An Apple Halo Effect in Korea?

I’ve been an avid Mac user for over 15 years. Back then, when people referred to Apple, they referred to it as the “beleaguered” computer company. Now, Macs are quite popular and much of it has to do with the halo effect around the iPod and iPhone.

A retailer named Lots got me thinking about what sort of halo effect could occur due to popularity of the iPhone and iPod in Korea. Lots sells notebooks and various accessories such as headphones and iPod/iPhone cases. They imported a number of iPads for display (the iPad isn’t for sale in Korea yet) in their store to increase foot traffic and it’s certainly working. During a 10 minute visit, the vast majority of customers in the store came to check out the iPad.

So what chance do Macs stand in Korea?

There are several reasons why Macs face an uphill battle in Korea but the largest has been covered previously on KMixx. Many sites in Korea use ActiveX. Want to buy something online? You’re going to need ActiveX to access the payment gateway. Need online banking? You’ll need ActiveX. Want to fully utilize Cyworld, the largest social network in Korea? You need ActiveX. Accessing these sites on Mac OS X are either difficult or downright impossible.

Luckily, the iPhone is somewhat coming to the rescue. It’s been reported that over 500,000 iPhones have been sold since their release and companies are starting to take notice. As I mentioned earlier, you need ActiveX for online banking but a couple of banks have created iPhone apps for online banking. These banks are Shinhan and Hana and the other large banks are reportedly following suit. Shinhan has also released a desktop Mac application for online banking.

Second, browsers on the iPhone don’t support ActiveX. Many sites risk losing a large amount of mobile traffic if they don’t support the iPhone. As mentioned in a previous Web Design for the Korean Market 101 article, many Korean sites love the use of Adobe Flash. The iPhone doesn’t support Flash either and Web developers will have to start to take notice if they want iPhone users to be able to access their sites. If iPads become popular, watch out.

A second yet minor reason Macs face an uphill battle is because of a Korean word-processing program called Hangul. While Microsoft Office is widely used in Korea, Hangul is as popular. Luckily, there are a few options out there for Mac users to work with Hangul files but none are as easy as having the native program itself.

The third reason is cost. Macs are widely considered to be priced at a premium over similarly specced competitors but in Korea, this gap is even more prevalent. The Korean won was one of the hardest hit currencies during the financial crisis and Apple Korea raised prices on Macs across the board. Luckily, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Apple released new MacBook Pros last week and dropped pricing in Korea by at least 200,000 won across the board.

With that said, there is definitely an iPhone halo effect occurring in Korea at the moment. Visit your neighborhood coffee shop and Macs are popping up more and more. Koreans place a high premium on looks and let’s face it, Macs just look better. With more users utilizing computers that don’t support ActiveX or Internet Explorer, companies and developers will have no choice but to adapt.