South Korea Upset After Being Denied The iPhone This Week

Tweet

The Wall Street Journal is reporting some ‘outrage’ in Korea this week. South Korea, like 17 other countries, was set to get the iPhone this week on July 30th. Back at the iPhone Antennagate press conference, Apple let drop that South Korea would be removed from the list of countries who were getting the phone this week. Understandably, South Korea (all of it) wasn’t happy.

Tech-savy South Koreans aren’t just upset at the fact that the phone is delayed. They’re angry at the reasons that Mr. Steve Jobs gave. During the Antennagate press conference, Steve said, “It’s going to take us a little longer to get government approval there.” That throw-away line sparked anger from both the South Korean government and the common people.

South Korea previously had strict trade regulations in place to protect domestic technology giants Samsung and LG (mainly from Japanese rivals like Sony and Panasonic). In recent years, the South Korean government has been making strides to relax them – hence why the government is offended at Jobs’ comments.

Likewise, the public feels that Jobs lied to them. The WSJ reports that South Koreans are bashing Jobs on message boards. One Korean newspaper’s tech section led with the headline, “Jobs lied, didn’t he?” when going with the story.

Looks like the news came as a surprise to KT Corp, the exclusive Korean carrier of the iPhone. Just after Jobs’ comments, they declared that the iPhone was still headed for a July 30th, launch in Korea, but they later admitted it would be delayed.

The hot rumor on Korean tech blogs, according to the WSJ, is that Apple and KT Corp are in fierce boardroom battle regarding the financial terms of bringing the iPhone to Korea.

You’ve got to doubt that the iPhone ever be delayed in the United States, but could this be a preview of things to come between Apple and AT&T? As mentioned, KT Corp, like AT&T, is the exclusive iPhone carrier in their country.

(Image Credit: Ars Technica)