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APPLE AND BLACKBERRY COMPETING FOR LUCRATIVE NORTH KOREAN MARKET
November 22 2011
Seoul, South Korea – For nearly sixty years North Korea has been a place essentially off the map. Yes, every now and then Kim Jong-il will come out of hiding and do something eccentric, or stories of mass famine will appear, but for the most part the country has just been a hole in the globe, absent for all intents and purposes in a world rapidly moving forward.
No more, it appears, with the recent launch of a new 3G network in the country and the one millionth cell phone user expected to register in days, a development that has shocked most observer around the world, particularly two of the largest cell phone makers, Apple and RIM.
Because of its reputation, few expected the North Korea would ever open up to the now ubiquitous cell phone but that is exactly what has happened and now the major players want a piece of the action.
Officially, the country has a deal with a single cell phone company, Egyptian-based Orascom but as usage increase and newer technologies start to dominate the field, the desire for wider variety has opened up the opportunity for major western manufacturers.
“It’s an incredible opportunity, one that we never would have imagined even earlier this year. While we knew that cell phones had started to infiltrate the country we had no idea it had spread so widely,” said a spokesperson for Research in Motion, the maker of Blackberry. “It’s an incredible opportunity and we hope this is going to be an ever expanding market for us.”
RIM has been in tough over the last year, faced with domination in the market by the Apple iPhone. Neither company, though, has secured a contract in the country.
Apple has reportedly started working on a food finding app which would allow users to track when UN food shipments are dropped in the country.
“This is a big market and one that we can’t ignore. The type of growth, from a few thousand a few years ago to a million today, is really remarkable and something we want to be a part of,” said an Apple spokesperson. “This is exactly the type of market that Apple does well in and we want to ensure that we have a good foothold in the country going forward.”
The North Korean network is limited and subject to government control, something with which neither company has a problem.
“Emerging markets are the way to go. There are still plenty of people around the world without cell phones and increasingly the use of smartphones has become the standard. It won’t be long, I think, before we start seeing Apple stores in Pyongyang,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “Hopefully as well RIM will be able to get a foothold in this arena. They have really been suffering and competition on any kind, especially in smaller markets, is only good for the consumer. Lower prices mean more food, if you can find it of course.”
Apple is reportedly considering a more inexpensive version of the iPhone for the country, to better match the $15 dollar a month average income.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
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