By Kim Tong-hyung
Apple’s long-awaited iPad is giving the tablet computer market here a kick start, with local mobile-phone operator KT receiving thousands of preorders for the device in the first two days.
The slate-like gadget, released in the United States in April, is seen as the clear-cut leader among the slew of new touch-screen computers that are mushrooming on store shelves.
These devices, dubbed as tablets, are generating deafening hype and expectations that they will revolutionize the personal computer (PC) industry, save the dead-tree media, elevate portable Internet to the next level and even solve the global financial woes.
They also present an existential crisis for ``tweener’’ devices like portable multimedia players, electronic dictionaries and even arguably electronic book readers, which don’t do anything that tablets can’t.
KT, which is also the sole provider of the Apple iPhone here, said it sold more than 70,000 iPads as of Thursday morning after it started taking preorders Wednesday at noon. The carrier expected the number to touch the 100,000 mark by the end of the day.
The iPads with cellular connectivity, which is subsidized by KT, are sold between 218,400 won ($191) to 428,000 won, based on the capacity of the products that range between 16 to 64 gigabytes.
The Wi-Fi-only iPads are priced between 635,000 won to 865,000 won and accounted for about 15,000 of the preorders received through Thursday morning, according to the carrier.
Aside of the iPad, KT is also marketing another tablet computer, the 7-inch ``Identity Tab,’’ which it sells under its own brand and targets low-end users.
Technology companies are flooding the market with me-too products and iPad’s main challenger in the tablet market appears to be Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Tab, released last week by SK Telecom, the country’s largest wireless carrier and KT’s bitter industry rival.
The competition between KT and SK Telecom in tablets accounts for the second-round of the proxy war between Apple and Samsung here.
KT selling more than 1 million iPhones here was a crushing blow to the ego of Samsung, which never before saw its local handset dominance challenged, and the Korean technology giant appears fired-up to prove that whatever Apple can do, it can do better.
Samsung touts its 7-inch device, which runs on the Google-backed Android mobile operating system, as a smaller and smarter alternative to the iPad, although some users will prefer Apple’s bigger 9.7-inch screen and larger wealth of content.
The iPad’s biggest advantage over the Galaxy Tab, at least to Korean consumers, is that it’s significantly cheaper. For the 16-gigabyte iPads with cellular connectivity, KT is providing two-year contracts at around 51,600 won in monthly payments, while SK Telecom users will need 66,100 won a month for a Galaxy Tab with the same capacity. However, unlike the iPad, the Galaxy Tab provides telephony functions, so users will have to make those free voice minutes and text messages count. SK Telecom and Samsung aren’t saying how many Galaxy Tabs have been sold so far.
Industry officials here believe that the tablet computers, which are to be joined by an LG Electronics product at the start of next year, may eat into the popularity of ``netbooks,’’ or mini-laptops that have been a red-hot PC segment.
Devices like PMPs and electronic dictionaries will continue to be reduced to niche products, with mid-sized Korean makers like iStation, Cowon and iriver, which profited significantly from the PMP boom over the past years, rushing to enter the tablet market.
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