Jobs biography shakes up Korean publishing world

New book on the life of Apple CEO forces local publishers to reschedule big releases

마지막 순간까지도 디자인에 집착…자서전 ‘스티브 잡스’ 서점 점령예고

Oct 24,2011

The official biography of Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs is shaking up the local publishing industry as it is set to hit shelves of bookstores in 25 countries today.

Fearing direct competition with Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming book “Steve Jobs,” local publishing companies are adjusting the release of their books. A new book by Ahn Cheol-soo, doctor-turned-software mogul who is also the dean of the Seoul National University Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, will now be released at the end of November.

Also, popular Korean writer Kim Hoon’s new novel, breaking a four-year hiatus, “Heuksan” (Black Mountain), moved up its release to last Thursday from early November. Kim is the author of million-seller book “Namhansanseong,” which was released in 2007 and topped the best-seller list for weeks.

“For a moment we thought about taking on [‘Steve Jobs’], but after some deep consideration, we decided to change the release date,” said executive Son Cheol-ju of Hakgojae Publishing Company, who represents Kim.

Although the book is not yet released, local Koreans are eager to preorder the book so that they can be among the first to read Steve Jobs’ life story. As of yesterday, it was ranked the third-best-selling book on the most popular local online bookstore, Yes24.com, and also ranked fourth on Kyobo Bookstore’s list.

Even though readers are very interested in the book, there is limited information released about the contents. To maximize the drama, the book is not only set to be published simultaneously worldwide, but publishers have kept its contents confidential.

The U.S. publisher Simon & Schuster has even made the English-to-local-language translators sign an agreement not to reveal any content until the official release date.

“The local publisher [in the United States] strategically planned the simultaneous release worldwide from the beginning,” said public relations manager Lee Mi-hyun of Minumsa Publishing Group, which is the Korean publisher of the biography. “We have been getting the manuscript in sections as it gets finished there.”

As the confidentiality of the book has sparked curiosity, people who claim to have excerpts of certain pages have been writing their own partial reviews online.

Although the book is set to be released today, the book might not be available as soon as major bookstores open. The Korean version will be available in the afternoon since the books will be shipped out from the printing house in Munsan, Gyeonggi, in the morning.

“We are trying to have the books for purchase as early as possible, but it is expected that the books are going to be ready for sale after 12 o’clock,” said Kim Yun-jeong of Kyobo Bookstore public relations.

However, the English version will be available from the opening at Kyobo Bookstores.

The biography was originally set to be published next month, but due to Jobs’ unexpected death, the date has been advanced to today. It is written by Isaacson, former managing director of Time magazine.


By Lee Sun-min [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]

Our screens beat Samsung’s, says LG

Oct 11,2011 LG Electronics, the world’s No. 3 maker of mobile phones, launched the Optimus LTE, its latest fourth-generation smartphone, which supports the faster LTE wireless communications network, yesterday at a Seoul hotel. [YONHAP]
LG Electronics, the embattled Korean consumer electronics giant, is at it again, making large claims about how its technology in consumer products is superior to rival Samsung Electronics.

Earlier this year, the two companies had a high-decibel public battle over which had the better technology in 3-D televisions. This time, LG is taking the offensive on its smartphone screens.

LG Electronics - the world’s No. 3 and the country’s No. 2 manufacturer of cellular phones - held a launch event yesterday for a fourth-generation smartphone that runs on the faster Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

The event was supposed to promote Optimus LTE, which became available through SK Telecom earlier this month and is also slated to be sold through LG U+.

The device, which runs on a 2.3 version of Google’s Android operating system, sports a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor and a 4.5-inch high-definition screen.

At the event, LG officials touted the speed of the device, but then honed in on the glories of its screen and its technology, which is called AH-IPS.

“The Optimus LTE offers an ultra high-definition display that is just unparalleled,” said Na Young-bae, senior vice president and head of LG’s domestic marketing.

AH-IPS stands for Advanced High Performance In Plane Switching. Samsung’s smartphone screens use AMOLED technology, which stands for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode.

“Our market survey shows that customers around the world preferred our AH-IPS display over AMOLED,” Na told reporters. “Our display is more suitable for the smart mobile device era.”

Na said LG’s display outperforms Samsung’s in clarity, color and power consumption.

“Samsung spent astronomical amounts of money for [branding and marketing] its display, but consumers will feel for themselves the actual superiority of our display,” an LG official added.

A Samsung spokesman declined to comment, saying, “Our official position is not to respond to each of LG’s claims.”

Last month, Samsung - the world’s No. 2 maker of smartphones after Apple - unveiled two LTE smartphones: Galaxy S II LTE and Galaxy S II LTE HD.

The controversy over whose screen is better was expected.

The biggest charm of fourth-generation phones’ is their fast speed - thought to be five to seven times faster than 3G phones - which makes them great for video streaming and other high-quality, data-gobbling multimedia content.

The Optimus LTE is LG’s second smartphone that supports LTE. The company released its first LTE smartphone earlier this year in North America.

In response to surging data demand from data-guzzling smartphone users, SK Telecom and LG U+ began offering the 4G wireless service in major cities this summer. The operators plan to expand the 4G coverage across the country as early as next year.


By Kim Hyung-eun [hkim@joongang.co.kr]