{"id":9670,"date":"2011-07-18T02:07:54","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T02:07:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-07-18T02:07:54","modified_gmt":"2011-07-18T02:07:54","slug":"Kakao-is-sweet-for-S-Korean-smartphone-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9670","title":{"rendered":"Kakao is sweet for S. Korean smartphone users"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kakao Talk<\/strong>, a mobile messenger smartphone application, has enjoyed phenomenal success since it was launched 16 months ago and has spawned similar apps in the world’s most wired nation.<\/p>\n

Many Kakao devotees say they have stopped sending Short Message Service (SMS) texts since they downloaded the app<\/strong>, which allows users to send messages, pictures, soundbites and even video via the Internet.<\/p>\n

The application is free to download, and sending and receiving material in wi-fi zones is also free.<\/p>\n

Even outside the zones it is relatively cheap because it uses a mobile data payment plan rather than phone company connections such as SMS.<\/p>\n

The company makes part of its revenue from a commission on gifts which users can send to friends via Kakao.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The application grew much faster than we expected because the mobile environment and paradigm is changing rapidly,”<\/strong> Lee Jae-Beom, CEO of Kakao Talk, told AFP in an interview.<\/p>\n

He said the application has been downloaded 18 million times worldwide in just 16 months<\/strong>, with 500 million messages being exchanged daily.<\/p>\n

Early this year Kakao also launched the application in English and Japanese.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Mobile messengers…not only substitute for SMS, but also create a new communications culture, where users can actually chat even without a computer and have a group conversation,” said Lee.<\/p>\n

The CEO said a new phenomenon has emerged in which people who don’t use Kakao Talk feel excluded from their peers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the market share which Kakao Talk has secured, Lee said the company will try to “connect to everything”<\/strong>, including social commerce, contents and other applications — to become the ultimate hub for smartphone users.<\/p>\n

South Korea, a nation of 48.6 million<\/strong>, took to smartphones relatively late but has quickly caught up.<\/p>\n

The number of smartphone subscribers hit 15 million last week, less than four months after the number had passed 10 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source<\/a>
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