“The gadget world’s balance of power has shifted from Japan to Korea” article
Posted in: UncategorizedIt was 1996 when Kun-hee Lee, then-CEO of Samsung, launched the “Year of Design Revolution” initiative. Now, 14 long years later, Samsung and other Korean companies are reaping the benefits.
As Iconoculture trend forecaster Jeff Yang explains in his meaty and informative “Passing the torch: The gadget world’s balance of power has shifted from Japan to Korea” article, it was a host of factors in addition to the design initiative that has led to Korea’s current gadget dominance and world-class design, which has had a staggering financial influence–while Sony, Panasonic, and Toshiba lost a record $10.8 billion in fiscal year 2008, Samsung alone earned $9.6 billion in 2009.
The article is a must-read, and contains one of the best-articulated summations of the current gadget landscape, by Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal:
“The strengths of Japanese companies like Sony were suited to the analog era,” says Croal. “Back then, it was all about building the best product. But in a digital era, it’s all about the network effect — it’s not as important to consumers that any individual product is superior, so much as that all of your different products work well together.”
After examining what has led to Korea’s product design ascendancy, Yang also takes a good look and what’s looming in Korea’s rearview mirror–China. Read all about it here.
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