Super IT Korea – A Cutting Edge Wonderland

Korea – years ahead of its time in IT

Korea is a mobile heaven where 50 million mobile phone subscribers, more than the entire population of Korea, enjoy wireless communication anywhere, anytime. It is not unusual to see subway commuters search for real-time news on smart phones or watch baseball games using the DMB service. In this sense, it is not an exaggeration to claim Koreans as early adopters of cutting edge IT services.

Korea was the first in the world to commercialize second generation CDMA, and has since then emerged as the powerhouse of mobile technology. Infrastructures for 3G mobile service, WiBro and Wi-Fi are at the top level in the world. Wired communication service and mobile service enjoy the same level of access and quality. As early as the 2000s, the majority of households in Korea were connected with broadband internet network access, making Korea the first country in the world with such a nationwide broadband network. At COMDEX(Computer Dealers Exposition) 2001, Bill Gates described Korea's situation, saying, "A few countries, like Korea, have moved out in front and have broadband networks pervasively."

 
Citizens gather in Seoul Plaza during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
The news of Korea's victory brought cheers from the crowd and fireworks.

During the FIFA World Cup in 2002, hundred of thousands of citizens gathered in plazas or main streets in cities around the country, communicating through the internet or text messaging. Around the country, millions of people watched mega-size screens at the same time, cheering in rhythm. At outdoor concerts in Korea, energetic youngsters wave flashlights from their mobile phones as if their glow-sticks singing along with their favorite pop stars.

Broadband internet in the air, everywhere

One of Korea's most well known brands is "Super IT Korea." From the southernmost part of Korea, Marado Island to the top of Jirisan Mountain, inside high-speed KTX train running at 300 km per hour, express buses and subways, and even a small motel room in a rural area, you can enjoy wired or wireless broadband internet access in the country.

Kindergarteners drawing pictures or reading books using iPads represent the future leaders of digital revolutions. There are digital cafés in community centers for seniors and public buildings all around the country, bridging the digital divide. In any city in Korea, you can easily find internet cafés and plenty of places with wireless access. During election campaigns, text messaging and twitter are used as promotional tools to sway voters.

With one transportation pass, you can ride subways as well as local buses all around the country. There is even a discount when you transit from the subway to the bus within 30 minutes. There are countless digital kiosks in subway stations and on main streets, making it very convenient to search for information and real-time news. As well, Korea's ubiquitous IT infrastructure allows tourists to get travel information easily and at nominal costs.

Smart Work, a 21st century-style workplace where people perform their tasks with no limitation on time and place using IT technologies, is drawing attention as a new work system for a new era. The Korean government, in collaboration with the private sector, plans to increase the amount of the remote workforce to 30 percent by 2015. To support this plan, it will establish "Smart Work Centers" with advanced remote work systems such as teleconference facilities in unused spaces of community centers or suburbs and increase the market share of gigabyte internet service, making it ten times faster than the current service, by up to 20 percent by 2015.

Korea's everlasting strength, IT

The Presidential Council for Future & Vision presented a comprehensive blueprint for Korea's future IT industry based on its recognition of IT as the country's vital strength, in September 2009. The blueprint projected that IT would make revolutionary changes in lifestyle by expanding its range from human-to-human communication to human-to-device communication and the networking of all things (All Things on Network), and that the IT paradigm would transform into one fused with other industries.

Based on the visionary blueprint, the "Five Strategies for Future IT Korea" was established and carried out by the government and the private sector. These five strategies included:

① Creating ten IT fusion strategic industries including shipbuilding, energy and automobile;
② Fostering world-class software companies with industrial competitiveness;
③ Becoming the world's supply hub of major IT products such as semiconductor, display and mobile phones;
④ Facilitating convenient and advanced broadcasting and communication services such as WiBro, IPTV and 3DTV earlier than other countries;
⑤ Establishing the ultra-broadband network (1Gbps) to realize a faster and more reliable internet environment.

President Lee Myung-bak encouraging engineers developing source technology for 4G (LTE-A).

In February 2011, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) succeeded in developing and demonstrating the source technology of LTE-Advanced, the 4th generation mobile communication system. Users of LTE-A can download full-HD 3D video wirelessly in a running automobile and watch the downloaded video on a large-screen TV equipped in the car without any interruption. High quality video phone conversations with people located in remote areas is also possible through the 4G technology. By developing LTE-A technology, Korea laid the groundwork to become the world leader in 4th generation mobile communication service.

Korea's aggressive research and development efforts have enabled it to establish advanced, 21st century IT infrastructure much earlier than other countries. But this remarkable development is also in many ways attributable to Koreans' open acceptance of and capacity for using advanced IT services.

Through its IT capacity, Korea is making solid steps toward achieving its goal of being a leading country in the world.

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Won-Gyu HA

Senior researcher, ETRI
IT Advisor, Incheon Asian Games 2014
Publication:Super IT Korea 2030

※ The title of the contributor is as of the date when the text is contributed.
※ The copyright for the images above is owned by the contributor and reproduction in any form without permission is prohibited.

*NOTE: This blog post is from The Presidential Council on Nation Branding's Official blog 'Korea brand blog', on October 11, 2011. If you have any further information about this blog post please contact us.(AdvancedTechKR@gmail.com) We will be happy to help you to get the related information. Thank you.

About the authorby Koreanbrand.net

BlackBerry Semakin 'Diujung Tanduk'

Susetyo Dwi Prihadi - Okezone

SAN FRANCISCO - Research in Motion (RIM) terus mengalami tren negatif  dalam hal penjualan BlackBerry. Pasalnya, dalam laporan triwulan terakhir di tahun 2011, handset asal Kanada terus mengalami penurunan yang berimbas pada hilangnya market share RIM di Amerika Serikat (AS).

Dalam laporan terbaru, penjualan BlackBerry dalam selama tiga bulan terakhir, yang berakhir pada November, mengalami penurunan sebesar 16,6 persen, dari sebelumnya 19,7 persen. Sementara Akibat penurunan ini, Google Android dan Apple mendapatkan keuntungan besar-besar. Demikian hasil penelitian comScore.

Menurut comScore, Android menjadi platform smartphone teratas di AS dengan jumlah market share sebesar 46,9 persen pada akhir November, yang mengalami naik dari 43,8 dari triwulan sebelumnya. Demikian yang dilansir melalui NDtv, Jumat (30/12/2011).

Pangsa pasar Apple juga meningkat selama periode tersebut dengan kenaikan mencapai presentase 1,4 poin  dari 28,7 persen. Microsoft, masuk pangsa pasar smartphone dengan nilan penurunan menjadi 5,2 persen dari 5,7 persen.

ComScore mengatakan sebanyak 234 juta orang di AS menggunakan perangkat mobile dan 91,4 juta yang menggunakan smartphone. Sementara itu, Samsung tetap menjadi produsen handset terkemuka di AS dengan 25,6 persen dari pelanggan seluler AS pada akhir November, naik dari 25,3 persen pada akhir Agustus.

LG berada di posisi berikutnya dengan 20,5 persen, turun dari 21,0 persen, diikuti oleh Motorola dengan 13,7 persen, turun dari 14,0 persen. (tyo)

SOPA dan PIPA apa sih?

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) dan Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) adalah peratuarn perundang-undangan yang akan memberlakukan peraturan anti pembajakan di layanan di internet. Segala macam bentuk pembajakan, mau film , musik, video, dll pokonya dilarang. Perusahaan-persahaan internet besar bisa jadi harus menutup paksa seluruh aksesnya yan berhubungan ataupun yang mengarah ke file bajakan. UU ini emang belum resmi dibuka, namun sudah mulai beraksi yaitu dengan penangkapan Kim Dotcom sang empunya situs penyimpanan file Megaupload. Gue yang sejatinya tukang download turut bersimpati atas penutupan situs megaupload karena salah satu yang berjasa dari hasil downloadan gue. Sekarang File sonic aja juga udah ga bisa download file kecuali file yang kita upload sendiri ke situs tersebut.

Namun banyak kok perusahaan-perusahaan internet raksasa yang menolak pemberlakuan UU tersebut seperti Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, dll. Bahkan wikipedia yang versi laman bhs Inggris sempat mematikan situsnya selama 24 jam sebagai bentuk proses dari SOPA dan PIPA. Penghasilan yang didapat dari perusahaan internet tersebut pastinya luar biasa, kekayaan kim dotcom sendiri ditaksir ratusan juta dollar bahkan bisa jadi lebih. Wahwahwah, apalagi yang punya Google, Yahoo ya? Kim Dotcom aja punya masion sendiri yang merupakan termahal di Selandia baru. 

Saya sangat menyayangkan kalau sampai internetpun harus mendapatkan informasi dengan bayar juga. Apa jadinya hidup tanpa internet? kalau saya sendiri lebih suka download ketimbang main jejaring sosial.   Kalau dimana-mana orang bisa autis gara-gara jejaring sosial, aku bisa autis gara-gara lagi download. Mudah-mudahan SOPA dan PIPA bisa dipertimbangkan lagi sama pemerintah di Amerika sana, itu sih harapan pribadi aku. Jangan sampai merampas hak manusia untuk mendapatkan informasi secara gratis, apalagi buat orang-orang kecil kaya kita yang mungkin cuma bisa crhat lewat blognya.