I live in South Korea. The Galaxy S is a nice phone, but it's outselling the I-phone simply because you can't get an I-phone 4 easily here. There are a few reasons why the Galaxy S is selling fast in Korea:
1. There is a 2 month waiting list for the I-phone 4
2. There are seriously heavy marketing discounts being offered to entire companies (and in many cases, their family members) if they purchase the Galaxy S. The I-phone doesn't allow such aggressive volume discounting.
3. Huge giveaway promotions of the Galaxy S are drawing lots of attention.
Korean companies are being lured by the abilities to "track" employees whereabouts, as well as being able to now tell employees they should be available to digitally interact with customers via e-mail, etc., at all times (during lunch breaks, etc.) If the company gives every employee a free phone, even with the employee being notified that they can be tracked, it's very difficult to say "no" -- especially in this culture, where you can be ostracized for not going with the flow.
The Galaxy S is a success, not entirely on its own merit, but because the I-phone 4 simply takes too long to get. There is also the massive marketing push to sell more Galaxy S phones than I-phones. After all, this is Korea. The penetration of the I-phone 4 in the Korean market is a huge embarrassment. The I-phone wasn't even allowed into Korea for over 1 1/2 years, simply because Korean companies had nothing to compete with it. Various protectionist policies kept it out for a very long time.
Note: I might buy a Galaxy S over an I-phone (simply because I don't want to wait for an I-phone 4), but I'm still upset that the Galaxy S (at least, in Korea) still doesn't allow Flash, despite being an Android platform. I'm also waiting for prices to come down. Right now, both phones cost around $750 or more.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. October 2010 @ 18:01
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