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…

Business is a zero-sum game. Collaboration is a plus-sum game. Everyone seems to be talking about “The Sharing Economy” – everybody literally gets a share of your meal, and vice versa. Take the Korean startup, Zipbob. So: Forget zero-sum games; people are all about “collaborative consumption” now. And the people in Asia, especially Korea, are rising up. Wait. Collaborative consumption? Short answer: commercial arrangements and transactions in which participants share and access…

We wrote previously about the current situation in the South Korean startup ecosystem. We said that the global startup capital is declining whereas the Korean venture world is seeing more fundings, more startups, and more enthusiasm. The rise of startups in Korea really started with KakaoTalk i n 2010, and since then we have seen $191 million US dollars raised in Korea (in 2013, up from $189 mil in 2012), and increase…

Facebook’s Co-Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg will visit Korea at the end of this month, according to Yonhap News. Seeing that Bill Gates and Larry Page visited Korea recently, it seems likely that Zuckerberg, too, will discuss the future of IT with the Park administration. People are speculating that he will visit Cheongwadae (the presidential residence in Korea, or the ‘blue house’) at the end of June. He will be spending about…

  KT Will Spend $2.65B Upgrading Network And Create Jobs Remember how KT said they set up a fund of USD 132 million by 2017 to help smaller and mid-sized firms in Korea earlier on this year? Well, according to Yonhap News yesterday, they will spend KRW 3 trillion (approximately USD 2.65 billion). KT is more ambitious than we thought. That means that the south Korean telco is spending approximately half of the USD 5.3 billion…

We thought it’s about time we wrote about the U.S. National Security Agency’s PRISM program, the latest phenomenon around the world today – and yet, it’s old news, because information is and has always been the ultimate power. This issue is quite divisive – some people care, some people don’t, some people think you ought to care. What do you think about the PRISM issue? What is PRISM? PRISM is an electronic…

Good morning everybody! June is the last month for Q2 – hope you are all satisfied with the results you’re getting. Here are some beSUCCESS-approved readings for this morning: 1. The New “Handmade” (Part Three) This series from TechCrunch is all about 3D printers. Consumer interest in 3D printing is booming, thanks to affordable printers. But 3D printing is fueling artists’ creativity, too, and turning your consumers into artists. The series tells you about 3D-printing technology, the artists…

International markets are too big an opportunity to pass up. Why allow physical borders to dictate the limits of your business? Dave Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey, once said that “if you have a product business and you aren’t focused on international, you are missing out on two-thirds of your potential customers.” This is still widely relevant to many startups around the world. Michael Fertik, the ‘serial entrepreneur’ said in his Harvard Business…

For the first time this year, cheaper and smaller devices gained favor with the consumers. Google surpassed Apple in tablets — Google’s software will power more tablets than Apple’s, or so Bloomberg reported. It is expected that Google’s shares will rise to 49% in 2013, while Apple’s share will dip to 46% – last year they had 51%, and Google had 46%. Tablets from Google, and products from Samsung and Amazon are gaining favor due to their prices; the prices start at around $200, which is less than half the cost of the newest iPad model. iPad Mini was released to defend their market dominance amid mounting competition.

1 in 3 North Americans use Korean smartphones. Apple was the number 1 smartphone vendor in the USA with 37.6% market share in 2012. LG and Samsung are catching up, and their sales in the US and Canada continue to grow. Who will be the no.1 smartphone vendor in the US in 2013?

Since November 2009, the global smartphone industry has seen many changes. ZTE and Huawei have both been gaining market share in the Chinese and overseas market, but why have these Chinese rivals not been active in releasing their smartphones in Korea and what are their plans for the future?

Counterpoint Technology Market Research reported that non-Japanese handset makers now surpassed the 50% mark in the Japanese handset market for the first time. This shows that consumers are moving away from local manufacturers for a wider array of mobile devices. Also, foreign players had a head start in introducing smartphones running on iOS and Android platforms. Apple is leading the race with 16%, and the quarterly figure marks an increase from 10% in 2011. Samsung…

LG was the world’s fifth-largest handset maker last year, with a 3.3% market share. Is this about to change in the next couple of years however? This year, LG plans to promote a follow-up series of the line-up in these continents without a high long-term evolution penetration. They will reveal the second series of the L3, L5 and L7 models at the Mobile World Congress 2013. It will be interesting to see how they change the dynamics, considering LG’s success with OLED panels.

Display Search announced that the OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TV panel market in Korea is expected to grow to around $3 billion in 2015. LG Display officials announced that “[they] will continue to secure new sources of competitiveness to set up entry barriers that [their] competitors will not be able to break through.” We have identified 6 major reasons why we think LG will be the dominant player in the global TV…

KakaoPage, a platform that allows its users to market and sell their creative contents (audio, video, text) was launched last week. What exactly is it? Is the goal of making one million “profit-earning” partners within three years along with the launch feasible?

Want to buy your next car during your lunch break, from the comfort of your office? Don’t like sales calls and trawling the internet for the best deal?

e27, the Singaporean media company focused on building the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia, announced today that the very first Echelon Ignite: Thailand, held over November 22 – 23, 2012, is now open for registration.

Tech Cocktail, a media company and events organization for startups, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts, has released a special report, based on over 100 interviews over 6 months, about the trend of young entrepreneurs in Asia defying their culture and taking big risks.

NTT DOCOMO, INC., Japan’s leading mobile operator and provider of integrated services centered on mobility, and KT Corporation, South Korea’s leading telecom operator, have agreed to develop a cross-border e-money service that would enable DOCOMO customers with compatible smartphones purchased in Japan to use a prepaid e-money service called “Cashbee” in South Korea.

South Korean company Nexon, a global leader in free-to-play online games, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding common shares of gloops, Inc. (“gloops”), a leading developer of mobile games for DeNA’s Mobage platform in Japan, for JPY 36.5 billion in cash