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MS Asia chief to visit Korea next week

Software giant could seek to promote mobile products, cloud services

Microsoft Asia Pacific president Cesar Cernuda is set to visit South Korea next week to examine the market and seek expansionary opportunities in the mobile market, said industry sources claiming knowledge of the matter.

A Microsoft Korea official confirmed that Cernuda will be coming to Korea as part of his annual tour to meet the company’s enterprise customers, and attend in-house meetings and marketing events.

Cernuda, who was appointed the new Asia chief last year, will be coming to Seoul around June 10 to see how Korea is adapting to its upgraded Windows platform for personal computers, the successor to its longest-reigning Windows XP, sources said.

He will also likely meet government officials to pledge MS’ support in the transition and in resolving security issues with Windows software during his short stay, while seeking to tap opportunities in the mobile market, an industry source noted.

MS may seek to promote its software and cloud services such as Office 365 more than its hardware such as smartphones and tablets as it likely wants to remain competitive compared to Google.

The president could, however, examine the market to see if it could launch its tablets such as the Surface Pro, which seeks to “replace” conventional laptops, while it remains focused on introducing its Windows Phone in emerging markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam, another source said.

“It could do so given that its hardware products have user-friendly interfaces,” the source said, noting a clandestine visit by Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai to Korea a month before the launch of its waterproof Xperia Z2 smartphone early last month.

However, analysts were skeptical of MS shaking things up in the Korean market, in which Android has the lead thanks to its partners Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics’ smart devices.

“MS smartphones and tablet PCs are not as appealing as those running on the Android operating system or Apple iOS,” said Kim Ro-ko, an analyst from Hana Daetoo Securities.

“The Office suite, the flagship software of Microsoft, has also lost some of its charm since it has been found to be inconvenient to use the word processor and spreadsheet on smartphones and tablets.”

An industry source mentioned that MS may find it hard to boost collaboration with Samsung Electronics, although Samsung makes smartphones powered by Windows, as the Korean tech giant seeks to promote the Tizen OS and reduce reliance on Google or any other platforms.

MS Asia chief Cernuda, a former vice president of MS Latin America, has reportedly been making trips mostly to Southeast Asian markets, introducing its Windows Phone and office software since taking the helm at the regional headquarters in Singapore.

By Park Hyong-ki and Kim Young-won (hkp@heraldcorp.com) (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)