Adjapan and 8crops are subsidiaries of Fancommunications, one of the largest ASPs (affiliate service providers) in Japan. They offer a range of interesting marketing solutions for both PCs and smartphones. They are now actively expanding into new markets, having seen sustained domestic growth.

App marketing platform, AppDisco will be showcasing at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain from the 25th to 28th of February. AppDisco is the only Korean mobile advertising platform participating in MWC.

Markets, Commentators, Business Insiders and media have all predicted that 2013 will be the year of the smartphone. We took a look at Korea-centric news and developments in the space over the last few days, and have compiled a list of top smartphone news.

Korean banks, like the new government are appearing to support economic growth by releasing funds designed to harness the economic value in intellectual property created by innovation in Korea’s SME sector. Of course this is great news for startups.

The Korean e-book market grew exponentially in 2012, and it will continue to grow. Kyobo Book Center, the biggest bookstore chain in Korea, has just launched a subscription-based e-book service called ‘Sam’.

‘Profile me’ is a service that let users create their own e-business card, which can be shared electronically at encounters or with associates you have spoken to or connected with online. It eliminates the need to carry a hard copy of your business card.

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?

We have talked a lot recently about the mounting rivalry between Korea’s two major messaging services, Line and Kakao talk. But recent developments demonstrate that this rivalry still allows for pragmatism when it comes to strategic business decisions.

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?

In 2011, the market was worth 76.2 billion KRW – in 2012, this figure increased to 216 billion KRW (approx. $198 million USD) with the growing presence of smartphones and high-speed internet and this year, it is expected that this figure will double to approximately 416 million KRW.

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…

Dubbed “Galaxy S4,” the phone is expected to be unveiled at the launch ceremony held in New York City. Samsung has yet to announce the official plan about the S4 launch, but rumors anticipate that the new model will have a 4.99-inch HD screen based on AMOLED technology and will have incorporated a variety of cutting-edge solutions.

We mentioned in an earlier article regarding the acquisitions Daum and Kakao are making. Recently, the two Korean giants have acquired Dialoid and Sunnysoft respectively. Read more here.

beSUCCESS covers weekly news in Korea, 18 Feb.

Daum communications and Kakao will be making a series of startups acquisitions. This is to increase their competitive edge in terms of mobile services. The two Korean giants have acquired Dialoid and Sunnyloft respectively. What are the implications for startups and the startup ecosystem?

KakaoTalk, Korea’s leading social messaging service has launched a new mobile social album service that enables users to share their photos with their friends. This is the latest in Kakao’s strenuous diversification efforts, as it tries to keep up with Line, its major domestic competitor.

Greenmonster, Inc. (Seoul) aims to reinvent mobile journal writing experience with its milestone product Flava™. Flava began with an iOS diary app development project back in early 2011 with the goal of unleashing iphone’s multimedia journalistic capacity within a single app interface.

Described by the makers as “Twitter for photos” Happenin distinguishes itself from the many other photo sharing apps by allowing users to post only photos that have been taken in that very moment. This characteristic promises many changes in favor of users, according the developers.