KMK: IPhone in Korea

IPhone in Korea. Apple has been hit and miss over the years. It started off strong with the Apple 2 C back in the day and then hits it’s stride with the iPod. However, after the debacle with the Macbook Pro I assumed my life with just go on with my iPod and me living happily every after. I was oh so wrong.

The iPhone hit the stage and everything stood still. However, because I was living in Korea with it’s intricate maze of Cellphone providers and networks that bar any and all foreign companies from entering I assumed that the Apple’s latest gadget would be beyond my reach. I thought breaching the silicon curtain would be a feat not even Apple could manage. Not so. After years of dithering, bickering, and probably a few veiled threats, the powers that be have finagled a way to get iPhones to the people.

The mass exodus of folks rushing to the stores to get their iPhone was no surprise to me. Besides kimchi, the most beloved thing in Korea is a nice shiny gadget. The newer, shinier, and prettier the better. Give it a cutesy name, slap an attractive logo on it, and you’re ready to ship out hundreds of thousands of units to hundreds of thousands eager shoppers. Just look at the Magic Hole cellphone by Anycall to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Just the other day my friends Rebecca and Kalli went iPhone shopping and I just tagged along to document the experience. That’s what I kept telling them and myself, but really I was a lemming waiting to happen. We tried the Frisbee store first, but for some mysterious reason their company bigwigs told them to stop selling iPhones for the day. Maybe they wanted to build up demand or some nonsense. Whatever the reason they lost out on business because we moseyed next door to the Show store and got our iPhones.

Trust me, it didn’t take much convincing on their part. After seeing all of the features and realizing that by combining a point and shoot camera, mp3 player, and phone in one that I could cut out a lot of unnecessary doohickeys I was sold. The price wasn’t even terribly unreasonable, but it does double my current cell phone bill every month to 60,000won. I also had to agree to a two year contract. Not bad. I can live with it. I’ll cut back on lattes to make up for it.