I spoke earlier this week with Jim O’Reilly, co-author of Digital Korea, to prepare my upcoming trip to South Korea to work on LIFT Asia (3-4-5 sept. 08). This book shows how different and advanced Korean society is, and the argument developed in the book are supported by stats like these, found on the Cnet Asia blog:

• 63 percent of South Koreans make payments using their cell phones.
• The second most desired car is not a Ferrari but a “Solid Pro”, a virtual car from the online game Kart Rider.
• In 2006, 57 percent of South Korea’s music sales were digital compared with 10 percent in the US (source: IFPI January 2007).
• 37 percent of South Koreans download cell phone games (source: NIDA 2005)
• Over 30 percent of South Korean students send 100 text messages a day (source: Korea Times, February 9, 2006).
• Average amount of daily consumption of DMB digital TV on cell phones in South Korea was 129 minutes per day (source: MIC January 2007)
• 97 percent of South Koreans buy ringtones (source: NIDA September 2005).

Link

These stats show very clearly the opportunities that mobile brings to the table. Mobile payment, gaming, music, instant messaging, this is very we companies should invest their money and time these days, much more exciting (and lucrative) than the crowded web 2.0 space. And did you notice the 129 minutes spent watching TV? Further proof television’s death has probably been widely exaggerated.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm and is filed under asia, korea, mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.