In Pictures: Eight Phones You'd Love To Have

Smitten with LG's ingeniously-named "Ice Cream" phone? Charmed by Samsung's playful "Haptic Pop" handset? Be prepared to wait--in vain--since neither phone is slated for a U.S. launch.

Korean handset makers export millions of attractive phones a month. But some of their most interesting creations never leave Korea.

That fact makes Korea a bittersweet destination for cellphone enthusiasts. The silver lining: features from these phones sometimes crop up in later U.S. releases. Looking at the newest, coolest, Korea-only phones is a peek into the future.

In Pictures: Eight Phones You'd Love To Have

And what a bright, entertaining future it is. Take the Ice Cream phone, currently a hot seller among Korean teen and 20-something women. The phone is named for its ice cream-inspired pastel colors ("snow white," "peach pink" and "sky blue") and equipped with an LED display that features emoticons on the phone's exterior cover. It is the cellular embodiment of cute. Sales have been promising enough that LG just announced a "Lollipop phone" with similar features.

Samsung's limited-edition Haptic Pop is likely to be another youth-driven hit. Unveiled in March, it is a version of the company's best-selling Haptic touchscreen phone, complete with a wardrobe of colorful, pop-off back covers.

Those looking for even more color options can opt for the Samsung W270/W2700. The streamlined clamshell is available in 24 colors, including a gold tone with leather accents.

Other popular phones are noteworthy for their design innovations. Samsung's W570 clamshell packs both an internal display and an external touchscreen. The outer screen is designed to give users one-touch access to music, video and messaging, while the inner screen offers a typical cellphone menu.

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Samsung's "Oz" phone shows off a different kind of double feature: a double folding mechanism. The compact flip phone opens vertically for calls and messages and swivels horizontally for watching TV and video.

Some notable phones are flashy on the inside. LG's "Franklin Planner" phone--designed in partnership with U.S. planning products and training firm FranklinCovey--has custom software that allows road warriors to record their goals, monitor their progress and improve their English. Samsung packages stress-reducing "music therapy" software with some of its high-end touchscreen phones. SK Telecom ( SKM - news - people ) supports a mobile coupon service that lets users exchange simple gifts from retailers like Starbucks ( SBUX - news - people ) and Burger King ( BKC - news - people ) via text message.

Occasionally, a cool phone launches first in Korea but quickly migrates to the U.S. That looks to be the case for Samsung's so-called security phone, which emits a 100-decibel alarm when prompted by users. Samsung has submitted the phone's specifications to the Federal Communications Commission, sparking chatter of an American release.

It's also possible for a Korean phone to launch outside the country and then get reworked for the domestic market. At the request of Korea's leading mobile operator, SK Telecom, Samsung upgraded its popular Omnia phone into the T*Omnia. The handset is essentially an Omnia with a larger, higher-quality screen and mobile TV tuner. At $650, it is currently the most expensive phone in Korea, but store owners say it is selling briskly.

Over the years, Korea has served as a launching pad for plenty of "world's first" handsets, like Samsung's 10 megapixel camera phone in 2006. In most cases, manufacturers are willing to take these phones to other countries. The operators, tasked with selecting models that will sell well and fill gaps in their portfolios, often decide what goes where.

Local preferences play a role too. Samsung knows, for instance, that Americans like clamshell (folding) phones. It also believes that preference is waning with the rise of touchscreen and Qwerty keyboard handsets, and is reacting accordingly, says Samsung designer Ingon Park.

Cellphone exclusivity can cut both ways. Korea is still waiting for the Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) iPhone and handsets powered by the Google ( GOOG - news - people ) Android operating system. (See "Favorite Phone Fruits: Apple Vs. BlackBerry.")

Research In Motion's BlackBerry didn't reach the country until late last year. Revised telecom policies are excpected to usher in change starting this month, but operators say homegrown handsets will continue to dominate. "Koreans will never choose a handset without multimedia messaging, [advanced] ringtone capabilities ... and other customized services," says Seong Kim, manager of SK's mobile device planning team.

Someday, Americans might make the same demands.

Dufon Smith is a street dancer in Seattle. There, he's known for spinning on his head, flipping through the air and, more recently, making people shake their iPhones.

Levi's Dockers brand group in San Francisco hired Smith to star in the first motion-sensitive advertisement, the "Shakedown 2 Get Down," for the Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) handset. When iPhone gamers advance to new levels while playing "iBasketball," "iGolf" and "iBowl," Smith appears in his khaki Dockers, prompting users to shake the phone so he can shake his body.

A number of companies, such as Zagat, The New York Times (nyse: NYT - news - people ) and Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ), have been eager to take advantage of the iPhone's popularity, but most have built their own applications. Those are typically features that enable users to do things such as find restaurant reviews, read news feeds and pay online bills.

Some are more entertaining. Carling Beer's iPint lets iPhone users slide a glass of beer down a virtual bar into someone's hand. And Mars-owned pet food company Pedigree actually used a motion sensor, also known as the "accelerometer," to make dogs howl in its "Shake & Bark" app last month, but unlike Dockers', it didn't integrate with existing iPhone features. For marketers looking to win over new customers, the Dockers ad is a big first.

Dockers found its target audience, 30- to 39-year old men, in 2001 when it won tech-savvy consumers by introducing pants with a designated pocket for cellphones. Since then, the apparel company says it has been looking for new ways to reach that group.

Omnicom Group's (nyse: OMC - news - people ) media agency OMD has been helping them do that through an in-house group called the Ignition Factory, a group created last summer that focuses on niche guerrilla marketing. One of Ignition Factory's first projects was creating a user-generated Doritos video game for Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Xbox Live Arcade.

For Dockers, the Ignition Factory conceptualized the shakeable ad and then turned to Seattle interactive firm Razorfish to film Smith's smooth moves. New York-based mobile ad agency Medialets determined which applications would be most fitting for the ad placement ("iBasketball," "iGolf" and "iBowl").

The possibilities for mobile ad placements are just as vast as the TV arena. If Kitchenaid wants to advertise a blender that shows how to make a smoothie out of fruit when shaken on the iPhone, perhaps a recipe application is the perfect place. Chipotle Mexican Grill (nyse: CMGB - news - people ) could have a create-your-own burrito ad that pops up when users are hunting for Mexican eats. "It's open season for mobile ads," said Jonathan Haber, U.S. director of Ignition Factory. Marketers now know they can make a shaking ad, but there are other ways to use the iPhone's features, Haber said. This is a phone that lets you not only listen and speak, but touch, spin and interact.

One reason marketers are turning to mobile advertising is because of the information they can get from the ads. Interaction is measurable, which means Dockers will know just how long people are shaking their phones and watching Smith dance. Movie companies will know how long people watch trailers, and cafés will see which menu items consumers touch. The list goes on. "We can tell them every single page the customer has seen," said Eric Litman, CEO of Medialets. "Marketers know the more data they have available, the more sense it makes to spend in various directions."

The price tag just to build a mobile ad ranges from $35,000 to $250,000, depending on the ad's functions. Cost per impression runs between $23 and $35. That leaves some thinking the iPhone ads just aren't worth it. Yves Darbouze, CEO of New York agency Plot Multimedia, contemplated building an iPhone ad for NBC's The Biggest Loser in its recent "Train with Bob" campaign, but he ultimately decided there just weren't enough eyes on the handset to make good return on investment. Over 17 million people have bought iPhones, but it takes work to keep up with the most popular games and widgets. Banner ads on the Web, though they may seem outdated, are probably getting more views for less money, Darbouze said.

Still, the novelty may win for the foreseeable future. There's room to wow consumers and hit specific audiences with new, even tactile tactics. And while the rest of the industry facing a downturn, Medialets' Litman says he's not hurting for customers. Game makers and publishers are looking for ways to fund their applications, he says, and everyone wants to learn more about how consumers are reacting to ads.

Smith, who is only being featured in the ad for the next four weeks, just wants you to get an iPhone and start shaking