What is KakaoTalk?

So it’s needed in the states. Why is it needed in Korea? Since 2000, South Korea has grown from a developing pharmaceutical market to one boasting of universal healthcare coverage and easy access to medical facilities; but is South Korea provides strong financial support for its elderly population through impressive access to healthcare insurance and reimbursement. The Korean regulatory authority approves medical products through a transparent, strong and efficient regulatory system, and…

I remember, at one of my presentations last year on the ‘Fan-orientation Strategy’ – the business strategy framework I’ve developed, I asked the audience what the #1 company, non-oil, at the top of S&P 500 Global, but with only five different product categories was. And the audience was surprised when I named the company. Not before a year has passed, that company has made me rephrase that statement! Now the company is…

Cooliris today announced the release of the new Cooliris mobile app which offers endless discovery of friends’ and followers’ photos, and adds Dropbox to the portfolio of media sources users can seamlessly explore from the app. Cooliris has already integrated the mobile library, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Google+/Picasa, Twitter, SmugMug, Google Drive, Google Images, Yandex.Fotki in Russia, and Renren in China. Cooliris, which has reached the #1 iPad app in 75 countries for…

KakaoTalk launched the KakaoTalk PC version (beta test) from yesterday, 26 March 2013. You would be able to log in using your KakaoTalk ID, not your phone number. Verification would be made via phone and you would log in as usual and communicate PC to PC or PC to smartphone (they’re synchronized).

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?

Samsung has developed to become the world’s biggest handset maker since the introduction of its Galaxy S smartphone series equipped with Google’s Android mobile operating platform. In contrast with Apple’s iOS, Samsung strengthened its partnership with Google for the Android mobile operating system which boasted being open platform. However, it seems that things may change with the demand for an improved variety of mobile platforms from handset manufacturers as well as mobile carriers.

beSUCCESS covers weekly news in Korea, 25 Mar.

Samsung Display recently dropped an injunction seeking a ban on their archenemy, LG Display. The ban was surrounded around the OLED, or organic light-emitting diode technology. Whether this is a reconciliatory move or purely for strategic purposes is up for debate.

South Korea is now the second most innovative country in the world, according to Bloomberg. The data compiled by financial and data provider ranked Korea behind the US – who topped the list by climbing 6 ranks. Korea moved up 1, from 3rd place to 2nd. The research indicated progress in Korea’s innovation-related sector. However, Korea’s productivity ranked relatively low at 32nd, while it made the top 10 in the seven other measures. The nation’s patent activity ranked first among the 50 countries in the ranking. Finland, which topped the ranking last year, fell to fourth place, while Japan and China ranked sixth and 29th, respectively.

SK Telecom Co.,South Korea’s top mobile operator reported a two-fold growth in its Q4 profit in 2012. They claimed that this was due to a decrease in marketing costs – meaning what? The results come as the country’s three mobile operators ― SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. ― have been slowing down their marketing drive recently amid the communications watchdog’s move to cool market competition. In December last year, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) fined the three firms a combined 11.9 billion won and imposed business suspensions for giving out excessive subsidies to lure LTE subscribers.

Last week, Samsung made its biggest run yet at the iPhone’s loyalists by unveiling the new Galaxy S4 – this was done at Times Square, a few blocks away from Apple’s flagship store in New York. The event had big implications because it was at Apple’s home ground. What are some of the implications for Samsung’s launch?

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.

Samsung Galaxies – the specs, the evolution. Samsung’s Galaxy was first launched in 2010, and 20 million were sold. Samsung Galaxy S2 sold 28 million and was launched a year after that. Samsung Galaxy S3 was launched in 2012 and sold 50 million. Galaxy S4 was launched in 2013 and is available in 155 countries.

“There is energy in the Philippine startup ecosystem and it’s being powered by WebGeek.” This was John Arce’s cry, so we decided to take a look at the scene, with his guidance to determine what is happening in one of the hottest startup hubs in Asia.

It seems that iPad Mini will find itself with yet another competitor in the near future – Galaxy Note 8. The tension between Apple and Samsung is heating up again, with Apple’s iPhone 6 (rumored) and Samsung’s Galaxy S4 both featuring wireless charging.

A potential patent dispute could arise between LG and Samsung, who recently launched the new Galaxy S4. It was revealed that some technologies in the new handset are similar to patents belonging to LG.

Known as ‘The Good Guy VC in Silicon Valley”, Clavier founded SoftTech VC as an early stage venture capital firm that most recently formed a $55M seed stage fund, SoftTech VC III. beLAUNCH is proud to announce that Jeff will be joining us in Seoul on May 1st & 2nd.

용량의 데이터를 저장하기 위한 기업에서는 데이터센터가 존재합니다. 구글은 전세계적으로 16개의 데이터센터를 구축하고 있으며 자사의 데이터 백업 및 분산기능 뿐만 아니라 기업대상으로 서버를 빌려주고 있는 것으로 알려져 있습니다. 하지만 소규모의 기업일 경우 서버를 대여하기에는 돈이 부족하고 그렇다고 데스크탑에 데이터를 저장하기에는 위험부담이 너무나 큽니다. 그래서 등장한 것이 NAS(Network Atteched Storage)입니다.

실리콘 프래리 뉴스(Silicon Prairie News)에 실린 세스 골드스타인의 ‘스타트업 창업자들을 위한 10가지 트위트 조언’을 번역해보았다. 세스 골드스타인의 조언은 짧고 간결하지만 강한 통찰력이 느껴진다.