President Park Geun-hye urged scientists and information-communication technology (ICT) experts Friday to work harder to develop new technologies and innovate, saying South Korea can’t afford any stalling in such efforts in a fast-moving global economy. “New technologies and industries are now moving forward at a dazzling pace in many parts of the world,” Park said in a speech at a New Year’s meeting with leaders of the science-technology and ICT sectors. “We…

Proof that there is a huge opportunity for tech startups breaking new ground is confirmed. The size of the market for new trend-setting devices such as 3D printers and Ultra HD (UHD) TVs is expected to double in 2014. This presents new opportunities in the saturated global electronics market. The market size for newcomers in the industry, such as wearable devices and Bluetooth speakers, is expected to grow 107 percent this year…

With the government’s measures to create a virtuous circle out of the start-up and venture ecosystem in full swing this year, there is growing anticipation that this year will be the first year of the second venture era. The anticipation is due to the fact that most of the venture industry’s long-cherished desires were already fulfilled. “Now it is time for the market to swing into high gear,” stated representatives of venture…

The e-book industry is hoping that Korea’s large enterprises will boost domestic demand, prior to market entry by large-global companies including Amazon and Kobo. According to the industry, GS Home Shopping will start its e-Book service next month with ‘Tabon Books’. CJ HelloVision has already introduced an integrated e-Book and Internet service, at the end of 2013. GS Home Shopping is scheduled to embark on an e-book business to target both domestic…

It was recently reported that Amazon plans to enter the Korean e-commerce market in 2014, potentially posing a major threat to existing domestic services and promising to further globalize the online shopping experience that has until now been dominated by domestic players. “As far as I know, Amazon is currently preparing to enter the Korean market,” an industry source said, adding that local companies are gearing up for a possible showdown with…

Although Michael Bay stole many of the headlines for his walkout at CES Samsung have been trying to regain the spotlight and have claimed with confidence that the will grab top market share of UHD TV sales in the first quarter of 2014. “Although our launch of UHD TV was little late, we are confident that we will take the world’s No. 1 position within the first quarter,”  Yoon Boo-Keun, head of…

LTE-A will shape our mobile broadband future, has been all over the Korean tech news for a while, and has huge scope to grow, from current download speeds of around 45Mbps to up to 300Mbps. I thought it worth taking a look at where it is now and where it is heading in the next 12 months. For additional information please access the links in the text. Basic Facts: LTE was first…

According to a recent report Korea’s tech start-ups enjoyed positive growth in sales, operating profits and net profits alike in 2013, which will give President Park’s government a boost as they conclude their first year in office, and a year that saw a surge in government involvement with the tech startup community in Korea. According to the report startup’s average sales amounted to 6.72 billion won last year, with their average operating…

Post written by Terence Lee at TechInAsia: Facebook is perhaps the most engaging app in the world, with 1.15 billion monthly active users and a staggering average daily usage of 20 minutes. But if there’s something people look at more than the social network, it’s probably their smartphone homescreens. That’s what EnKino, a startup out of South Korea, is counting on. It wants to turn homescreens into advertising space that can be sold to brands…

In 2014 The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will a role out a raft of mid-to long-term software projects to bolster a number of domestic strategic industries. This will be achieved by developing 100 key software platforms for SMEs and foster high-quality human resources by organizing various educational programs. While it is certainly a positive step that the government is supporting these key industries, and is dedicated to bolstering innovation in…

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…

Naver and Daum have made a tentative decision to shell out millions of dollars as a form of self-penance for abusing their market dominance in Korea’s internet portal industry, according to the Fair Trade Commission yesterday. As we have reported several times recently their has been concern voiced about the increasing dominance of the two companies in the Korean internet search market. The money will be spent in ways that benefit Internet…

Cloud Computing Dissected: Everything You Need to Know About the Hottest Thing in IT Yahoo has been on an acquisition blitz as of late, amassing 29 acquisitions for the year 2013. The most recent acquisition was QuikIO, a personal cloud computing service. We are unsure as to what glorious product Yahoo plans on releasing with all these acquisitions but we know it is going to involve cloud computing. This comes as no…

This year I have been on a record number of business trips overseas, some solo and some with Korean startups. All with the aim of brokering closer international business ties and developing startup success across boarders. I have learned a lot and would like to share some tips from my experience to help you make the most of what can be expensive mistakes if you are not prepared. This post was inspired…

Last week saw Lee Hae-jin, CEO of NAVER Corp., the country’s largest Internet portal operator, ranked No. 1 among Korean stock-rich business owners, in terms of valuation gains on his stock holdings. The combined value of Lee’s shares rose to 1.1 trillion won (US$1.24 billion), more than a two-fold increase, from 507.4 billion won, posted at the end of December 2012, according to data released by market research firm FnGuide. Global Ambitions:…

Just over a month ago 10 Korean startup teams departed for Singapore on a month-long acceleration program jointly organized by NIPA (National IT Promotion Agency) and beSUCCESS. The teams were based in the well known Singapore startup hub of Block 71, where they were able to tap into the advanced startup community surrounding local stars like JFDI Asia, Singtel’s investment arm Innov8, and South East Asia’s startup media heavyweight, e27 which also…

Korea’s contents industry exports, centering on gaming, is forecast to exceed $5 billion for the first time, an increase of over 10.% on last year. Sales in the sector are also expected to increase by 4.9% from last year, to KRW 90 trillion. The gaming industry will fuel this growth, with figures up 9.9% on last year and is likely to account for 60% of total contents industry exports from Korea in…

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…

South Korea, 20 December 2013 – Leading mobile couple application, Between, today announced that it has crossed the 5 million global downloads milestone. This announcement comes together with the launch of Between 2.0, the first major update since its official release in March 2012, as the company continues its push into the global market. South Korea is currently Between’s strongest market, with 60% of downloads coming from the country. Japan and China…

Many had thought that the plethora of law suits that we saw earlier this year between smartphone giants Samsung and Apple has all but disappeared, but now it has emerged that Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest smartphone maker, on Thursday suffered a legal defeat against Apple Inc. on its home turf after a local court ruled that Apple had not in fact violated its patents. The Seoul Central District Court ruled…