After my previous post commenting on VK Mobile's bankruptcy, and the possible difficulties some of the other smaller Korean handset manufacturers may have, one or two interesting things happened.


Firstly, Pantech contacted me to say that a comment I reported on from the Korea Times wasn't entirely accurate. The comment at issue was:

"Roh projected only Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest cell phone maker, and the fourth-largest player LG Electronics will survive among Korean firms. That means the nation's No. 3 vendor Pantech will also likely fail."

According to Pantech, the last sentence was the Korea Times reporter's own interpretation, provided without any backup information to validate his story.

According to Pantech:

"...Pantech is currently the number two handset manufacturer in Korea by sales volume. The company has grown dramatically in recent years and is now in the process of rolling out products under its own brand in a number of key global markets. Domestically, the merger with SKY Teletech has provided Pantech with an extremely strong position in the Korean premium handset market."

In other words, VK Mobile goes boom, Pantech won't.

Secondly, VK Mobile suddenly arose from the ashes, phoenix-like, thanks to a bankruptcy court's ruling. According to EngadgetMobile:

"...a bankruptcy court has ruled that [VK Mobile] can conveniently forget their debts and obligations, freeing up cash for things like -- oh, you know -- manufacturing of phones. It'll apparently take the court a couple months yet to decide exactly if and how VK will be allowed to continue its turnaround, a decision that will be based largely on how the defunct company fares in the interim."

So, VK's (possibly!) back in business, and Pantech never had a problem in the first place - glad we cleared that up then!