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VK goes belly-up

Officially, it was the discrepancy between the value of the dollar and that of the won, combined with aggressive marketing strategies of companies like Nokia and Motorola that have driven Korean battery-turned-handset maker VK into receivership, a form of bankruptcy. Personally, we believe it had something more to do with the boatload of unimpressive and stylistically unoriginal handsets (Kickflip notwithstanding) they've released since they entered the mobile phone game in 2002. Either way, they'll surely be missed; if not by us, then by SK Telecom and other investors who parted with billions of their won earlier this year in a failed attempt to keep VK afloat. Our only regret is that we won't get to pocket the 4-megapixel VK 2200, but since we don't live in South Korea, there's a good chance we never would anyway. Oh well, at least we'll always have CeBit.