LG가 미국 실리콘밸리에 설립한 LG테크놀로지벤처스의 운용 펀드 규모를 1조 원으로 확대하면서 미래 준비에 박차를 가하고 있다. LG는 지난 2018년 LG 계열사의 주요 사업과 시너지를 낼 수 있거나 미래 성장 동력이 될 수 있는 혁신 기술을 보유한 글로벌 스타트업을 발굴하기 위해 미국 실리콘밸리에 기업형 벤처캐피탈(CVC) LG테크놀로지벤처스를 설립했다. LG테크놀로지벤처스는 그동안 LG전자, LG디스플레이, LG이노텍, LG화학, LG에너지솔루션, LG유플러스, LG CNS 등 LG 주요 회사 7곳이 출자해 조성한 약 6,000억 원 규모의 펀드를 운용해 왔으며 약 70%를…

Editor’s note: Senior Director Corporate Development at Baedal Minjok I. There is no greater time to be in Korea than now. Yes, that’s coming from a Korean American that has lived his entire life in the Bay Area and landed in Seoul 10 months ago. Hard to digest right? ( I can feel the collective eye roll of native Koreans ) 이사람, 진짜 미쳤다… My grasp of the language is mediocre at…

According to an article on Business Korea, the Korean government is planning to invest at least $209 million USD over the next five years to promote the growth of the game industry. This comes in a year where game developer 4:33 Creative Labs raised around $110 million USD from Tencent / Line, Smilegate bought a $110 million USD stake in Sunday Toz, Devsisters went public at a $627 million USD valuation, we announced…

[9TO5Google] 샤오미, LG 밀어내고 스마트폰 업계 3위 중국의 샤오미(Xiaomi)가 LG와 화웨이(Huawai)를 제치고 스마트폰 업계 3위를 차지했습니다. 3분기동안 샤오미는 1천8백만대의 스마트폰을 판매했으며 같은 기간 동안 LG는 1천680만 대를 판매했다고 합니다. 중국의 샤오밍은 그동안 구글의 부사장이었던 휴고 바라(Hugo Barra)를 영입하는 등 전력을 다한 끝에 전 세계를 무대로 판매를 2배나 늘리는 성과를 얻었습니다. 삼성과 애플은 1, 2위의 자리를 유지했다고 하네요.   [TC] 종이명함 시대는 가고 명함 앱의 시대가 온다 어바웃미(about.me)가 명함을 대체할 수 있는 앱을…

Kakao Talk Promises that encrypted messeging will be available this year Daum Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most popular mobile messenger Kakao Talk, said it plans to adopt a “privacy mode” in an apparent bid to allay users’ concerns about security. There has been much in the Korean press on this matter recently and Telegram has been making the most of the situation, garning massive local suport in Korea. “The new…

1. Pantech Co., South Korea’s smallest smartphone manufacturer after Samsung and LG, recently raised concerns over a mobile carrier’s decision to cut the factory price of its smartphone, saying the two did not have an agreement on the matter. LG Uplus said it will slash the price of Vega Secret Up smartphones by 37%, to $577.92 from the previous price of aroun $900, claiming the move is meant to help Pantech expand…

1. Samsung has released its latest Galaxy S5 smartphone and wearables in 125 countries around the world as it battles squeezed profits and challenges to its top market position. Such a large simultaneous launch is the biggest of its kind for any of its previous products. The previous generation S4, the best selling android phone ever, started selling in 60 countries, and the Note 3 was first released in 58 countries. 2….

Mobile Shopping Users In Korea Exceed 20M For First Time A recent survey has shown that Koreans using mobile shopping applications has grown such that there are now more mobile shoppers than there are KakaoGame players in Korea. According to Rankey.com who conducted the survey, the number of shopping app users totaled 21.63M, as of January 2014. This figure is 2.7M higher than the number of KakaoGame Play users and represents a…

With the launch of a large-screen smartphone-tablet hybrid on Thursday, LG Electronics is attempting to achieve an ambitious goal:  regain the No. 3 spot in the global smartphone market place. It may be a long shot. Last month, Chinese PC maker Lenovo announced plans to buy Google’s Motorola Mobility handset unit for $2.9 billion. There has been a lot of coverage in the press about the recent Lenovo-Motorola deal, but internally LG has been focusing on boosting their own…

South Korea’s tech giants are battling it out at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, promoting their cutting-edge “smart” products. A total of 3,200 global players will showcase at one of the largest tech shows on earth Jan. 7-10, demonstrating how they aim to change our digital future. First round seems to have gone to Samsung, with their Smart Home solutions, which have out-shone LG’s Smart TVs, for now….

LTE-A was first launched in Korea in June 2013 and the government has just concluded it’s first LTE-A speed audit, naming SK’s service as the fastest available, in the country with the fastest mobile internet speeds in the world. There are three kinds of LTE services available. Regular LTE is a fourth-generation telecommunication service that offers data flow as fast as 75 megabits per second. LTE-A doubles the speed up to 150…

Samsung’s 4Q Operating Profit Likely to Fall Short of 10Tn Won Target Amid predictions that Samsung Electronics’ fourth-quarter operating profit will likely to fall short of their target of 10Tn won, the company’s stock price of Samsung Electronics hit a downward slope. Market watchers also predicted that this down-trend would continue into the first quarter of next year. According to financial information provider FnGuide on December 26, the consensus figures for Samsung…

  For a number of years Korea has been firmly established as a global production base for core display materials. This is partly due to intense competition in the industry between the two domestic heavyweights LG and Samsung. Chinese display makers are making aggressive investments in the sector, but investments in the materials and components for next-generation display are still concentrated in Korea, and China has some way to catch up the…

LG Display and Samsung Display Co. have settled their longstanding quarrel over their display technology as the world’s two biggest display makers face growing competition from Chinese rivals and an industry slump, industry sources have claimed. LG Display and Samsung Display have been locked in a legal battle over organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology following probes into an alleged technology leak from Samsung Display to LG Display last…

Samsung Galaxy S4 Understands Korean Dialects?!  Samsung Galaxy S4 ‘s ‘S Voice Engine’, ‘S Translator’ and ‘S Voice Drive’ now allows for a more correct translation of Korean dialects. The South Korean conglomerate have been collecting data about different dialects around Korea (and mind you, they are remarkably different from standard Korean). Samsung Electronics have been continuously making developments in the voice technology area. S4 had a ‘non-touch’ concept that allows you…

Zuckerberg (center) walks into Samsung Electronics’ building to meet with executives of the Korean tech giant. Samsung We wrote earlier that the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg will be in Korea (read the article here). The meeting with the Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-yong was one of the key points in Zuckerberg’s short itinerary in Korea. It was speculated that he will be visiting President Park Geun-Hye – but he had also…

*Remember folks, Wednesdays are your ‘Weekly News’ day! Cymera Tops 20mil. In Downloads So Cymera is kind of a big deal now – they just topped 20 mil. in downloads. We wrote about this earlier (maybe a week ago). On May 13, Cymera passed the 10 million mark in downloads outside of the Korean peninsula, proving popular in Thailand and Taiwan. SK Communications SNS affiliate said that the number of downloads recently…

Is South Korea becoming more environmentally friendly? LG CNS (LG’s IT arm) will launch an electric vehicle sharing service for residents in Seoul. The service will be operated by EverOn (an affiliate of LG CNS). Drivers will be able to rent electric vehicles through them for a minimum of one hour at an hourly rate of 6,300 won (approx. $5.50 USD) and by the end of April will have 120 electric vehicles…

Following reports of office raids the day before, Samsung Display denied that it had been investigated for technology espionage against its rival LG Display. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency – also the cyber crime unit of the country – conducted plant and office raids based on allegations that Samsung stole LG’s patented OLED technology through suppliers. “Samsung is the only company in the world possessing OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology. Our concern is that…

The rumor has it that the Galaxy Note 3 will come with an OLED (rumored to be ‘unbreakable’ and resistant to drop shocks) HD screens. This means that Samsung will set a new paradigm between smartphone manufacturers. What kind of shift in dynamics will there be?