Korea, Japan Aiming at each other’s Handset Market

"Kyocera, a Japanese handset maker has introduced its technology in Korean market through equity participation in SK Teletech, an affiliate of SK Telecom. Recently, the Japanese company has sold its stake in SK Teletech, pursuing alliance with other Korean companies including Telson Electronic.

Currently, LG Telecom is ahead of others in introducing Japanese handsets in Korea. Its latest model of CanU series (my5000) that the company released Sunday advertising as adopting the largest TFT LCD screen in Korea is in fact Toshiba cell phones. Pantech&Curitel modified software and RF of the Japanese model to meet Korean consumers’ needs.



Other CanU series released in Korea earlier were assembled in Korea using components from Casio, another Japanese company. LG Telecom also plans to launch Casio’s 2-megapixel camera phones.



LG Telecom’s move to forge alliance with Japanese companies is to compete with domestic rivals. As Korean handset makers prefer mobile operators with large number of subscribers, LG Telecom, the nation’s smallest mobile carrier, has little chance to beat SK Telecom and KTF.


Meanwhile, Korean handset makers’ bid to get into Japanese market looks bumpy. Samsung Electronics is reported to contact NTT Docomo and KDDI for WCDMA handset business. Pantech&Curitel is also trying to supply KDDI with its mobile phone. Full news @ TelecomsKorea