South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics topped a smartphone sales chart in the first quarter of 2015 in Bangladesh with its budget smartphone, the Z1, according to research data Monday.A report released by research firm Counterpoint showed that the Z1, running on the Tizen operating system, enjoyed robust sales in the January-March period and was “the No. 1 smartphone model in the entire country.”The feat came as a surprise, since it was achieved on the home turf of phone-maker Symphony Mobi

May 25, 2015

South Korea’s leading wireless carrier SK Telecom launched a lifeware brand, United Object, Monday, aiming to increase its footing in the burgeoning market for the Internet of Things, a network that connects objects.The branding came amid SKT’s ongoing efforts to beef up its business for smart devices and wearables, including a wearable band for kids, and a smart air quality monitoring device.“With the new lifeware brand United Object, SKT will try to bring positive changes to customers’ daily l

May 25, 2015

Hanwha Group said Friday that it would create a solar power business hub in South Chungcheong Province as part of its renewed commitment to the incumbent administration’s “creative economy” initiative.A total of 152.5 billion won ($140 million) will be poured into related projects, especially for nurturing competitive start-ups, officials said. Hanwha, in partnership with the local government, opened the Chungnam Center for Creative Economy in Cheonan, the provincial capital, on Friday that woul

May 22, 2015

This is the second article in a series on foreigners working in Korea’s technology start-up ecosystem. ― Ed.Tech industry pundits in Korea used to joke that this is where overseas companies would come to die. In a country once dominated by local titans like Nate and Cyworld, foreign rivals like Yahoo and Myspace struggled to connect with local Web users and eventually backed out.But the situation has flipped in the past three to five years, they say, as social media and content sharing behemoths

May 21, 2015

Cafe24, South Korea’s leading e-commerce solutions provider, has teamed up with Singapore-based Lazada Group, a fast-growing online shopping mall, which is often dubbed the “Amazon of Southeast Asia.”Under the partnership, Cafe24, which has expanded its presence in China and the U.S., aims to support Korean vendors to sell their products in the Southeast Asian market through the wide distribution network of Lazada. The Southeast Asian market is home to over 600 million consumers and a rapidly gr

May 21, 2015

South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus on Thursday launched Android TV services running on Google’s latest Lollipop operating system for the first time in the domestic market.The collaboration is the latest between the Korean mobile carrier, which also provides Internet Protocol TV services, and the Internet giant in their efforts to grow streaming TV businesses.The two counterparts introduced the first IPTV services embedded with Google applications and content in 2012.The new IPTV services, whic

May 21, 2015

Top executives of South Korea’s largest telecommunications firm KT and Stockholm-based mobile carrier TeliaSonera met in Seoul Thursday to discuss collaboration on the next-generation 5G network and the Internet of Things, which connects objects over networks. Providing telecom services for more than 72 million subscribers across 17 North European and Central Asian nations, TeliaSonera is the largest mobile carrier in Northern Europe and launched the Long-Term Evolution service for the first tim

May 21, 2015

May 20, 2015

Korea-made online shooting game “Crossfire,” the very game behind its Chinese distributor Tencent’s stunning growth in recent years, is seeking to repeat its success story around the world. And the big push is led by the game’s development chief Jang Ina, who played a key role in its Chinese success. “Gaming trends change fast and there is some skepticism about the future of the 8-year-old ‘Crossfire.’ But our originality and know-how cannot be easily replicated,” she said in a recent interview

May 20, 2015

South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom said Wednesday it wished to work with more global tech giants, such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, to grow smart home businesses down the road. “SKT would like to have Samsung and LG as partners for the company’s Smart Home, an open platform for home devices,” said Cho Young-hoon, senior vice president of the telecom firm’s smart home task force, at a press meeting held in Seoul Wednesday.He added the partnership with the two tech giants, i

May 20, 2015

The head of South Korea’s top online game firm Nexon said Tuesday game developers should come up with creative and fun games, warning against the fear of making mistakes. “The fear of making mistakes is the enemy of innovation and it is the enemy of great art,” said Owen Mahoney, chief executive of the Tokyo-headquartered game firm, lashing out at fast-follower strategies widely deployed by Facebook game developers and mobile game developers.“To build great games that capture our imagination, im

May 19, 2015

LG Display, the world’s largest display maker by sales, pledged Tuesday to become a game-changer in the nascent organic light emitting diode market by beefing up production from the third quarter this year.“OLED is the ultimate display technology. Its success is crucial not just for LG but also for the nation’s display industry,” said LG Display’s OLED business unit president Yeo Sang-duk at a news conference in Seoul.“We will ramp up efforts to boost the market with our full-fledged production

May 19, 2015