Winners, losers over iPhone5

Apple's iPhone 5, left, and the previous generation 4S

New device likely to hit shelves here next week

By Cho Mu-hyun

Apple’s iPhone 5 seems finally ready to be released before the year’s end to coincide with Christmas shopping.

Telecommunication giants KT and SK Telecom are pinning their last hopes on the device to reach their long-term evolution (LTE) subscribers target for this year. These are 4 and 7 million LTE users, respectively. They had 3.2 and 6.5 million as of the fourth week of November.

According to multiple industry sources, the latest Apple devise will be available in stores most likely in the first week of December.

“We are well aware that consumer’s anticipations are high for the iPhone 5 and we are doing everything within our power to make sure a launch happens immediately,” said a spokesman of a domestic mobile carrier.

Market watchers estimate that around 3 million Apple fans are holding onto to their cash despite multiple hot-selling products already on the market. Some early-adopters may be willing to jump ship to the latest offering before their contracts end, they said.

The stand-by subscriber pool is critical for KT and SK due to the ongoing marketing feud over LTE between the carriers. They estimate that sales of the iPhone 5 in the last month of the year could increase their subscribers by up to 600,000.

Korea’s smallest carrier LG Uplus will not launch the device due to frequency problems.

“The iPhone 5 launch isn’t as spectacular as its predecessors were first launched here due to the highly competitive products challenging it,” said Hwang Sung-jin, an analyst at HMC Securities. “Nonetheless, due to the loyalty of its fans, an Apple launch is still hard to ignore for carriers.

“The situation has especial importance for KT. As the first carrier to introduce the iPhone to Korea, it must play on this advantage well to catch up to market leader SK Telecom and LTE powerhouse LG Uplus. How many iPhone 5 subscribers it secures will be key momentum for the firm,” he added.

KT is offering up to 460,000 won as a subsidy to those owning an iPhone 4S to change to the new device.

Pyo Hyun-myong, president of the company, was confident that its network would be adequate in a recent press conference: “We have proved the quality of our networks worldwide. We have the most WiFi stations for a single business (200,000 access points in Korea) in the world.”

“We are developing technology that will increase download speeds by up to 150 megabytes per second and this will allow us to take the leadership with the iPhone 5.”

SK Telecom said it won’t lag behind in the race to attract subscribers. It offers up to 440,000 won to iPhone 4S users if they switch to its successor.

“Though SK Telecom introduced the iPhone later than KT, as the new device operates on LTE, the difference will come from which company has the better network,” said spokesman Jeong Woo-yung. “We offer two bands for LTE thanks to our multi carrier technology which has already been commercialized.”

The spokesman claimed that majority of its rival’s iPhone users were nearing their contract expiration date and will have an option to choose between the two firms.