[Courtesy of Samsung]
South Korea's market for wearable devices is still relatively immature, hurting its reputation as one of the world's most wired societies, but it has been expanding rapidly, led by smartwatches connected to a mobile network.
In November last year, 837,344 wearable devices were connected to 3G (third generation) or LTE (long term evolution) mobile networks, up 130 percent from 363,603 at the end of December 2015, according to science ministry data.
Experts believe the actual number of wearable devices being used in South Korea will be more than 900,000, including those which support no mobile connection other than Bluetooth, a direct link to a smartphone or a tablet PC.
When connected to a mobile network, wearable devices can independently make phone calls, send and receive messages. The latest line of smartwatches supports a health tracking system, monitoring a cardiac impulse and keeping a record of daily movements. Some devices provide a detailed summary of daily work-outs.
Wearable devices formed a full-scale independent market in 2014, when Apple and other makers such as Samsung, LG and Motorola released a series of smartwatches. The global wearable device market has slowly expanded to become a vital part of the smart devices ecosystem.
Experts attributed an explosive increase in the number of smartwatches in South Korea to a unique marketing strategy adopted by three top mobile carriers -- SKT, KT, and LG U+. They carry out seasonal discount sales along with free gifts. Consumers only pay for connection fees.
On Monday, a hoard of online community users rushed to a smart device shopping complex in Seoul to buy Samsung "Galaxy Edge 6 Plus", a smartphone released almost two years ago. They just paid less than 100,000 won (about 83 US dollars) to buy the old model along with a free gift, Gear S3 Frontier, which is Samsung's latest smartwatch priced at 400,000 won.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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