If the past Digital Convergence focused on the composition of IT equipment and the convergence within IT industries, the digital convergence of today is taking the next step to connect IT services to its surroundings.
The Director of the Ministry of Information and Communication Industry Technology Division Song Jung-soo gives an expert opinion: "The improvement of IT services in a highly developed network society like Korea will not only increase the quality of the IT industry, but also the quality of the industries regarding to biotechnology, nanotechnology, and robotics." This means that IT will eventually become a platform that creates new added value and upgrades the entire economy.
Digital convergence, therefore, would be the key to a successful case of an improved IT service.
The new IT services such as HSDPA, u-Home, RFID/USN application services, and LBS's current status tells us how they will contribute to the national economy as a whole. We could notice, however, that most of the services mentioned above are paralyzed by the lack of technology and inadequacy of standardization. Most of the companies that deal with these services also face difficulty in finding killer applications, massive investment fees, and the lack of acknowledgements of the dealing party. As a result, the customers are mostly burdened with the cost of the service, or, lack the knowledge of the service.
Killer applications in particular will substantially increase the sale of the supporting hardware by being an essential program that proves the value of underlying technology like gaming consoles, software, operating systems, or computer hardware. Finding killer applications will therefore make a huge contribution in the market once found.
In order to clear out all obstacles and problems, new policy ideas are being made. First of all, industries should collaborate with each other rather than be competitors. Second, innovation is needed to make partnership models, having the customers' needs in mind. Third, all policy restricting barricades should be abolished to form reasonable restriction policies. Last of all, research and development is directing towards the areas of convergence services and development of networks.
Korea is promoting new IT services and the convergence to improve the quality of a life and let it serve as the growth engine of next generation.
Intelligent robots and digital convergence
Intelligent robots are developing to the degree where it can rather provide us with useful services in real life than entertain us with simple interests.
Some of the useful services are considered to support personal needs, industrial needs, and professional needs. Personal needs would include healthcare, education, entertainment, and housekeeping to mention a few.
Industrial needs include manufacturing biotechnology, semiconductors, displays, electronics and cars.
We also need robots in professional areas which includes agriculture, military, medical welfare, public guards, and building services. One expert mentioned: "The development of robot markets is strongly related to the next generation growth engine industry."
Factors like software solutions, intelligent home networks, DMB, WiBro, UWB, next generation biotechnology, next generation semiconductor chips, cars, and digital content are required to build an intelligent robot. Therefore, production of an intelligent robot would be a masterpiece of everything Korean Information Technology has to provide. The dilemma of the current robot would be the consumers' great expectation, yet inadequate technology skills.
"We need a new concept robot that would satisfy the consumer's expectation," CEO Shin Kyung-chul of Yujin Robots said at the recent IT21 Conference. "Frankly, the robots most consumers expect from science fiction movies are impossible to make at this point. Until now, the robotics industry has been developing from the technology itself rather than focusing on the markets or the consumer's requests."
Killer applications also seem to be the key to the success of the robotics industry as it was mentioned in the previous section. Killer applications enable the creation of consumer value.
One of the applications found is digital convergence to create a whole new robot service. The convergence of cable and wireless, communication and broadcasting, and voice and video will harmonize with robot technology to give variety in robot services.
The robot industry will create a new business and jobs, serve as the next generation national growth engine, and improve the quality of life. The movement of Digital Convergence is a perfect chance to create a new concept robot. Until the day Korean robots become more competitive to Japanese or Americans that takes up most of the market at this point, all sorts of supports and reasonable expectation would be accommodating.
IPTV policy plan
IPTV is the internet protocol type that uses high speed internet to provide services like real time broadcast content, video on demand, and T-commerce at user request. "We seek a great potential in this service because not only it will provide television service on the internet, but can also go further to provide various multimedia content,"
the Director of the Ministry of Information and Communication Convergence Strategy Devision Park Noh-ik gives his remarks on the subject. In spite of its potential, IPTV, something that is already a historical subject overseas, is still an unsolved conflict in Korea. Successful cases overseas are Hong Kong PCCW, British Television BT Vision and BT Movio, French Television Orange TV and Orange World, Italia TV Alice Home TV and FastWeb TV, Japan's Plala TV and Yahoo BB, and American TV AT&T U-Verse TV. The subscribers to the services mentioned above are increasing every day, and their respective governments are writing new reasonable regulations to bring the best outcome of the IPTV service.
Korea, on November 2006, started an IPTV testing period for a period of a month to study the market. As a result, many companies will start IPTV services starting from July 2007. KT is starting Mega TV, Daum Go Tavi, Hana TV, and Good TV and Seowon I&B. Most of them are unable to provide real-time service like the United States does, yet have their own strategy to compete with each other. Good TV, for example, provides high quality pictured content in a fast speed that can also be used abroad.
What is interesting about Korean companies' trial movement is though a company like Daerim I&S will provide IPTV services in newly built apartments and drive houses to be information oriented. Sookmyung Women's University IPTV will provide school information and school broadcasting services via IPTV. The Media Partner Asia (MPA) in Hong Kong wrote: "By the year 2015, the Korean IPTV subscribers are expected to reach 2,200,000." The MPA further predicted that the last year's cable broadcast's supply rate was over 90%, so by the 2015 the entire country will be supplied with the cable broadcast.
Director Park added: "Korea has the world's competitive technology skill, and IPTV will make the use of the skill to allow the application of various multimedia content."
Although numerous IPTV companies have been or are about to be started, many areas need to be improved to support the success of the service. The vitality of the content market seems to be on alert due to the Free Trade Agreement between Korea and America. Content markets are even more deteriorated than ever before. In order to boost the market, the previous PP window needs to be expanded, be open to the new content business starters, and strengthen the fair competition of program distributions.
The next homework assignment will be the clearance of the blocking regulations and restrictions. A regulation that will protect the independence of the broadcasts and lead out the development of the information and communication industry will be needed.
