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South Korea''s SK Telecom is to be allowed to start selling the BlackBerry handset following a clarification of regulations which require all Korean handsets to use the Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability (WIPI) for data services.

＾The government regards the BlackBerry as a device for processing work only, so it has allowed an exception in its WIPI rule,￣ said Mina Ryu, a spokeswoman for SK Telecom.

The Korea Communications Commission does not require PDAs to comply with the WIPI rule, so it is presumed that they have decided to classify BlackBerry devices as PDAs and not smartphones.

A Samsung official told the Chosunilbo newspaper that the company is not worried about the arrival of the BlackBerry in the country as he felt the larger handset size and smaller keypad buttons would not appeal to the average Korean consumer. But the company vowed to keep improving its smartphones to tackle the challenge from the Canadian phone.

SK Telecom is expected to launch the handset in August.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the country''s three operators are working with the regulator to relax the regulations so as to enable the entry of more foreign handset manufacturers into the country.



Source:cellular-news