Today the US technology delegation is attending the iMobicon 2006 Conference. To hear from a variety of International speakers and experts about new communication technologies, mobile services, mobile and internet software and handheld devices that are coming our way.

The conference was held at the gorgeous Sheraton Walkerhill in Seoul (Walkerhill is very historic and has an amazing view overlooking parts of Seoul).

 

Hey everybody, this week I am in Seoul, Korea. Yes Korea. You see, recently myself and 5 other US Technology Delegates from various cities across the country were invited and sponsored by iPark Boston to fly to the digital mecca. I was one of the fortunate technology delegates to be invited to attend. iPark Boston the group that made this happen is a non-profit economic development agency created by Koreas Ministry of Information & Communications with the purpose to connect advanced Korean Technology companies to potential US opportunities. So we are here discussing ideas, sharing advice, meeting Korean tech execs, learning about and seeing 1st hand their world-recognized wireless infrastructure. For those outside of the technology industry, you may not know that Korea is ranked as #1 in the world for wireless broadband penetration, the US ranks 12th, so there is a lot to learn from their approach and how that may impact our US communities. For example, in Korea about 10,000 mobile tv phones sell every day not annually but every single day-that’s a lot of phones. It remains to been seen for how long that pace of consumption will continue BUT 10,000 a day? That’s challenging to comprehend anywhere.

 

Before even touching down in Korea you could get a sense of how much that technology is a part of their culture just by boarding the plane. As I walked down the aisle of the large plane. I noticed each seat had its own lcd tv display for movies, news etc… The photo of the globe here shows the Satellite view I could pull up of the flight route from JFK (US) to ICN (KR) and that may not sound so hi-tech many flights these days have in-flight entertainment. BUT then I found out that their was a powerjack at just about every other seat. A standard power outlet was available, so I politely asked the Korean flight attendant – (who spoke great English) about the outlet and she said I can use it for my laptop. Just wait til we are 10,000 feet or so. Okay sounded good to me I was embarking on a 13.5 hour flight, sleeping on the plane isn’t easy for me so working on my laptop was fine. Then it happened, the Korean flight attendant comes back to me and says “You can use your laptop to connect to the internet while in air if you need to check your email”.

What? check my email, update the website, possibly win that Atari I’m bidding for on Ebay and oh yeah watch live tv! The Korean Airlines experience was an experience in itself. Soon enough I was surfing the web, sending email, updating the site while 30,000 feet in the air. However, the service wasn’t that great, it was expensive $15 for an hour or $25 for the whole flight - ouch and the service dropped out a few times. I later found out that the service is provided by Boeing and they are thiinking about scrapping the service. I hear 2 other companies Aircell and LiveTV are looking at offering in-flight internet, either way it was still cool to get the web while in the air. Today, Sunday, I started out 6am EST to leave from BWI to JFK - a 2 hour flight and then direct to Korea from JFK - a 13.5 hour flight. By the time I touch down in Korea it will be Monday 5pm, but back on the E. coast it will be Monday at 4am. So basically I was a half-day in front of you guys - talk about jetlagg.  Tomorrow (Tuesday) the delegation is headed to the international premier annual mobile conference in Korea entitled “iMobicon 2006 Korea”, this will give us a first hand chance to understand why the Korean wireless market is so successful and bring back some best practices from this Nation’s experiences.

Some of the highlights I’m looking forward to:

1. Seeing the mobile technologies of the future and the trends
2. Learn about what services consumers use on hi-speed mobile networks in South Korea
3. The opportunities and obstacles for Mobile Television
4. User-generated content and mobile music and entertainment trends
5. How we can bring some of this technology to the US

I’ll be sure to take lots of photos for those that are interested, curious to see Korea or just down-right nosy. Stay tuned to the website for my blog about the happenings. Ill try and uncover what you and I can learn from this experience, what business opportunities may exist for you and what new technologies and devices are coming your way. Right now, Im headed to bed...