By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff reporter
A confrontation between KT and Samsung Electronics is reaching its climax after the chief executive of the nation’s second-biggest carrier that is tied in with Apple’s iPhones threw another jab at Samsung.
At an event to mark the opening of KT’s ``mobile application development center’’ in downtown Seoul, its CEO Lee Suk-chae blamed Samsung for snatching KT’s software developers.
``Amid the growing popularity of smartphones, having necessary content developers is the most critical issue. But we are losing our software developers. KT has some 10 competitive engineers but most of them have moved to Samsung,’’ Lee told reporters, Wednesday.
``Since the iPhone’s arrival, Korea’s mobile eco-system has seen a drastic change, creating more jobs centering on content developement. Samsung is taking advantage of it to scout employees from my company rather than spending more to expand the number of such developers.’’
Samsung Electronics, which is urgently tasked to boost its software capability amid the ``smartphone era,’’ has hired former KT executive Kang Tae-jin to lead its media solution center.
Consumers can access a wider range of mobile devices than ever before through smartphones.
Therefore, in choosing a mobile device, consumers care more and more about which content and applications they will be able to access, pushing handset makers to inject more resources for strengthened software prowess.
The KT CEO’s latest verbal salvo came less than two months after he attacked Samsung over what it called ``unfair business.’’
In mid-April, the chairman said at an industry seminar that Samsung prevented KT from advertising their Omnia-branded phones as a member of the Omnia II family, and hamstrung it with a lack of software support and advertising. Lee put it ``Our Show Omnia is an illegitimate son.’’
The situation between KT and Samsung has been rapidly deteriorating since the arrival of iPhones, late last year. A KT spokeswoman Kim Yoon-jeong said over 730,000 3G iPhones have been sold so far, while sales of Samsung’s Omnia II have reached over 660,000.
In a retaliatory action, Samsung started acting sullenly toward KT. Over the last few months, Samsung has been focusing its ``love and best technology’’ on KT’s biggest domestic rival SK Telecom. Meanwhile, Samsung will release what it claims as the ``iPhone killer’’ ― its Galaxy S ― via SK Telecom.
A Samsung spokesman Shin Young-june said the world’s second-largest handset maker doesn’t have any ``imminent plans’’ to launch the Galaxy S through KT.
The souring partnership between Samsung and KT is expected to continue unless any ``big decisions’’ by their top-tier executives are taken.
The carrier doesn’t have much of a chance to secure more smartphone models to sell, which is also a contrasting strategy to Samsung, which is strengthening its smartphone lineups in terms of models.
``We don’t need many smartphone models. It’s an old story that `numbers’ guarantee quality in products,’’ said Pyo Hyun-myung, KT’s mobile business group president.
KT, which is set to sell the iPhone 4 in Korea from July, will offer Google’s Nexus One smartphone from late June, continuing its success with iPhones.
Samsung’s love of SK Telecom resulted in KT suffering from a small number of smartphone models. SK Telecom has a plan to release 20 smartphones this year that mostly use the Android operating system.
``Should smartphones have competitive edges in App Stores rather than focusing on the number of models,’’ Pyo said in a separate meeting with reporters.
KT will invest around 100 billion won ($97 million) in content and software.
The executive also said it has been in the progress of installing its Wi-Fi zones in the Seoul subway lines from line 1 to line 9.
``If consumers want, KT will review the possibility to support video calls via Wi-Fi zones through the iPhone 4,’’ he said. Asked over the pricing of the new Apple product, the executive declined to comment.
Analysts expect the mutual tie-ups to be limited in WiBro-related fields. KT is planning to team up with Samsung to set up a joint venture in June that will sell and lease wireless broadband network equipment.
WiBro technology, which is also known as Mobile WiMAX, enables wireless high-speed data transmission services on mobile devices, such as cellular phones and laptop computers.
``Talks with Samsung to release the `FMC Android phone’ have stalled. KT has changed its smartphone procurement channels to foreign companies. It should be interesting to see how KT and Samsung develop their partnerships,’’ said an industry executive.