Digital Korea

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).

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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.

Camouflage

These robes supposed to allow women to escape sexual predators in the streets of Tokyo are what I call serious urban wear. Amazing (and useful?).

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The 280$ iPhone and chinese factories

China is the factory of the world, but how much value is it really capturing on the devices it produces? Marc Laperouza takes the 280$ iPhone example:

About 17 Taiwanese companies – none a household name – provide parts ranging from the camera lens to the battery charger. Japanese companies are responsible for printed circuit boards and the lithium ion battery. Then, there is the German touch screen, worth around USD 35, the Korean microprocessor chip – itself based on a British technology… In other words, while most components are produced in China, no wholly-owned Chinese company appears in the iPhone food chain. As a result, of the $280 manufacturing cost of each iPhone unit, less than 5% actually stays in China.

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A fresh perspective on the real place of China in the value-creation process.

Korean kids’ digital life

The main reason behind doing a LIFT conference in South Korea is that we think this country is basically an opportunity for Europeans and Americans to have a preview of what their society might be in a near future. Most of the important technological trends start in Korea five years before they hit us. Think of citizen journalism (started by Ohmynews in 2000), social networking (Cyworld, 1999), or knowledge sharing websites (Naver Knowledge iN who became Yahoo Answers for us).

As Korea is, in the words of an Internet executive I met recently, “good at having ideas, bad at exporting them”, all this was so far a well kept secret. But the buzz is mounting, and at Stream07 almost all Asians were from South Korea. The press is also looking at the country of the morning calm with excitement. The latest article comes from CNN who published a story called “A day in the (digital) life of a South Korean boy“. Extracts:

 This peek into the everyday life of an imaginary South Korean boy named Insoo Kim offers insight into what the life of youths in the rest of the world might be like in the near future. [...]

Insoo doesn’t even have to take the phone out of his pocket to send an SMS. He knows how to slide it open, which buttons to push how many times to reach the “Send SMS” menu option, compose the entire text message, and hit the send button — all without even looking at the phone. This is especially handy when he needs to send an SMS during class. [...]

Insoo has a difficult math problem as homework. He posts it up on Naver Knowledge iN, a popular online Q&A service with some 70 million entries. Within about 10 minutes of posting, someone chimes in with a good answer, and Insoo awards him with some “Knowledge Power” points — knowledge-based economy in action among 14-year-olds.

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Interesting read that previews some of the things that are sure to hit us in the near future. How will you react when you will find ot your kids solve their math problems surfing on the knowledge-based economy? Time to ask yourself that question, anticipating might actually give you a small advantage for the day it will pop up in your life ;)