By Kim Yoon-mi

Fans of iPhone 4 in South Korea had to be disappointed again, as Apple Inc. said the country has been excluded from the list of countries where iPhone 4 are expected to be available from July 30.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Korea, which had been among the so-called "end of July" group of 18 countries, was excluded due to "a delay in receiving government approval."

Other countries that are scheduled to sell the hugely popular smartphone include Canada, European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Earlier in May, South Korea was excluded from the Asian market for iPad sale as well, while countries like Australia and Japan were available for the tablet PC.

KT, the No.2 mobile carrier which plans to sell iPhone 4, has been saying that it was expecting to start selling the latest Apple phone in late July.

The mobile carrier confirmed Saturday that its plan to introduce iPhone 4 has been delayed due to "some required local technical tests."

Jobs did not elaborate on what the Korean government approval involved.

Officials at KT said the delay of the new iPhone was not due to regulatory barriers but a compatibility test for the phone might take longer than expected.

With the delay announced by Apple, Korean consumers have to wait indefinitely to be able to purchase the smartphone.

Meanwhile, Jobs said Apple already knew that the iPhone 4 has weakness in reception when held in a certain way but did not think it would generate a major issue for consumers, according to news reports.

"We tested it - we knew that if you gripped it a certain way, bars would go down a little bit," Jobs was quoted by Bloomberg as saying at a press conference in Cupertino, California.

"We didn't think it would be a big problem because every smartphone has this problem."

He added that Apple will give a free rubber case to every iPhone 4 buyer which can enhance the signal strength, and that people who already bought a US$29 rubber case will get a refund.

yoonmi@heraldm.com