By. Yim Chu-hwan
Visiting Professor, at Korea University Sejong Campus (chyim101@hanmail.net)
It has been already over a month since we rang in 2014, the year of the Blue Horse which comes only once every 60 years. Last year saw the ICT sector somewhat faltering. Hoping that the ICT sector will make as fast progress as a fast-running horse this year, let’s make predictions about what the ICT sector would look like in 2014.
First of all, from a comprehensive point of view, the S. Korean government’s creative economy agenda is projected to find its bearings and make headway. Unfortunately, the nation spent last year simply figuring out the meaning of a creative economy envisioned by the Park Geun-hye government. Now, a majority of Koreans understand that the task of taking the Korean economy to the next level requires turning the Korean economy into a creative one. The convergence of ICT and other sectors is likely to play a pivotal role in adding more creativity to the Korean economy. The ICT convergence sector has been led by a variety of technologies, including telemedicine (which is about to be signed into law in South Korea); smart grids designed to solve power-related problems; smart cars; smart agriculture; the convergence of ICT and national defense, etc.
Deceleration in the march of smartphones, which have become inseparable from our daily lives, is anticipated while a big change in operating systems for smart devices is likely to occur. The open source Tizen operating system, backed by Samsung Electronics and Intel, is scheduled to make its debut in the smart device OS market, which has been divided largely into the Android and iOS platforms. How much influence the Tizen would carry on the smart device OS market draws great attention. The performance of curved smartphones seems to fall short of expectations while wearable smart devices, such as Google Glass, the Samsung Galaxy Gear, iWatch, etc., are projected to bask in spotlight.
Long-Term Evolution Time-Division Duplex (LTE TDD), a 4G mobile-telecommunications technology and standard that is about to be commercialized in China, is also of great interest to many. South Korea’s WiBro(Wireless Broadband), based on TDD, had already been commercialized seven years ago, so WiBro is the first-mover in the TDD field. Whether the latecomer LTE-TDD manages to unseat WiBro is another attention-grabbing issue.
With the expansion of LTE networks, voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services are projected to be offered in the first half of this year. As voice services, which have been so far separated from data services, are on track to expand in the form of voice-data integrated services this year, expectations run high, However, at the same time, concerns over whether the quality of services will be compromised in the face of a surge in data traffic have been raised.
This year is expected to witness wireless power transmission taking a step closer to consumers. While the magnetic induction method that has been heavily used thus far is capable of charging devices within a 5mm radius, the recently developed magnetic resonance method is said to work properly within a radius of over 1m. Since wireless power transmission enables all the home appliances, as well as mobile devices, to go wire-free, it will trigger dramatic changes in everyday life.
