KT Corp. said it will introduce a tablet computer powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system in South Korea on Sept. 10, before Apple Inc.’s iPad device goes on sale in the country.
KT, South Korea’s largest provider of phone and Internet services, aims to sell 100,000 of the handheld computer by year- end, Kim Sung Chul, a vice president at the Seongnam-based company, said at a briefing in Seoul today. The device, called Identity Tab, will be made by Seoul-based Enspert Inc., KT said.
The Identity Tab and other tablet devices to be released by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. will compete with the iPad. KT, the sole provider of iPhone in Korea, will sell the iPad and hasn’t decided when it will do so, Kim said.
KT rose 0.5 percent to 43,850 won as of 1:18 p.m. in Seoul trading, compared with a 1.5 percent gain for the Kospi index.
SK Telecom Co. said Aug. 18 it plans to start selling a tablet computer from Samsung in September. LG Electronics Co. said July 5 it will sell its own tablet device in the fourth quarter.
source: bloomberg.com
