South Korea's communications regulator decided Wednesday to allow the sale of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, a government spokesman said, lifting a technical requirement that had blocked the product.
The Korea Communications Commission made an exception to a rule that requires cellphones sold in the country to use domestic technology for location-based services such as GPS. The commission's action comes after months of consumer pressure. South Korea has long stood out as one of the few technically advanced countries that doesn't allow the iPhone.
KT Corp., the second-largest provider of cellphone service in South Korea by subscribers after SK Telecom Co., has acknowledged that it has been talking to Apple about selling the iPhone. But it's unclear whether Apple will seek an exclusive carrier relationship or work with all three major carriers, including SK Telecom and LG Telecom Co.
A spokesman for Apple in Seoul said the company had no immediate comment.
The iPhone is likely to shake up price competition for cellphones in South Korea. The market is dominated by domestic producers Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. Both companies typically report that average prices for phones sold in South Korea are about double the average prices they get outside the country.
South Korea's phone carriers, meanwhile, control the sale of handsets and much of the software they use. If it takes off, the iPhone could alter that relationship. Applications for the phone can be acquired from Apple or directly from software developers.
The commission had said the iPhone's built-in mapping capabilities violate a South Korean rule requiring the use of domestic technology for location-based services in cellphones. Some analysts and consumers say the product's likely effect on the practices of the South Korean manufacturers and carriers also played a role.
South Korea's telecom regulators have long used technical rules to protect its domestic industry, which now has some of the world's most advanced manufacturers and service providers.
For instance, the commission in 2005 created a rule that blocked the entry of smartphones like Research in Motion Inc.'s BlackBerry by requiring phones with Internet functions to use domestically created software. The commission last December created an exception that allowed BlackBerry sales to corporate users, but they are still not sold to South Korean consumers.
South Korea follows China in opening its market to the iPhone. China last month said it would permit the iPhone after Apple agreed to remove the phone's wireless Internet function to comply with Chinese law.
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source:wsj.com