COEX Mall serving as center for gadgets

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COEX Mall serving as center for gadgets

The COEX Mall in southern Seoul is becoming a popular place for IT companies to test out their products because of the mall’s main visitors, young people and foreigners. Twenty firms, such as Apple, HP, SK Telecom and Samsung, now have pavilions at COEX where customers can try new products. “My friends and I come here often to try out new IT products. It’s sort of like a fad,” said Kim Myung-in, a 21-year-old student. “The good thing is that you can see a lot of stuff because the booths are all close together.” The huge underground mall’s mix of stores and services draws a wide range of customers. It is linked with an international convention center, two deluxe hotels, the airport bus terminal, and a major department store. It also houses a multiplex theater, an aquarium and one of the biggest bookstores in Seoul. The mall is also at the end of Teheran Valley, a long boulevard flanked with high-rise buildings where many of Korea’s tech companies have their offices. At the iRiver Zone, Reigncom has its newest MP3 players on display. The portable digital music devices are equipped with earphones so that visitors can listen to music. Kim Dong-hwan, a Reigncom spokesman, said the pavilion is a great place to get customer feedback. “Before we release new products, we sometimes exhibit them here so that we can see customers’ reactions. Korean customers are very sharp critics of IT products and look at both design and function. If a product isn’t popular, we can reduce chances of failing the global market by not releasing it.” In an area called the “game zone, ” rivals Sony and Microsoft have each set up 20 game stations, where visitors can play for free. Kim Hyun-sik, a 38-year-old worker living in Bundang, Gyeonggi province, said he came to the COEX Mall to compare the two game systems, quickly emphasizing that it was for his son, not himself. “I’m planning to buy my 7-year-old son a game console for Children’s Day, but I’m not sure whether I should get Playstation or Xbox. Since it’s free, I’m going to try out both and compare the quality of the products,” he said. Sony also runs Sony Style, a place where people can check out its digital TVs, cameras, MP3 players and other gadgets. “We only have three Sony Style venues in Asia, and one is the one in COEX Mall,” said a Sony spokesman. “Korean consumers have a very fast understanding of new IT products, and their evaluations of products are very valuable.” Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have pavilions that display digital products along with their household appliances. “Here, it’s different from our main Digital Plaza display downtown in that we don’t exhibit our best products, but our most recent ones,” a Samsung official said. “It has a great marketing effect because a lot of foreigners come to COEX to participate in international events.” COEX Mall is also a popular place for companies to introduce new products. “A lot of companies have also held new product launching events here too,” said Oh Soo-young, a COEX spokesman. “LG Cyon exhibited its new cellphones, Kenox recently displayed a new digital camera model, and HP introduced its new printer here.” “The functions of state-of-the-art IT products are becoming more complicated, as are the services. In the case of people in their 40s or up, the pavilions give them a chance to learn about products.” by Chang Jung-hoon, Wohn Dong-hee
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