Naver’s video messaging app Snow tops 100m users

South Korean internet giant Naver said Wednesday that its mobile video messaging app Snow has attracted more than 100 million users worldwide as of December.Released in September 2015, Snow is a mobile messaging app that lets users exchange video messages and photos with other users. It offers a range of camera filters that add shining eyes, bunny ears, funny masks and other elements to selfies and videos.Snow surpassed the 100 million user mark as of mid-December 2016, just 15 months after its

Jan. 4, 2017

SK Telecom, SK C&C may team up on artificial intelligence

SK Telecom Co. and SK C&C Co., both affiliates of SK Group, are likely to team up on developing computing systems that allow users to communicate with machines in natural conservation style, industry observers said Wednesday. In September last year, SK Telecom, the nation's top mobile carrier, launched an advanced voice-recognition butler service that enables users to control home appliances and listen to music using voice commands.The service, called NUGU, which means "who" in Korean, can incre

Jan. 4, 2017

Analysts optimistic about LG’s mobile unit this year

LG Electronics is being pegged for a turnaround in mobile business this year thanks to a major restructuring of the mobile unit last year and its first-mover advantage, rolling out its flagship smartphone G6 early this year, according to local analysts. LG’s mobile communications unit had a tough year as the G6’s predecessor G5 failed to excite consumers. The unit is expected to post around 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) in operating losses for 2016. Analysts predicted, however, LG could seize an

Jan. 3, 2017

Kakao opens new crowdfunding platform ‘People Funding’

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, opened Tuesday a new crowdfunding platform to support local content creators and their work.　　The new platform, called “People Funding,” is the latest in a series of crowdfunding projects introduced by Kakao over the past two years, including “Story Funding” and “Heart Funding.”　Story Funding, which was introduced in 2015, focuses on financing a particular story or project. However, People Funding aims to provide more support f

Jan. 3, 2017

Samsung to unveil voice recognizing smart freezer at CES

Samsung Electronics will unveil a cloud-based voice-recognizing refrigerator for the first time at the world’s largest electronics show this week, the company announced Tuesday. The South Korean tech giant will be introducing the latest home appliances, named Family Hub 2.0, to global customers at the Consumer Electronics Show 2017 in Las Vegas starting Thursday.The Family Hub 2.0 features a lineup of 10 refrigerator models with improved application integration and diverse new apps. Smart built-

Jan. 3, 2017

LG unveils ultra high-definition TVs with 'nano cell' technology

LG Electronics Inc. unveiled Tuesday a line-up of ultra high-definition televisions featuring what the company calls the "most advanced color-enhancing LCD panel technology to date" or "nano cell" technology. LG said the technology offers highly nuanced and accurate colors while maintaining picture quality at wider viewing angles.The new premium TV line-up will be presented at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. LG Electronics Inc.'s premium TV featuring "nano cell" tech

Jan. 3, 2017

China drops EV subsidies for Samsung SDI, LG Chem

Electric vehicles using the products of Korean battery makers Samsung SDI and LG Chem were left out from government subsidies in China, it was revealed Sunday, with South Korean industry watchers suspecting that the move could be part of Beijing’s retaliation against Korea’s deployment of a missile defense system. 　Both battery makers are maintaining a wait-and-see stance to the measure. Samsung said it is “grasping the situation through its Chinese arm,” while LG is hoping “things work out well

Jan. 2, 2017

Samsung, gov't to announce Galaxy Note 7 probe outcome: sources

Samsung Electronics Co. and the South Korean government will soon release the outcome of their investigation into what caused Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to catch fire, industry sources said Monday.The South Korean tech giant has asked the US-based safety organization UL to find the root cause of phablets catching fire after the firm halted its sales over recurring battery problems. Kwon Oh-hyun, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co., speaks to employees at the company's headquarters on

Jan. 2, 2017

SK Telecom pledges to lead Industry 4.0

SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, chief of South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, pledged to make SKT the country’s representative information and communication technology firm to lead the fourth industrial revolution.　“The fourth industrial revolution will eliminate borders and divisions between business sectors, ushering in global competition” Park said.“We must break out of the current paradigm and devise a new business model so that we can achieve growth on a global scale,” he said, vowing to expa

Jan. 2, 2017

KT pledges to move beyond telecom to platform business

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu has called for South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier to move beyond its flagship telecom business and become a platform company based on intelligent network technologies.“KT’s goal should not be to become Korea’s No. 1 telecom company but to become a platform company with intelligent network technologies,” Hwang said during his New Year’s speech.“We should not aim to become the No. 1 leader in the IPTV market, but become a strong media platform company that can

Jan. 2, 2017

Facebook continues to thrive, adds volume to portal-based news channel

Over the past decade, South Koreans have come to a realization: Facebook is needed to stay connected.Novel advances in smartphones and faster connectivity speeds have made it easier for people living in rural and urban areas to communicate, create and share content -- particularly for Facebook users. Apart from being a nationwide social hub that connects people, the beloved digital platform is fast becoming a news source for the younger generation in Korea, where web portal giants like Naver dom

Jan. 1, 2017

KakaoTalk stuck in Korea

Since its introduction as a free mobile messenger in March 2010, KakaoTalk has sky-rocketed in popularity and near-instantly became the go-to messaging app in the technocrat society of Korea. Boasting a usership of more than 95 percent among the estimated 43 million smartphone owners in Korea, the internet-based messenger app quickly became synonymous with mobile messaging. Its success had even coined the term ‘KaTalk,’ a word that is now used interchangeably with texting. KakaoTalk’s penetratio

Jan. 1, 2017

Instagram solidifies position in Korea

Photo sharing mobile platform Instagram is continuing to grow as it enters its seventh year. Instagram’s launch in October 2010 signaled a new era for photography. Pioneering the smartphone photo taking and sharing frontier, Instagram was one of the very first apps to introduce readymade photo filters that rendered Photoshop near outdated.Korea’s online giant Naver quickly followed up with homegrown Pholar, but it failed to catch on.With Instagram, casual snaps taken on mobile phones can be tran

Jan. 1, 2017

What to expect from Consumer Electronics Show

Smart home appliances and advanced autonomous driving will take center stage at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s biggest technology showcase, which kicks off in Las Vegas on Thursday.Korean tech firms Samsung and LG will unveil their smart home technologies, which have been a popular theme at the show for the last few years. Smart home is an environment where home appliances and electronics are all connected so users can control them from anywhere. Samsung is expected to unveil an

Jan. 1, 2017

FITT to offer specialized healthcare platform in 2017

The fitness solution startup FITT, headed by CEO Andrew Hong, will be broadening its horizons in 2017 with the launch of a specialized healthcare platform. On Dec. 28, FITT announced that it will be launching its completely renovated website on Jan. 1 as well as converting its operations to a fitness and healthcare platform.“Our new platform offers diverse types of content, combining theory and practice as taught by sports science and healthcare professionals. And we will continue to develop con

Jan. 1, 2017

Korea's WiFi getting faster: gov't data

The speed of WiFi-connected Internet services have become faster this year thanks to improved equipment, especially in subway stations, government data showed Wednesday.The average downloading speed using WiFi networks across the nation stands at 144.73 megabits per second this year, up 57.5 percent from 91.87 Mbps in 2015, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, and the National Information Society Agency.The pace of uploading data has increased 65.9 percent to 141.47 Mbp

Dec. 28, 2016

Netmarble eyes global success with new mobile game ‘Star Wars: Force Arena’

South Korea’s leading mobile game company Netmarble Games is looking to capture game enthusiasts and Star Wars fans around the world with the launch of its new mobile game “Star Wars: Force Arena” in 2017. 　“Star Wars: Force Arena” is a mobile strategy game under development by Netmarble Games’ development studio and subsidiary Netmarble Monster, best known as the creator of the globally famous mobile role-playing game “Marvel: Future Fight.”The new game is slated for global release in 154 count

Dec. 28, 2016

FTC slaps Qualcomm with record fine of 1 tln won for abusing market power

South Korea's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday slapped US mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. with a record fine of 1.03 trillion won ($853.1 million) for abusing its dominant position in the mobile communications market.The Fair Trade Commission said the San Diego-based company and its two affiliates breached the country's competition act by refusing to offer licenses to chipset manufacturers and demanding high fees for patents used by smartphone makers. Qualcomm officials enter a courtroom of

Dec. 28, 2016

Kakao fined for unilaterally sending notifications to KakaoTalk users

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, was fined 242 million won ($200,700) on Monday for unilaterally sending out informational notification messages — which charge data usage fees — without sufficiently notifying users about the service.　Korea Communications Commission, the state-run media regulator, also slapped the company with a 100 million won penalty for failing to notify users that the URL addresses they exchanged via KakaoTalk were used in search query resu

Dec. 27, 2016