In the tablet tug-of-war between Apple and Android-maker Google, the Cupertino, Calif. company may have one the first scuffle in South Korea. Although the iPad doesn’t officially go on sale there until Nov. 30, carrier KT reportedly sold some 60,000 units in less than won week of presales.
With a little more than one month left in 2010, KT — Apple’s partner in South Korea — expects to sell 200,000 iPads, according to a local report. By comparison, the rival Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab from SK Telecom pre-sold about 25,000 tablet in its first week of availability. Overall, Samsung expects to sell more than 150,000 by the end of November.
South Korea is seen as a “strategic market” for tablet vendors. Along with Apple and Samsung, LG Electronics plans to unveil its own tablet “early next year,” according to a South Korean publication. The LG device is described as slightly larger than the Galaxy Tab.
