South Korea counts 15 million smartphone users

13 July 2011South Korea counts 15 million smartphone users The number of smartphone subscribers in South Korea hit 15 million this week, according to data from the country's three mobile operators released Wednesday.

South Korean smartphone subscribers numbered 15.35 million as of Monday, including 7.8 million users at the industry leader SK Telecom, 5.45 million at KT Corp. and 2.1 million at LG Uplus Corp., the mobile carriers said.

The country reached the milestone less than four months after the number of users passed 10 million in late March, highlighting a recent spike in smartphone adoption.
It took roughly 17 months to hit the 10 million mark.

The Apple iPhone's arrival in the country at the end of 2009 kick-started South Korea's smartphone market.
Although introduced slowly, the smartphone caught on nationwide at a faster clip than in most other countries.

The data also showed that the market for the feature-packed, handheld computing devices is the fastest growing segment in the country's saturated wireless market, which is estimated at about 52 million users.

On the back of the robust demand, mobile operators are confident about meeting their smartphone subscriber targets by the end of the year.

SK Telecom aims to lure a total of 10 million smartphone users by December, while LG Uplus seeks to add another 0.9 million.
KT, the No. 2 mobile carrier and the dominant fixed-line operator, revised up its year-end target by 30% to 8.5 million.

Based on mobile operators' forecasts, the number of smartphone users in South Korea will likely hit 20 million at the end of this year, accounting for about 40% of the overall wireless market.

View the original article here

Work Begins for South Sudan - Wall Street Journal

Officials of the Republic of South Sudan basked Sunday in the glow of a one-day old nation. By Monday, they will begin work on building an economy that now depends on oil for 98% of its revenue.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images South Sudanese men hold their hand on their chest as they sing the national anthem of their new country during their country's first friendly football match against Kenya on July 10, 2011.

South Sudan officials say they will focus on weaning the economy away from oil by investing in the country's agricultural sector, which is among the most fertile in the region. But the world's newest country, hived off Saturday from Sudan, Africa's largest nation, still lacks basic health, education and roads, not to mention hotels, a decent airstrip and other essentials to accommodate investors.

Given those challenges, celebrations aren't expected to last long. South Sudan is already a major recipient of aid as it seeks to create the conditions for domestic and foreign industry to flourish. The U.S., for example, has spent $300 million on development assistance to South Sudan as it has sought to create a new government. The European Union recently approved a similar amount of aid to the country.

"There really isn't a private sector that's sufficiently broad" to absorb the unemployed, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Sunday. "There is a great deal to be done," she added.

Still, South Sudan has lots of oil. Nearly all of the 500,000 barrels of oil produced a day between north and south comes from the south. But the south splits the oil revenue with the Khartoum-based northern government, which owns the pipelines, refineries and ports from which the oil is exported. Since a 2005 peace accord with the north, the south has depended on oil revenue to pay salaries and keep its interim government running.

That is why the government is talking about a path that seeks investors beyond the energy field.

"The resources with which nature has endowed our land are abundant enough to attract the interest of development partners both from the public and private sectors from many countries across the world," South Sudan President Salva Kiir said during independence ceremonies Saturday. "So we should exploit these possibilities to better the lives of our people."

From 2007 to 2010, private investors acquired roughly 6.5 million acres of land in South Sudan, an area about the size of Massachusetts, according to the charity Norwegian People's Aid. Investment has gone into timber, mining as well as oil.

"The south has plenty of water and rainfall and is very fertile, so if they can establish good governance and use their oil money to develop the economy, there's a good chance for them to succeed," said Hassan Satti, an economist based in Khartoum. "But if they start badly, they will be in trouble."

Large-scale farming is virtually nonexistent in South Sudan, and there are just 30 miles of paved road in the whole country. Its capital, Juba, isn't connected by road to the south's largest towns. Some government ministries operate out of trailers. Foreigners from neighboring African countries dominate local markets and have set up hotels and restaurants to cater to the influx of aid workers.

"South Sudan is very open for business," said Doug Bushman, member of the Southern Sudan-American Trade Association. "They really need everything."

Power cuts are common, and the electric grid depends on an oversized diesel generator, as do most of the hotels and aid-group offices. A blockade to the north imposed by the Khartoum government nearly brought Juba to a standstill last month when fuel stocks ran out before fuel could be trucked from neighboring Kenya.

Meanwhile, talks with the north over shared oil revenue have stalled. Neither side can agree on how long the two sides should continue a 50-50 split of revenues, or if or how much the south should pay in transit fees to ship the oil north through Khartoum-owned pipelines.

Some U.S. officials warn South Sudan against using its oil wealth as a crutch, and urge it instead to develop alternative industries as soon as possible. "It is so simple to be corrupt in the oil industry," U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman said. "It will hurt the image of the new government quickly" if oil revenues are mismanaged.

View the original article here

A Party in South Sudan; World Leaders at Ceremony - ABC News

South Sudanese citizens, international dignitaries and the world's newest president swarmed the new country capital of Juba on Saturday to celebrate the birth of a nation.

South Sudan became the world's newest country Saturday with a raucous street party at midnight.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and dozens of other world leaders were in attendance under a blazing sun as South Sudan President Salva Kiir hosted a noon-hour ceremony. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, a deeply unpopular man in Juba, arrived to a mixture of boos and surprised murmurs.

"Wow, this is a great day for me because it's a day that reflects the suffering that all southerners have had for almost 50 years," said David Aleu, a 24-year-old medical student.

Thousands of South Sudan residents thronged the celebration area, and organizers soon learned they did not have enough seats for all the visiting heads of state and other VIPs. The heat was strong enough that Red Cross workers attended to many people who fainted.

"We're overwhelmed. We did not know that the whole world was going to join us in our celebration," he said.

A Southern Sudanese soldiers stands at attention during the national anthem during an independence rehearsal procession in Juba, southern Sudan on Thursday, July 7, 2011. The Government of Southern Sudan is making lavish preparations to celebrate its declaration of independence from the north on Saturday, July 9th. The south's secession comes after decades of brutal civil war between north and south that resulted in more than two million deaths, most of which were southerners. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) Close

The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005. It culminated in a 2005 peace deal that led to Saturday's independence declaration.

Thousands of South Sudanese poured into the ceremonial arena when gates opened. Traditional dancers drummed in the streets as residents waved tiny flags. Activists from the western Sudan region of Darfur, which has suffered heavy violence the past decades, held up a sign that said "Bashir is wanted dead or alive." Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.

"We came to say welcome to our brothers from the south. We came also to remind the world that the problem in Darfur is continuing," said Nimir Mohammed.

The leader of the U.S. delegation, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the U.N., was expected to send greetings from the world's oldest democracy to the world's newest state.

China — which has a big interest in Sudan's oil — sent a delegation. Uganda President Yoweri Museveni — South Sudan's southern neighbor — was among the many African leaders.

South Sudan is expected to become the 193rd country recognized by the United Nations next week and the 54th U.N. member state in Africa.

Though Saturday is a day of celebration, residents of South Sudan must soon face many challenges. Their country is oil-rich but is one of the poorest and least-developed on Earth. Unresolved problems between the south and its former foe to the north could mean new conflict along the new international border, advocates and diplomats warn.

Violence has broken out in the contested border region of Abyei in recent weeks, and fighting is ongoing in Southern Kordofan, a state that lies in Sudan — not South Sudan — but which has many residents loyal to the south. The 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) north-south border is disputed in five areas, several of which are being illegally occupied by either northern or southern troops.

View the original article here

A Party in South Sudan; World Leaders at Ceremony - ABC News

By MAGGIE FICK Associated Press JUBA, South Sudan July 8, 2011 (AP)

South Sudanese citizens, international dignitaries and the world's newest president swarmed the new country capital of Juba on Saturday to celebrate the birth of a nation.

South Sudan became the world's newest country Saturday with a raucous street party at midnight.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and dozens of other world leaders were in attendance under a blazing sun as South Sudan President Salva Kiir hosted a noon-hour ceremony. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, a deeply unpopular man in Juba, arrived to a mixture of boos and surprised murmurs.

"Wow, this is a great day for me because it's a day that reflects the suffering that all southerners have had for almost 50 years," said David Aleu, a 24-year-old medical student.

Thousands of South Sudan residents thronged the celebration area, and organizers soon learned they did not have enough seats for all the visiting heads of state and other VIPs. The heat was strong enough that Red Cross workers attended to many people who fainted.

"We're overwhelmed. We did not know that the whole world was going to join us in our celebration," he said.

A Southern Sudanese soldiers stands at attention during the national anthem during an independence rehearsal procession in Juba, southern Sudan on Thursday, July 7, 2011. The Government of Southern Sudan is making lavish preparations to celebrate its declaration of independence from the north on Saturday, July 9th. The south's secession comes after decades of brutal civil war between north and south that resulted in more than two million deaths, most of which were southerners. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) Close

The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005. It culminated in a 2005 peace deal that led to Saturday's independence declaration.

Thousands of South Sudanese poured into the ceremonial arena when gates opened. Traditional dancers drummed in the streets as residents waved tiny flags. Activists from the western Sudan region of Darfur, which has suffered heavy violence the past decades, held up a sign that said "Bashir is wanted dead or alive." Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.

"We came to say welcome to our brothers from the south. We came also to remind the world that the problem in Darfur is continuing," said Nimir Mohammed.

The leader of the U.S. delegation, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the U.N., was expected to send greetings from the world's oldest democracy to the world's newest state.

China — which has a big interest in Sudan's oil — sent a delegation. Uganda President Yoweri Museveni — South Sudan's southern neighbor — was among the many African leaders.

South Sudan is expected to become the 193rd country recognized by the United Nations next week and the 54th U.N. member state in Africa.

Though Saturday is a day of celebration, residents of South Sudan must soon face many challenges. Their country is oil-rich but is one of the poorest and least-developed on Earth. Unresolved problems between the south and its former foe to the north could mean new conflict along the new international border, advocates and diplomats warn.

Violence has broken out in the contested border region of Abyei in recent weeks, and fighting is ongoing in Southern Kordofan, a state that lies in Sudan — not South Sudan — but which has many residents loyal to the south. The 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) north-south border is disputed in five areas, several of which are being illegally occupied by either northern or southern troops.

function fbInit(){if(!window.fbLoaded || window.fbLoaded == undefined){FB.init({ appId : 'fa71b3ce3ced40d47a4850f185b245d9', channelUrl: 'http://a.abcnews.go.com/assets/static/perm_cache/channel.html', cookie: true, xfbml : true // parse XFBML});fbLoaded = true;}}

View the original article here