By Kim Yoo-chul
Despite its late debut in Korea, Apple's iPhone has made its presence felt here in an impressive fashion as sales of the smartphone have topped the 2 million mark after just 14 months.
KT, the exclusive partner selling the iPhone, said Sunday that more than 2 million people have purchased the sophisticated handsets since their release in late Nov. 2009.
KT officials predict that the "Apple invasion" will accelerate down the road as a mounting number of young clients are likely to snap up the company’s devices including the iPad on top of the iPhone.
In a press announcement, the nation's runner-up mobile carrier, said that young men in metropolitan areas were the representative buyer of the iPhone.
Six out of 10 customers were male with 82 percent of them aged between 10 and 39. Almost seven among 10 were living in Seoul and its vicinity ― up to 39 percent were found to reside in Seoul and 29 percent in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.
"The success of the iPhone is attributable to the combination of high product quality, KT networks, affordable prices and a competitive edge in services. We expect a steady growth in sales," KT spokeswoman Kim Yoon-jeong said.
Kim said the proliferation rate of the iPhone in Korea, which is also one of the world's most-wired nations, was more than twice as fast than in other countries where the device was introduced earlier.
Analysts point out that the iPhone has proved that global cellular phone manufacturers can take firm root in Korea, which has been dubbed a graveyard for multinational players.
Before Apple introduced the iPhone, such giants as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson failed to find their groove here for some reason in spite of their reputations.
KT has made substantial progress thanks in no small part to the iPhone in the domestic market, which was dominated by perennial industry bellwether SK Telecom.
In order to further chalk up a growth momentum, the Bundang, Gyeonggi Province-based company looks to introduce the next iPhone and iPad models here.
It aims to begin to market the successor to the iPhone 4, the latest version available, in the first half of the year, according to a high-ranking KT executive.
The success of the iPhone has also made Samsung Electronics sweat. The world's No. 2 producer of handsets came up with the Galaxy S to compete with the iPhone, which surpassed the 2 million sales plateau late last year.
The rivalry boosted the customer base of smartphones to as high as 7 million in just over a year and the demand is expected to explode to more than 6 million for this year alone, according to KT.
Even KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae has voiced his expectations for the iPhone. His idea is to further jack up the popularity of the iPhone through drastically improving user satisfaction.