Samsung and LG have regained 1st and 2nd place in the US phone market, with poor sales of the iPhone 5 responsible for the increased market share by the two Korean manufacturers.

LG and Samsung scuffle over alleged display patent infringements. The Korean government calls for a return to innovation, rather than court battles.

John S. Kim founded the 1st generation social gaming company ‘Paprika Lab’ in 2007. The company went on to create ‘Hero City’ which attracted more than 1.5 million MAUs on Facebook and became the fastest growing game on Facebook. Paprika Labs was acquired by Japanese gaming company GREE, Inc. in June 2012. John joins us at Korea’s biggest startup conference, beLAUNCH, in May 2013.

Another key Silicon Valley speaker at our event May 1-2, Coex, Seoul. Phil Libin is the CEO of Evernote, a platform that enables users to capture arrange and manage information from multiple sources. Prior to launching Evernote in 2008 he founded and served as president of CoreStreet.

Apple shares were at their lowest point in 12 months yesterday, as orders are cut and sales disappoint. iphone 5 on sale in Korea at 1/8 original recommended price.

The A-list. The star-studded lineup. The white list. The list of Korean people you should meet if you want to do business in Korea. [Investors] K Cube Ventures : CEO- Jimmy Rim. Successfully invested in 9 different startups. One of the hottest firms in the community. It kicked off in 2012, and are focusing on early-stage companies (inc. startups) in mobile and IT. Their investments range from KRW 0.1 billion to KRW…

Kakao’s effort to lessen the effect of these ‘spam’ invites should be welcomed by mobile game developers. Users’ experiences with games naturally lead to an understanding and ‘feel’ of the platform that provides it. If Kakao wants to expand further, they will need to optimize their user experience as much as they can.

In 2012 Korean headlines were dominated by Kakao news, but 2013 has started out strong for NHN Japan’s Line messenger. Can Kakao sustain growth in the face of Line’s much stronger global presence?

MySpace has had another makeover and is hoping that with celebrity co-owner Justin Timberlake it will emerge once more as a force to be reckoned with in Social Networking. But with a drop in active users from 130 million to a little over 10 million, is it too late?

Kakao, the South Korean IM giant sought to partner up with American corporations such as Google and Facebook to name a few as a way to reach US smartphone users. They also successfully raised 92 billion KRW from the Chinese internet gaming company, Tencent (72 million) and a Korean company, WeMade Entertainment (20 million). Kakao will also consider an initial public offering (IPO) starting this year.

beSUCCESS covers weekly news in Korea, 14 Jan.

WeMadeEntertainment, the maker of AniPang (one of the most played online games in Korea) announced yesterday that they will be boycotting G-Star 2013, the global gaming expo in Korea. With the opposition to the bill gaining a lot of support from the gaming and IT industry, it will be interesting to see how events unfold. beSUCCESS investigates the Shutdown Law and the recently passed bill that suggests a 1% collection of annual income from gaming companies.

Korean Kakao Talk game, Everybody Cha Cha Cha, has infuriated Sony Computer Entertainment, who are beginning legal proceedings after claiming the Korean firm has stolen its intellectual property and game content.

Smart Home advances at CES 2013 from NetGear (live remote security feeds and advanced TV tech)- Much more coming in this space in 2013 from the major players.

beLAUNCH proud to announce another top CEO speaker:“I’m pretty sure that we’re the fastest growing company ever in terms of new users, that’s not growing virally or paying for new customers” is what Phil Libin says of Evernote, which he founded in 2007.

Samsung has revealed more exciting tech at CES 2013. Bendy screens – super-powerful processors…and an aging politician taling about gun control.

Many commentators are heralding the arrival of Apple hardware, in the form of a Facebook branded smartphone, produced by HTC. I don’t think so. But it seems likely that Mark Zuckerberg has something big to let us know.
More on this after the press conference, January 15.

It’s no news that LG Display competes with Samsung for the title of the world’s largest LCD maker. At the same time, LG is also seeking to expand its manufacturing lines to meet heavy demands for their tablets and smartphones. Meanwhile, Samsung will invest more in the home appliance industry such as fridges and robot vacuum cleaners. This can be seen as their attempt at strengthening their home appliances portfolio that is considerably weak compared to LG’s.

In the recent International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) that was held this Monday, LG expressed their interest in business alliance, namely, a “Smart TV Alliance” by securing new partners. Smart TV Alliance is an industry body complete with involvements from LG Electronics, Philips, Qualcomm, and Toshiba just to name a few.

beSUCCESS investigates how LG will spend its 19 billion USD investment.