January 2008
17 posts
Naver Launches Labs →
Naver, Korea’s #1 portal, unveiled Naver Labs, a la Google Labs. Naver Labs is a collection of “petri dish” projects being undertaken at Naver. Some of the projects include: News Clustering, which automatically finds similar articles when a news article is looked up; Review search, which automatically rates products or people through symantic analysis of the text descriptions on...
CMOTECH raises $8 million from Intel Capital →
Cmotech, a Korea-based manufacturer of USB wireless modems and other network equipment, announced (note: link in Korean) they raised US$ 8 million from Intel Capital. As well as the investement, Cmotech also announced a partnership agreement with Intel on 3G/Wimax data communication device. Cmotech is the world’s leading manufacturer of USB-based wireless modems (some shown below), and...
Jasper Morrison: The Magic Hand Behind Samsung's... →
Maeil Business News (link in Korean) has an in-depth report on the magic hand behind Samsung’s design elegance, Mr Jasper Morrison. Until not long ago, Samsung was a no-name producer of cheap electronics goods. But it’s now a symbol of innovation with huge brand value and revenues (#3 among all IT companies in the world, behind only HP and Siemens). One of the key factors for...
Meet Paprika Lab, a Korean Garage Venture →
Well, maybe I should have said “a Korean officetel venture”, as not many Korean homes have a garage. (By the way, “Officetel” is a Korean term for small studios used by SOHOs.) In the midst of a slow economy, when everyone cares for job security, two young talents equipped with hands-on Ruby-on-Rails skills as well as business insights learned from bluechip companies like...
TED Talks: J.J. Abrams and The Mystery Box →
He’s right, it’s all about the mystery. Via Sujay Thomas. — camh
Youtube Opens Korean Service - But Will It... →
Youtube Korea launched a few days ago. Although some “in the know” Koreans have been using Youtube, it’s the first time Youtube is offered as a fully localized service in Korea.
But it’s not very clear to me what winning strategies Youtube has for the Korean market. Unlike in Japan, where there haven’t been many local incumbents providing online video service,...
The French (Blog) Connection →
This morning I gave a presentation on the blog media trends of Korea, in front of a dozen executives from major French media companies. I could easily recognize their company names - Le Figaro, Le Monde, Marie Claire, etc. They were particularly impressed by some of the points I mentioned: The #1 movie blog in Korea has a higher traffic than the #1 traditional movie website’s
The...
Web-loving Koreans →
I stumbled upon these pics from “Y for Yenndetta” blog. They show just how much Koreans love web browsing and other general activities with computers. No wonder some Korean kids need rehab program for their net addiction.
Google now #2 in Japan →
(Via Hatena) Nielsen/NetRatings Japan announced Google is now #2 in Japanese market, surpassing Rakuten, in terms of number of users. These are cross-property figures, meaning the # of Google users include Youtube users as well.
When I was in Japan, I saw quite a few Japanese people using Google search. (Google search market share in Japan is estimated around 35%). And also Youtube is very...
Thinkfree won't go anywhere - at least for now →
Techcrunch reported a Korea/US-based web office provier ThinkFree looks to be closing its US operation. TC even called Thinkfree “being on death watch”, about to go into its deadpool soon. But I don’t think Thinkfree is going down anytime soon. Here’s why: 1. The company simply has the best online office tool out there. Read the comments on the TC article, and most people...
Mobile coupon gaining popularity in Korea →
Chosun Ilbo reports that in Korean market, mobile coupon is seeing increased use among young users. This is an encouraging sign, with the mobile internet service business in general being stagnant.
Users present mobile coupon (which normally includes a barcode, as shown above - many shops in Korea has m-coupon barcode readers) to get discounts, or they can also forward their coupons to friends...
A good look into the Chinese internet market →
Below is the sample version of “Inside QQ”, an excellent report on China’s internet service market (with particular focus on QQ service) from my friend Benjamin Joffe et al. The original version can be found on Plus 8 star website.
How much is your idea? →
A major Korean TV channel, SBS, aired an interesting TV program called “Idea - How much?” the other day. The
TV show is basically an idea auction. Contestants pitch their business idea and tens of CEOs in the panel buy the idea in an instant auction.
Among several ideas pitched during the show, what was bought at the highest price was the idea to turn
PC screen savers into online...
Baidu getting ready to launch in Japan →
China’s Baidu is poised to launch officially in Japan on Jan 23.
Will 2008 see Asian search giants - Baidu, Naver, Yahoo Japan - battle it out, with the first battlefield being the Japanese market? (Here’s a previous short take on Naver’s new Japan office.) But
what exactly is Baidu’s strategy and competitive edge over incumbents
in Japan, most notably Yahoo Japan?...
Bae Yong Joon phone to be launched in Japan →
Key East, an entertainment company managing a famous Korean actor Bae Yong Joon, said the company will launch “Bae Yong Joon phone” in Japan, in partnership with Softbank Mobile. The phone will feature some embedded photos of the actor, Key East said through Korean Chosun Ilbo. I think what they should have embedded in the phone is not Bae’s photos, which can easily be obtained...
Go Qbox Go →
I met with Ian Kwon (link in Korean) of Qbox yesterday. He’s the person heading all Qbox operations in the US now. Qbox has been focusing on product development so far, and they are ready to go full-fledged with beta service. Qbox, again, is a game-changing online music discovery service. Most people today consume their music in digital format, which means music files sit in servers as much...
'08 wishlist #1: To help Korean ventures gain more... →
Sorry about the recent blog silence - a lame old excuse of “I’ve been busy” applies here again. Turns out, my partner Chester has been sick (pneumonia) and I had to do all housework around here. To give some fresh air to my blog, I changed the theme (as Angus points out, the beautiful background is indeed Hong Kong). I also put up a new profile image - Yes, I’m not a girl...