Mobile Culture In Korea

1. Mobile Culture In Korea 20812613 An Hey Jeong 20822297 Yun Sang Hee

2. In This Presentation.. 1. Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Culture 2. Personal Uses Of Mobile Phone 3. Professional Uses Of Mobile Phone 4. Conclusion & Opinion

3. ＊ Side Of Role In Korean Mobile Culture In presidential election of 2002, Roh Moo-Hyun became the unexpected winner 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.

4. Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Culture It is Important to recognize that, unlike in Japan where high mobile growth is achieved in the context of low internet penetration, Korea has an impressive mobile subscription rate of 78 percent as of November 2003, while at the same time 70 percent of Korean households were already equipped with broadband Inter connection. This on the one had indicates extraordinary informational demand in this society. In this sense, the Korean government remains a central player in the mobile market.

5. Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Culture In order to establish the nation’s IT leadership, the Korean government chose mobile telecommunications as a key strategic industry that needs systematic internal capacity-building, which will in turn contribute to future export and competitiveness in the global IT market. The most important structural condition set by the Korean government is market liberalization and subsequent heightening of competition among the main mobile operators.

6. Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Culture The country had five mobile providers in 1997. But after a series of mergers during 2001-2001, the number has decreased to three, of which SK Telecomhas 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+.

7. Structural Dimensions Of The Mobile Culture 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.

8. Personal Uses Of Mobile Phone The diffusion of mobile phone is challenging three sets of existing norms in the personal lived of Koreans. First, the boundary between the personal and the public is dissolving. Before adopting mobile phone, there are certain “public manners” delineating what and how to talk about private business in public spaces such as buses. However, these manners seem suddenly to have evaporated in this era of perpetual contact.

9. Personal Uses Of Mobile Phone 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 arrangements 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 romantic gathering. Now, young lovers say “call me later” instead. The notion of time is therefore becoming more flexible with these easy calls and easy appointmets.

10. Personal Uses Of Mobile Phone 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 important to point out that Yoon finds a mostly confirmatory relationship between the social ties facilitated by mobile phone and existing 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 actually “immobilizes” youngsters within these existing social networks.

11. Professional Uses Of Mobile Phone Through his observations, Shin-Dong Kim found that, during work hours, “Managers can constantly check if their salespersons are working properly outside the company, while employees find less opportunity to slacken off.” One example is the n-Zone service at use in Samsung Electronics, 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.

12. Professional Uses Of Mobile Phone Samsung Electronics and olleh KT jointly developed this mobile work phone system. While still in an initial stage of development, 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 administrative documents and obtain public services through mobile handsets, PDA and other portable devices.

13. Professional Uses Of Mobile Phone Finally, there is a tendency that communication in the workplace 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.

14. 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 contributed more to market competition and the consequent active promotion of mobile technologies.

15. Conclusion & Opinion 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 ubiquitous 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

16. Conclusion & Opinion 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.

17. Conclusion & Opinion 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.”

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