Motorola and SK Telecom this week unveiled the first smartphone model based on Google’s Android operating system in South Korea, called Motorola Motoroi. Motorola Motoroi is expected to be released in the South Korean market next month, and rolled out in the United States and other countries later this year. The Motoroi will be carried by SK Telecom, Motorola’s exclusive local partner and the country’s largest mobile carrier by subscribers. SK Telecom sold more than 300,000 units of Samsung’s smartphone based on Microsoft’s mobile platform and plans to release 12 to 13 Android-based devices this year. Motorola MotoRoi targets at the high-end consumers, sell for around 900,000 won (US$800), priced similar to Apple's iPhone, while Samsung and LG phones are being sold for around 600,000-900,000 won and 700,000 won, respectively. The Motorola Motoroi release is seen as a competitor to Apple's iphone in South Korea, carried by Korea's #2 mobile carrier, KT. iPhone topped 240,000 sales mark as of Jan. 1, 2010 in South Korea.