mobile culture in korea

Mobile Culture In Ko-rea

20812613 An Hey Jeong20822297 Yun Sang Hee

In This Presentation..

1. Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Culture

2. Personal Uses Of Mobile Phone

4. Conclusion & Opinion

3. Professional Uses Of Mobile Phone

＊ Side Of Role In Korean Mobile Culture

In presidential election of 2002, Roh

Moo-Hyun became the unexpected win-

ner in part due to the support of mobile

phone-facilitated mobilization among

Korean younger voters.

In Korea, mobile phone usage has a

powerful socio-political function.

Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Cul-ture

It is Important to recognize that, unlike in Japan where high

mobile growth is achieved in the context of low internet pene-

tration, Korea has an impressive mobile subscription rate of 78

percent as of November 2003, while at the same time 70 per-

cent of Korean households were already equipped with broad-

band Inter connection. This on the one had indicates extraor-

dinary informational demand in this society. In this sense, the

Korean government remains a central player in the mobile

market.


In order to establish the nation’s IT leadership, the Korean

government chose mobile telecommunications as a key strate-

gic industry that needs systematic internal capacity-building,

which will in turn contribute to future export and competitive-

ness in the global IT market.

The most important structural condition set by the Korean

government is market liberalization and subsequent heighten-

ing of competition among the main mobile operators.


The country had five mobile providers in 1997. But after a se-

ries of mergers during 2001-2001, the number has decreased

to three, of which SK Telecom has the largest market share,

followed by KTF, and LG Telecom. In 2011, KTF is change

there’s name to olleh KT, and LG Telecom is change to LG

U+.


It is from this perspective of intensified market competition as

a result of promotional government policies that we should see

the increasing uses of mobile technologies in Korea and the

strong consumerist culture that stems from such structural

conditions.

Under the auspices of the state, Korean mobile providers have

played a leading role in the world in launching new services,

testing out different standards, and the experimentation of 3G

services.

Personal Uses Of Mobile Phone

The diffusion of mobile phone is challenging three sets of exist-

ing norms in the personal lived of Koreans.

First, the boundary between the personal and the public is dis-

solving. Before adopting mobile phone, there are certain “pub-

lic manners” delineating what and how to talk about private

business in public spaces such as buses. However, these man-

ners seem suddenly to have evaporated in this era of perpetual

contact.


Second, the ways of social gathering are also changing. Among

colleagues who drink together after work, the old custom was

that they would call each other using office phones to make ar-

rangements for the evening at around 5 or 6 in the afternoon.

The spread of mobile phone not only make such calls easier,

and appointments can be made at any time during the evening,

it also enable people to go to multiple parties in some soft of a

“nomadic” life. The same applies to lovers. Previously, people

would make appointment for the next date at the end of a ro-

mantic gathering. Now, young lovers say “call me later” in-

stead. The notion of time is therefore becoming more flexible

with these easy calls and easy appointmets.


Third, as people observe in Japan, mobile phone also enable

teenagers to gain more autonomy from their parents, who can

no longer keep surveillance as they could with wired telephone

at home. In an ethnographic study, Kyong-Won Yoon examines

mobile phone and social practices of ordinary(or

“mainstream”) secondary school students in Seoul. It is impor-

tant to point out that Yoon finds a mostly confirmatory relation-

ship between the social ties facilitated by mobile phone and ex-

isting power structures of family, school, and youth peer

groups which he sees as part of the traditional cheong( 情 )

networks. He even goes on to argue that the mobile phone ac-

tually “immobilizes” youngsters within these existing social

networks.

Professional Uses Of Mobile Phone

Through his observations, Shin-Dong Kim found that, during

work hours, “Managers can constantly check if their salesper-

sons are working properly outside the company, while employ-

ees find less opportunity to slacken off.”

One example is the n-Zone service at use in Samsung Electron-

ics, where workers get automatic forwarding of fixed-line

phone calls to their mobile phones when they are away from

their desks. To reach their colleagues, they only need to dial

the last four digits on their mobile phones as if they were using

traditional wired intra-organizational networks.


Samsung Electronics and olleh KT jointly developed this mo-

bile work phone system. While still in an initial stage of devel-

opment, such service is becoming popular among corporations

due to its promise of improving work efficiency at inexpensive

price. Workers subscribing to n-Zone can call their co-workers

and use wireless Internet with no limitation, and the cost is

merely $1 per month.

Korea also leads the world in building “m-government” since

November 2002. The goal is to allow people to access adminis-

trative documents and obtain public services through mobile

handsets, PDA and other portable devices.


Finally, there is a tendency that communication in the work-

place is spilling over into people’s personal lives. Supported by

significant statistical differences, Shin-Dong Kim finds that,

“Users of mobile phones were more active in getting together

with their colleagues, participated more in after-work drinking

occasions, considered life at work more important than private

family life” in comparison with those who do not use the mobile

phone.

Conclusion & Opinion

1. A Market of Intense Competition

- There are 3 competition among the three mobile operators

;

SK Telecom, KTF, and LG Telecom.

- Hence, Market growth in South Korea should be contrib-

uted more to

market competition and the consequent active promotion of

mobile

technologies.


2. The central Role of the State

- The Korean government plays a major role in fostering the

country’s

mobile technology industry.

- One of the major state-led projects is “u-Korea(or ubiqui-

tous Korea)”

There is also active progress in “m-government,” whose

goal is to allow

people to access administrative materials and obtain public

services

through mobile devices


3. The Strengthening of Old Networks

- Mobile phone usage strengthens existing social network

in South

Korea including families, friends, and co-workers.

- Mobile phone helps reinforce the traditional Confucian

notion of

‘Cheong’ among teenagers and there for “immobilize” them

within

the existing structures of family, school, and peer group.

- A survey show that mobile users tend to network more

with their

colleagues in after work drinking occasions.


4. Existing Norms Being Challenged

- The spread of mobile phone also causes existing social

norms to

change.

- People are adopting a “nomadic” way of life by roaming

around the

city for social gatherings.

- Teenagers are seeking new autonomy with the gadget.

- So, these are major changes particularly in Korea because

the society

is characterized by “one-way, top-down, execution of social

power.”

Thanks ^^

mobile culture in korea

Documents