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As Apple Korea hits the market with new products and drastically slashed prices, local firms are busy formulating responses including ¡°patriotic¡± marketing. In a newspaper advertisement marking the March 1 Independence Movement Day on Tuesday, Reigncom asks, ¡°Does shouting ¡®mansei¡¯ buck-naked make Korea independent? U.S. firms are sweeping up most of the world¡¯s HDD-type MP3 player market... As a sovereign MP3 state, we could not simply sit back and watch.¡±
Under the image of a Korean flag, it goes on, ¡°After spending countless nights in the research room, we¡¯ve finally produced a precious son for the world market... There will be many difficulties, but we are not afraid.¡± Reigncom declared itself determined to face Apple¡¯s offensive, saying, ¡°We are the descendents of martyrs who braved bullets and swords to bring about independence to the cry of ¡®mansei.'¡±
¡°Apple has stepped up an offensive to kill local MP3 manufacturers," a Reigncom official said. "So we placed the advertisement to coincide with March 1 Independence Movement Day.¡±
Apple, which dominates the world HDD-type MP3 player market, has been aggressively marketing new MP3 models like its 4GB and 6GB ¡°iPod Mini¡± and 30GB and 60GB ¡°iPod Photo¡± and slashing prices at the same time.
The second-generation 4GB iPod Mini¡¯s battery life has increased from eight hours to 18, but the price has gone down from W341,000 (US$340) to W230,000. However, local companies claim the price drop isn¡¯t all that dramatic, as Apple has left some accessories like adapters and connection cables out of its basic package. Still, they are palpably nervous. ¡°Apple has started a large-scale price war, but we have no effective response," an industry insider said. "Big companies like Samsung Electronics and LGE could fend off Apple¡¯s offensive, but small and medium-sized companies will be in trouble if the situation continues.¡±
Reigncom, for one, responded with a price cut for its own flash memory-type products last month, and is said to be contemplating whether to slash prices for HDD-type players in the first half of the year. Cowon Systems, too, cut prices for flash memory players from this month, and Mpio did the same. But local companies are struggling to keep up with Apple's price cuts on HDD products.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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