abstract:WIPI (; ), Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability, was a middleware platform used in South Korea that allowed mobile phones, regardless of manufacturer or carrier, to run applications. Much of WIPI was based on Java, but it also included the ability to download and run compiled binary applications as well.
Well, even with WIPI gone since April 2009, there was still one hurdle remaining for Apple: privacy concerns over its devices' location-based services.
Consequently, KT started selling the iPhone 3GS in November -- a bold move considering Apple's offering lacked many local phone features, especially DMB (mobile TV) which was, ironically, born in the same year as WIPI.
Before 2010, featurephones were still the norm in South Korea, and thanks to a rule set in early 2005, those devices required a domestic, mostly Java-based middleware called Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability (or WIPI in short) that standardized network access to ensure fair competition between mobile companies.