Apple's smartphone lands with a bang in Korea as pre-orders approach 65,000

Seoul iPhone launch. Photo: news.naver.com

After China's muted reception, Koreans greeted the launch of the iPhone Saturday in the style to which Apple (AAPL) has become accustomed. Hundreds of customers lined up, some as long as 26 hours in advance, to pick up the country's first batch of 1,000 iPhones amid helium-filled balloons, flashing strobe lights and a blaring rockabilly band.

According to the AP, KT Corp. (KTC), the country's second-largest carrier, had received an estimated 65,000 pre-orders — a number likely to loosen Samsung and LG Electronics' tight grip on the local mobile phone market. Between them, the two manufacturers (the world's No. 2 and No. 3 cellphone makers after Nokia), had sold some 400,000 smartphones in Korea at prices considerably higher than they charge in other countries.

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With less than three weeks to go before Steve Jobs' June 9 keynote address, Apple may be close to a deal that would add two of Asia's hottest cellphone carriers to its growing list of international partners.

The Telecoms Korea news service reported late last week that Apple (AAPL) is planning a special joint release of the next-generation iPhone with two carriers whose names are synonymous with 3G: Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Korea Telecom Freetel. (link, paid subscription).

NTT DoCoMo (DCM), with more than 50 million subscribers, is Japan's predominant mobile phone carrier. It pioneered so-called third-generation cell phone technology with the 2001 launch of FOMA (Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access), the world's first W-CDMA 3G service.

KTF, in which NTT owns a minority stake, adopted DoCoMo's 3G technology in 2004. It has 12 million subscribers in South Korea and operations in several other Asian countries, including India, Indonesia and China.

For a U.S. firm to bring advanced mobile technology to Japan and Korea has a coals-to-Newcastle feel. These are two of the most cell-phone savvy countries in the world, where features like multimedia messaging and "wave to pay" services are standard fare.

If Apple can conclude the deal before June 9, that would leave China as the last big Asian market without an authorized iPhone carrier.

Source: AppleInsider.