By Megan O'Malley
Classic cartoons like “The Jetsons” had kids dreaming for decades about scooting around in space cars and having robot maids. Technology hasn’t evolved to that extreme yet, but South Korea is getting close—at least when it comes to mobile innovation.
South Korea is literally light years ahead of the United States in mobile technology. In fact, a number of Silicon Valley companies test their products in South Korea before launching them in the U.S. to get a glimpse of how they might work “in the future.”
As mobile marketing has become an essential part of brand strategy, the Medill IMC global trip group selected Seoul, South Korea, as a destination city this year, along with Shanghai and Tokyo.
This will be the first time that the IMC program visits Seoul. Students will get the chance to meet with IMC alumni at mobile tech giants such as Samsung and LG to see firsthand how Korea is guiding mobile’s future.
Students will witness mobile features that even the most app-abundant iPhone can’t do (sorry, Mr. Jobs). Just imagine having your phone function as a wallet, bus pass, student ID and just about anything else you have floating in your bag.
New mobile features include T-money, a prepaid smart card imbedded in Korean mobile SIM cards. Using T-money, a simple swipe of the phone will not only pay for your morning coffee but will also tell you how much human traffic you’ll face on the way to work. How’s that for a “smart” phone?
In less than a month, our IMC group will literally time warp to the mobile future. We’ll no doubt get a taste of mobile advancements, as well as some delicious dim sum. Oh, and we’ll be sure to say hi to Elroy and Astro for all you Jetsons fans back home.
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Megan O'Malley is a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University's Medill School. She can be reached at meganomalley2010@u.northwestern.edu.
