By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
The immense popularity of the Apple iPhone and other data-enabled handsets has newspapers, including The Korea Times, competing to deliver their contents to readers on the move.
And the large screens and enhanced wireless capabilities of the latest smartphones allow phone-based newspapers to be a pleasurable experience, rather than a frustrating, eye-squinting one, according to the iPhone readers of The Korea Times.
In the three weeks following Dec. 20, The Korea Times iPhone application was downloaded 10,987 times, with more than 40 percent of the users coming from outside Korea.
The number is expected to grow in the coming months as iPhones continue to fly off shelves, with local mobile operator, KT, managing to sell nearly 250,000 handsets since the late November release.
On iPhones, The Korea Times articles are displayed on the handsets just as they appear in the print version. Judging by the comments on Apple's App Store online applications store, the early reception of The Korea Times' iPhone services seems positive in general.
Although some mobile users wished that The Korea Times converted its news services into a Web page, others preferred the current PDF format, which is quicker to load, easy to navigate and reliable regardless of the wireless Internet conditions.
``I download the newspaper at home before I go out in the morning, and this is convenient since I can read The Korea Times with or without an Internet connection,'' said Ko Yeong-seong, a 34-year-old office worker in Seoul and a self-proclaimed tech geek.
``The Hankook Ilbo group newspapers are the only Korean media outlets that are showing their print editions in PDF formats so far. I personally like this, as I know I get to read all the news that The Korea Times printed that day, instead of the edited Web versions I get from other news organizations. However, not all people read newspapers carefully like me, so I would imagine that some others would prefer a Web page.''
``Not many newspapers in the world are providing one-on-one, 100 percent print versions on iPhones, so The Korea Times certainly has value,'' said Chad Meyer, a regular Korea Times contributor.
``I download the files at around 7 a.m. every day and it's easy to read on the bus and certainly looks and feels like a newspaper. It has been a pleasant surprise.''