17:04
Unknown
Updated April 10, 2014 1:58 p.m. ET
SEOUL—When Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +0.66% Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. S. Korea: KRX KRW1380000 +9000 +0.66% April 10, 2014 3:00 pm Volume : 199,984 P/E Ratio 6.98 Market Cap KRW226082.33 Billion Dividend Yield 1.00% Rev. per Employee N/A 04/10/14 Samsung Galaxy S5 Hits Snag Wi... 04/09/14 Apple's Star Designer Jonathan... 04/08/14 Morning Links: Maine Takes a S... More quote details and news » 005930.SE in 
Your Value Your Change Short position rolls out its flagship Galaxy S5 model world-wide on Friday, the company will face a surprising obstacle in its home market of South Korea.
SK Telecom Co. 017670.SE +1.23% SK Telecom Co. Ltd. S. Korea: KRX KRW206500 +2500 +1.23% April 10, 2014 3:00 pm Volume : 224,691 P/E Ratio 8.86 Market Cap KRW16472.13 Billion Dividend Yield 4.07% Rev. per Employee N/A 04/10/14 What's News 04/10/14 Samsung Galaxy S5 Hits Snag Wi... 04/07/14 Samsung Forecasts Decline in O... More quote details and news » 017670.SE in Your Value Your Change Short position and KT Corp. 033780.SE +0.74% KT&G Corp. S. Korea: KRX KRW81600 +600 +0.74% April 10, 2014 3:00 pm Volume : 340,154 P/E Ratio 18.01 Market Cap KRW11120.69 Billion Dividend Yield 3.92% Rev. per Employee N/A 04/10/14 Samsung Galaxy S5 Hits Snag Wi... More quote details and news » 033780.SE in Your Value Your Change Short position , the country's two biggest mobile carriers, are contending with a temporary ban against domestic smartphone sales. The Galaxy S5 will be unveiled in the midst of the ban, with SK Telecom prohibited from selling the phone for roughly the first month it will be available. KT won't be allowed to sell the device for the first 16 days of its release.
The ban is the work of what is colloquially known as South Korea's Ministry of the Future, a government entity created last year out of the former science ministry. The new ministry implemented the ban last month, to punish the carriers for overspending on phone subsidies in their bid to gain more customers.
The decision has caused a flap in the local media, consternation among South Korean mobile carriers and a headache for Samsung. The company, the world's biggest smartphone maker, sells most of its phones abroad but would still benefit from a smooth release at home.
The ministry has been unmoved by the ruckus. "It'll be damaging and inconvenient but…it's just too bad," said Kim Joo-han, the ministry's head of telecommunications policy, explaining the ban and its timing.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, as it is officially named, is charged with fostering a "creative economy" in a country that has historically relied on manufacturing and heavy industry. The ministry funds software startups, is doing away with 1990s-era Internet-security restrictions and backing Samsung research into an ultrathin material under consideration for wearable devices.
The ministry also has taken aim at things it perceives as anticompetitive—and hasn't let South Korea's big, influential business interests stop it.
The official Galaxy S5 launch is Friday. European Pressphoto Agency
In January, the ministry said it would block smartphone makers and carriers from loading new devices with memory-hogging software, known as bloatware. The new guidelines mean Samsung must significantly pare the number of preinstalled apps that users can't delete.
Those rules took effect just in time to hit the Galaxy S5 in South Korea. The phone will come with 13 fewer preloaded Samsung apps than previous models, a company spokesman said.
"The announcement was made in January and [companies] said a preparation period was needed," said Song Kyung-hee, a director at the ministry's IT Strategy Bureau, explaining the timing.
The sales ban has caused the most uproar. The carrier prohibitions run for a 45-day period each between March 13 and May 19, with only one carrier allowed to sell new phones at any particular time.
To try to counter the ban during the first month of the Galaxy S5's release, SK Telecom in late March offered phones from Samsung's initial shipments to the carrier's 3,000 stores in South Korea—roughly two weeks ahead of the official release date.
KT, the country's second-largest carrier, followed suit, even though it was officially barred from new phone sales at the time, using loopholes in the guidelines to sell the S5 phones to select customers. A KT spokeswoman said its rival's early sales prompted the company to match the move.
The carriers haven't disclosed their prerelease sales results.
Samsung said it was perplexed by the moves, but remained committed to Friday's release date.
"We express our regret at this decision and we are working to verify all the facts," a Samsung spokesman said.
Write to Min-Jeong Lee at min-jeong.lee@wsj.com and Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com
via Technology - Google News http://ift.tt/1qAVLoU
Put the internet to work for you.
Posted in: Tablets 4 Kids
0 comments:
Post a Comment