Cutthroat competition in Korea, with three megapixel camera phones on the way

The Korea Times has a fascinating article about the cut-throat competition in Korea's domestic cellular business, that provides a great look at Korean handset trends that will be or could be harbingers of what's to come in the United States and Europe.

The trends include two megapixel and three megapixel camera phones -- yes, three megapixels, as I've been predicting for Asia this year -- camcorder phones and the elimination of black-and-white screens for Korea.

The Korea Times says:

"In 2004, South Korea will be the most open, cutthroat battlefield for global mobile handset makers.

"Unless they beat rivals in the domestic market, their brands are not likely candidates for global dominance.

"This year, more than 150 new mobile handset models will be rolled out in the local market ahead of global marketing.

"Domestic mobile phone makers marketed about 100 new mobile handsets last year."

Nuggets from the article

* Samsung this year will introduce 50 handset models in Korea, including camcorder capabilities, flash and MP3 players.

* In early February, Samsung intends to introduce a rotator-type mobile handset with a 1.3 megapixel camera phone/camcorder phone with an MP3 player and a memory card slot.

* LG Electronics will introduce some 40 handsets in Korea this year. In the first quarter it will introduce a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder phone.

* Fifty one percent of Samsung's phones and 60 percent - 70 percent of LG's phones will be camera or camera/camcorder phones.

* In 2004, 80 percent of phones sold in Korea will be camera phones/camcorder phones compared to 46 percent in 2003.

* During the second half of 2004, two megapixel and three megapixel camera phones will be available in Korea.

* Korean analysts say that as more phones offer MP3 capabilities, sales of standalone MP3 players could be hurt. (This is the same thing, I believe, that will happen to the sales of digital cameras as cellular phone cameras become better.)

* Korean handset vendors will stop producing black and white LCDs for domestic use. Samsung and LG have already halted production of monochrome screens for Korean use. Color screens accounted for 96 percent of sales last year. Handset vendors also are drastically reducing the production of monochrome displays on cellular phones for export.

[Update] Mike Masnick of Techdirt Wireless posted the story yesterday, including discussing the difficulty of adapting a Koream CDMA handset for the international market.

Comments

[Bill Day]

Concerning cell phones with MP3 players putting pressure on dedicated MP3 player sales: I agree completely. It's inevitable, just as cellcams will inevitably put pressure on dedicated digicam sales (if in fact they aren't already). See my java.net blog "Will Cell Phones Render iPods Obselete?" for my thoughts on the subject.