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As mentioned in my previous post, last week I spent a couple of days in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, for the Digital Leaders Forum at CHEIL Worldwide HQ (view the presentation I did on Mobile Digital Storytelling).

It is well-known that South Korea - together with Japan - has one of the most advanced mobile cultures in the world, it was thus a privilige to have a closer look on anything mobile there.

One of the first real mobile beahviour differences I noticed was that most people waiting for the bus in Seoul watch their mobie phone screens, opposed to having the device to their ears while in a phone conversation. People are totally immersed consuming digital media whenever possible on their mobile phones in Seoul.

Some statistics on South Korea’s mobile internet applications & services consumption usage. For more detailed staistics and insights, I recommend the Digital Korea book, authored by Tomi Ahonen & Jim O’Reilly.

- The country has 44.5 million mobile subscribers in total, or a 90.7% penetration rate (May 2008). MNO’s are SK Telecom (22.5 million subscribers), KTF (14 million subscribers) and LG Telecom (8 million subscribers).

- 63 percent of South Koreans make payments using their cell phones.

- Over 30 percent of South Korean students send over 100 text messages a day (source: Korea Times, February 9, 2006).

- Average amount of daily consumption of DMB digital TV on cell phones in South Korea was 129 minutes per day (source: MIC January 2007)

- Nearly 100% of South Koreans buy ringtones.

- Almost 80 percent of South Korea’s households have broadband access, fostering active online interactions.

- In 2006, 57 percent of South Korea’s music sales were digital

- 37 percent of South Koreans download cell phone games

- Naver is the most popular search portal in South Korea (also on the mobile phone). According to comScore, Naver received 2 billion queries in August 2007, accounting for over 70% of all search queries in Korea, and making it the fifth most used search engine in the world (!), following Google search, Yahoo!, Baidu, and MSN. Note that Google Inc. has recently snapped up South Korean blogging software company Tatter and Company (TNC) in a bid to expand the Internet search leader’s reach in Asia.

(image courtesy of LG Telecom)

Some of the apps/services that most surprised me are the Polygraph which is a mobile lie detector allowing South Korean girls to test if their boyfriends are telling them the truth about their where-abouts etc. Seems stupid but South Korean teenagers just love the service, wether you want to play with it or just take it serious…

Another interesting mobile service is the Navi Call Taxi Service. Calling a cab to specific number, and it knows where you are As to make the taxi experience more safe for young women, the service sends a text message to the parents and/or friends with the name and number of the taxi and its location. Ain’t that cool? Wondering when we get such a service over here in Europe and US.

You can view both services demonstrated and explained here below in a video produced by Andrew Berglund (Global Interactive Executive Creative Director at Cheil Worldwide) called “A Day in The Life of a Mobile Phone in Seoul” - An Interactive Exploration of Marketing Technology among the YMCs (Young-Minded Consumer) in South Korea.The video was originally shown in a workshop at Cannes Lions 2008.

The video gives a great overview and insight on mobile phone usage and behaviour of YMCs living in the modern digital metropolis of Seoul. How today’s youth consumer is making the mobile device an extension of his/her existence - utilising a wide spectrum of mobile services from video calls, SMS, MMS, vlogging/blogging, internet, mobile TV broadcast, digital multi-media broadcast, m (mobile)-commerce, m-banking, m-mags, m-movies and other dynamic multi-sensory social content.

You can view Part 1 soon here on YouTube’s  iCheil’s Channel.

The big question to me is how countries like South Korea and Japan, in let’s say 5 years from now, will be able to sustain their closed ecosystem model in a growing global mobile market heading towards an open ecosystem ecomomy with new industry players applying different business models to connect the physical world with the internet using the mobile phone.

They have the choice to become an isolated island in such an economy or open up and - why not - become an industry leader on a global scale using the knowledge and experience they have acquired from the sucessful mobile applications and services models they have applied in their home countries.

Here’s my Flickr set of my trip to Seoul.

For my Korean readers, there’s an interview with me in the Maeil Business Newspaper.

Last week I was invited by CHEIL Worldwide HQ in Seoul - a global marketing and communications affiliate company of the Samsung Group, to do a presentation at the Digital Leaders Forum on Mobile Digital Storytelling.

It was a really interesting trip to learn more about the Korean mobile culture - more on this in a following post - and to dig deeper in the subject of storytelling in our multiplatform digital landscape of today. It was actually pretty difficult to find real case studies of digital storytelling using the mobile phone. Luckily there was twitter and the great tips and feedback I received from my tweeps by doing research on the topic - thanks to all who helped me with this!

I learned a lot of new stuff how digital storytelling is currently used in online marketing campaigns and I tried to project how the cell phone can be used in future digital cross-media marketing. Check my (slightly adapted) slides of my presentation here below.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss this topic in detail or leave a comment.

Last Friday I was in Amsterdam for the final part of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks awards - a 100.000 euro competition initiated by Vodafone Netherlands, SPRX Mobile and MobileMonday Amsterdam. Six finalists were selected out of +50 entries after four busy months and 3 jury intensive jury rounds.

Finalists were: TipSpot, Nulaz, MapTheGap, MobyPicture, Exphera and Mi-i.

Nulaz (www.nulaz.com) was the big winner with 60.000 euros, followed by TipSpot (www.tipspot.com) with 30.000 euros and MapTheGap (www.mapthegap.nl) with 10.000 euros. Nulaz is an advanced LBS social networking application with reviews and ratings. TipSpot is a mobile social city guide for events in your neighbourhood. MapTheGap is a highly innovative mobile application for location-based idea management and sharing.

It was a very interesting couple of days in Amsterdam during summer to go through the evaluation of the startups, lots of great quality presentations, freshness of ideas and professionality of the work in general. Though this was a ‘national’ competition, I believe some of the startups have a true chance to develop to an international market. Be bold and go for it, I would say… Congratulations to all winners! A job well done also to all other participants. We’ll hear more of these startups in the near future, for sure.

It was also a chance to meet some great people, the very professional Vodafone Internet team led by Patrick Leenheers, the whole SPRX Mobile team, and last but not least Vincent Everts (Trendwatcher and Gadget expert). Vodafone announced already the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009. Hope to see you all there again!

Here’s my Flickr set of the jury sessions and the event last Friday at PICNIC.

Below also my keynote slides on Mobile Startup Case Studies I did for the opening of the event.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss some of the topics in detail or leave a comment.

For the opening of the 2008-2009 season, the next MobileMobile Madrid on September 29th, will address the topic of Mobile Internet Platforms with three major players: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft to know their plans for the mobile business.

José Antonio Martínez Aguilar (Director of the Telecom and Media Division at Google), Alex Romero (Director for Strategic Partnerships for Portugal, Spain and France at Yahoo Europe) and Iván Lozano (Mobile Manager at Microsoft Spain) will share their view about the industry.

In addition, there’s also four Spanish start-ups that will present their elevator-pitch and will get feedback in return from the GYM.

As usual, attendance is free; all you need to do is register and/or confirm your presence for this event at www.mobilemondaymadrid.com/subscribe/ and reserve one of the 150 seats available. Book now to avoid being left out!

The Mobile 2.0 Conference - a one-day event focusing on new Mobile Applications and Services, the Mobile Web and Disruptive Mobile Innovation is happening this year on November 3rd, 2008 in San Francisco. The 3rd edition of this event is once again presented by the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee in partnership with AMF Ventures.

The Mobile 2.0 conference brings together experts and thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists - you can read my wrapup from last years’ event here.

Ajit Jaokar informed me this week at MobileMonday Amsterdam he is organising the Mobile Web Megatrends conference in the Pacific Film Archive Theater, University of California in Berkeley on September 8. If you’re in the neighborhood and/or attending CTIA San Francisco, this will definately be an interesting conference looking at the topics and speakers participating, including mobile illuminates such as Michael Mace, Mike Rowehl, Barbara Ballard and many others.

Some of the topics covered

* The Mobile Web evolution and its impact for developers (views from Nokia, Opera, Skyfire and others)
* The Obamamobile : Media and mobile convergence opportunities from the development of Barrack Obama’s mobile strategy
* Cloud computing and its impact on the mobile ecosystem - Moblast
* The iPhone session : The iStore and the future of mobile applications and it’s impact on developers(Micheal Mace, William Volk)
* Emerging markets: Digital inclusion, mobility with an emphasis on the Brazilian market
* Operators, new Media, Security and convergence(experiences from ESPN,OMTP, Gemalto and others
* Open source and mobile (Mike Rowehl)
* Mobile advertising models including analytics(admob)
* Mobile opportunities for start-ups(venturebeat)

The discussion will focus on the strategy, implementation, competitive advantages and the pitfalls of these trends.  This unique opportunity to get an unbiased viewpoint with the opportunity to discuss these developments. You can clarify your thinking from the experience of others and keep the conversation going through an ongoing attendees only discussion forum.

For more information and registration, please visit Mobile Web Megatrends conference.

Here below the video and slides of my “15 Tips To Create Value For Mobile” presentation I did at MobileMonday Amsterdam #7 on Value, including a short overview on the evolving mobile ecosytem. Note that each of those tips could be a topic itself for a specific detailed presentation - maybe I should start a series in the future

About this video (from MobileMonday Amsterdam)

In this insightful 23 minute keynote Rudy de Waele gives 15 tips to create value for mobile. He shares his view on the various drivers in the mobile value chain. Each tip is accompanied with an real world example. The tips range from “The power of openness” to “utilizing the address book”. It’s a must see if you want to get an quick and clear overview of the value drivers in mobile.