IT firms lay on charm, and Koreans lap it up

An increasing number of well-known information technology companies are taking an interest in Korea, making frequent visits to customers here and listening to what the Korean consumers think. Olympus Korea earlier this month invited 100 users of its digital single lens reflex cameras to a cafe in COEX in southern Seoul, where they met with product development department head and marketing strategy section chief from their headquarters to discuss camera products. “I was surprised at Korean consumers’ in-depth knowledge and passion over products,” said Yasuo Hotta, product planning division head after the meeting. “We will positively reflect the opinions of Korean users in the product development and planning stages in the future.” Steven J. Sasson, Kodak’s digital product development manager based in the United States, recently met with 30 members from Korea’s largest digital camera club DC Inside in Seoul and listened to their advice on developing Kodak’s new products. Song Hyo-won from Kodak’s digital moving picture division said, “The occasion was dedicated to catching Korean consumers’ demand and major trends among them.” Industry experts say, “Korea is now regarded by our headquarters as a market that can direct them to the appropriate product development.” The companies previously considered Korea as a test market where they could observe consumer response over new products. Now those companies have begun to take one step further to get product development ideas and receive feedback from users. Search engine giant Google has also jumped into the bandwagon of turning attention to the Korean market. The U.S. company, which is slated to open its Korean branch early next year, met with Korean users of its blog services at the ASEM Tower in southern Seoul earlier this year. The customers evaluated the blog services in Korean language, which Google launched for the first time in a language other than English, and came up with suggestions for service improvements. In another case, Panasonic’s technicians paid a second visit to Seoul in October, following last year’s trip in the same period. The leading maker of liquid crystal display projectors introduced new products under development in the presence of 150 customers and accepted their suggestions for revisions. Motorola, the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, and telecommunication network solution provider Alcatel are sending Korean consumer trends reports to senior managers at their headquarters. And the trend affects newly developed productss to a large measure, spokesmen from those companies said. Chung Soo-jin, managing director of Nortel Networks Korea said, “World-class IT companies seem to think that ‘smart’ consumers here took a leading role in turning this country into an information technology powerhouse. Those companies will keep calling on Korean customers who have huge curiosity about new information technology products and are capable of absorbing brand-new technologies.” by Chang Chung-hoon, Seo Ji-eun