gmtPLUS09 | live from Seoul

After VK Mobile, we will have Pantech (bankruptycy) and LG’s mobile division (Motorola is currently beyond the due diligence stage and inspecting on-site so they can acquire it) making news soon.   Pantech will by the end of 06 or early 07 decide it has reached the end of the road, after failing to make the 1st of many bond payments a couple of weeks ago.

It’s interesting to see that Pantech recently made news about supplying handsets to Orange. I would ask for my money back and run!

I wouldn’t bet on any of these Korean handset manufacturers for long.

Just a thought.

Nokia is nearing 35% MS built on top of an extensive product portfolio, while the popular RAZR drove Motorola to 2nd place with 20.3%. (From 1Q06)  In the case of Moto, that one product revitalized its model lineup and exceeded their own sales target. That also can be said of LG and its Chocolate phone. While Nokia does not really have a "hit" product, it successfully provides lifestyle products to the abounding number of economic slots. 

Then you have SE with the CyberShot (K platform) and the Walkman (W platform) model lines, which are tails within itself.

More to come later…

I wouldn’t be surprised if Pantech is the next Korean mobile handset
maker to fall. It’s a fact the industry is undergoing consolidation in
attempts to fight the major players. Pantech bought SK Telecom’s handset division, SK Teletech or otherwise known as SKY. SKY phones are recognized for the innovative design styles. Note: SKY phones are available through Helio in the US. Already in decline and having had
numerous layoff rounds, Pantech did however score a key contract with
Nokia providing CDMA handsets for the US market. This was at the time
Nokia called off the to-be JV with Sanyo. Also, LG’s mobile division is
reportedly also having difficulties although its Chocolate phone is in
high demand in Europe and the soon-to-be US markets.

Time will only tell.

Sure, the offending design could have cost VK.

We shouldn’t overlook the fact that CEO Yi, Cheol-sang had great ambitions of turning VK into another Samsung Electronics. Many of their internal functions such as R&D and HR closely benchmarked the ones at Samsung, even going as far as hiring away key individuals.

What really put them in this predicament was execution of their strategy - over-extending themselves. Some of the Samsung-like activities was heavy investment in sports marketing (they sponsor a professional soccer club (Olympique de Marseille Soccer Team in France) and even overpaying for a software firm.  And like Samsung, they devoted their product portfolio on "slim" instead of offering robust product offerings like a SE or Nokia would do.

In the end, aspiring to be a Samsung-like success case is a good thing, but that doesn’t mean VK should have tried to become Samsung.

Link: VK goes belly-up - Engadget Mobile.