CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — The iPhone arrived a week ago in South Korea to great fanfare and enthusiasm, but U.S. servicemembers will have to wait awhile before the phones are available at military bases on the peninsula.
"We are working diligently to make these popular phones available to our customers as quickly as possible," Army and Air Force Exchange Service spokesman Jeffrey Craven said. "We are currently in negotiations with our concessionaire.
"At this point, we do not have any specifics on the pricing structure or services that will be available."
A check of non-AAFES retailers at U.S. military bases found that they, too, are not yet offering the popular phones, but expect to in the near future. For example, an employee at the Dragon Hill Lodge Business Center at Yongsan Garrison said more than 20 people have put their names on a waiting list in anticipation of the iPhone’s eventual arrival on base.
According to reports, 60,000 iPhones were sold the first day they were available in South Korea, in some cases to people who waited in line overnight to be among the initial buyers of the multifunctional communication and entertainment devices.
The iPhone was already available in other Asian countries such as Japan. The Associated Press reported that it took longer for them to be sold in South Korea due to regulatory issues and tough negotiations between manufacturer Apple Inc. and a local telecommunications company.
Smart phones — advanced mobile phones with computer-like capabilities —make up only about 1 percent of all cell phones in South Korea, according to Yang Hyun-mi, chief strategy officer at KT Corp., Apple’s local partner
