SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced  that it will partner with East Power, a Taiwanese mobile device supplier and launch its mobile application store named T Store in Taiwan. In June 2011, all Android based smartphone users in Taiwan will be able to experience a localized version of T Store and enjoy its rich applications and contents.
 
East Power, through agreement with mobile device companies, will pre-install the Taiwanese T Store application on all smartphones provided through its national retail network. SD cards stored with T Store application will also be sold through East Power retail stores to enable users of all other Android smartphones, regardless of their carriers, to easily access the Taiwanese version of T Store.
 
Lee Joo Sik, Senior Vice President and Head of New Business Division at SK Telecom said, "The launch of T Store in Taiwan carries significant meaning as it embodies SK Telecom's strategy of glocalization - by globalizing T Store system and localizing its operation and content - and sets a valuable precedent of providing various overseas smartphone users with T Store platform. SK Telecom expects T Store platform to become a truly global application market platform, thus serving as a global content distribution hub."
 
In addition, SK Telecom expects that T Store's localized mobile applications and content provided in Taiwan will be marketable when entering China or other Chinese speaking countries in Southeast Asia.
 
Taiwan is an attractive market with its rapidly emerging Android-based mobile industry. However the total number of applications distributed stands at around 2,000, and Taiwanese mobile operators have continuously shown interest in SK Telecom's application market T Store, as well as Korea's mobile ecosystem where developers' copyrights are well-protected during the whole process of application/content production and distribution.
 
T Store, launched in September 2009, is the top application market in Korea, offering over 80,000 applications and content thanks to the company's developer-friendly policies and innovative programs (namely T Academy) to foster and support developers. In December 2010, it surpassed 100 million downloads, drawing global attention as the world's only successful applications store set up by a mobile carrier.
 
Last year, upon receiving requests for cooperation from global telecom operators and content distributors, SK Telecom decided to expand T Store to global market starting from Asia. In November 2010, the company signed an MOU with Lenovo to provide T Store's well-made contents to Lenovo smartphones in the form of a shop-in-shop.