Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S sells well

By Kim Yoo-chul

Staff reporter

Over 200,000 Galaxy S smartphones have been sold in the 10 days after its debut on the domestic market, SK Telecom said Monday.

``Between June 24 and July 3, sale figures exceeded 200,000," SK Telecom said. Galaxy S is Samsung Electronics' Android-based smartphone released to compete with Apples's iPhone 4, which will be marketed in Korea soon.

SK Telecom spokeswoman Cindy Kang said her company has seen a rush of orders.

Kang said consumer satisfaction for the Galaxy S was reaching 90 percent.

A phone use plan apparently plays a key role in the high satisfaction rate among customers.

``More than half of Galaxy S customers have chosen the `All-In-One 55' billing system for 300 minutes of voice calls and 700 MB of data on a monthly basis with a fixed rate of 55,000 won,'' Kang said. Other more competitive billing plans will be forthcoming.

``Considering the trend, strong sales will continue in July,'' she said.

Samsung is hoping to regain its dominant position in the mobile industry with Galaxy S, with a plan to launch the Galaxy Tab, to compete with the iPad, later this year.

The Galaxy S features a 4-inch Super AM-OLED screen, 1-gigahertz custom processor, 5-megapixel camera (with 720p high-definition video recording), and front-facing camera for video conferencing. It's thin at 9.9mm, and runs on Android 2.1.

Samsung aims to sell 10 million Galaxy S phones by the end of this year.

For this, Samsung has signed deals with 110 major overseas telecom carriers, including AT&T, Verizion, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, and earmarked big marketing budgets.

``Samsung and SK Telecom are betting heavily on the success of the Galaxy S. We are receiving more rebates for Galaxy sales,'' said Kim Il-tae, an owner at SK Telecom's distribution outlet near Samsung's headquarters in Seocho-dong, downtown Seoul.