infrastructure, is emb racing smart devices and is even looking towards the future with intelligent urb an areas known as U-cities, which should b e completed in the next couple of years. It also claims masses of the world's various IT markets; capturing 27.5% of the mob ile phone market, 37.8% of TV, 51.7% of memory, and 52.9% of display panel market shares. But this wasn't always the case. Shortly b efore the new millennium, the Korean economy experienced its worst recession since the Korean War. However in a couple of years, not only had the economy recovered, b ut was in b etter shape than ever. And this almost entirely down to the IT sector. Throughout the recession period the IT sector continued to grow rapidly, spurred b y the development of a numb er of new technologies including mob ile phones, thin film transistor-liquidity crystal displays (TFT-LCD), Internet-related industries, b roadb and, digital-TV, and wireless Internet', along with traditional sales of PCs. Within two years, from 1997 to 1999, mob ile phone sub scrib ers tripled, and b etween 1998 and 2000, internet users multiplied five-fold. In the space of a few years, the country went from average to one of the b iggest consumes of digital technology in the world. This shift was helped b y a lot of factors. Before the economic prob lems, competition was scarce and electronics were expensive, b ut an array of new companies pushed down prices almost overnight, fostering growth. The population's high levels of urb anization (70% of South Koreans live in its seven largest cities) mean it's easy for the majority of people to access the internet, wireless services and places to purchase technology. Computers are engrained into the youth culture; many are avid internet gamers and b loggers, and those that couldn't afford computers of their own often frequented internet cafes. The high levels of literacy and quality education were also factors. Becoming specialists in hardware has b een a massive plus, and has b een a constantly growing sector for nearly over a decade, and still is today. Some might argue that the country is over-reliant on hardware (84% of the total IT industry), and in this cloud-driven world software development is the future, b ut the reality is that there will always b e a place for hardware, and as devices b ecome ever-more powerful and complicated countries with specialisms in creating them will b enefit even more. Of course government assistance has also had a large hand in the tech-b ased direction that Korea has b een taking. Laws surrounding IT were revised, including intellectual copyright, and b ack in 1999 the Cyb er Korea 21' project was unveiled. It promised to spend $24.8 b illion b y 2002 on upgrading IT infrastructure, providing training programs, and estab lish legal frameworks to vitalize e-commerce and the IT industry. The government encouraged private investments b y promising to b uild a b ackb one network for high-speed communications pub lic funds. Being early adopters of technology was a b ig factor. In 1995, South Korea had less than one internet user per 100

Kathryn Cave (Global) - Is Facebook Another Britney?

And I never use it. I use g+ and am quite happy. I have more followers on Twitter and g+ (orders of magnitude more) and have no need to give my life to... b knab e 09-10-2012

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inhab itants. In 1999, it surpassed the developed nation average and b y the end of 2002 was the world's fifth largest internet market, with 26 million users. This year Korea b ecame the first country to reach 100% b roadb and, up from 89% last year. But the country's continued investment has b een a b ig factor in its on-going status as a world leader. In 2009 with an eye on superfast fib er-optics, $152.3 b illion was spend to develop IT convergence applications, software, key IT solutions, communications and the internet over the following five years. By the end of the year the Fib er-optic sub scrib er b ase had already reached 9.23 million. That figure has continued to rise to over 55% today. Smartphone penetration has hit 50%, equaling the likes of Australia, UK, Sweden and b eating the US. But Korea is the clear leader when it comes to mob ile b roadb and sub scriptions, and today, while the UK is getting its first 4G enab led networks, Korea already has a penetration rate of 17% and rising. There isn't a magic b ullet that shot South Korea to the top of the IT food chain. Rather, it was a range of factors; cultural, demographical, and governmental, that all gelled together. What is most impressive however, is that it is still a world leader, thanks to constantly renewing the desire to stay where it is. By Dan Swinhoe, Editorial Assistant, IDG Connect Seoul Space IDG Connect Marketers ILX Group Gerdau SA Afrinnovator South African Local Government Association idgconnectlaw Popular Tags idgconnect IT Infrastructure Cloud Computing (ISC)2 Monster Reksoft CSC Netmagic Solutions Smart Sky Electronics We45 Solutions Business Daily Web sense Afrinnovator Business TechNode Security

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