Naver rolls out 'news-free' mobile website Wednesday

Naver's new mobile website / Courtesy of Naver

By Jun Ji-hye

Naver will release its new mobile website Wednesday, placing its search engine feature and shortcuts to other services on the first page, the nation's largest portal operator said Tuesday.

Existing news headlines, provided by news outlets from across the nation, and a rolling bar of trending keywords will be removed from the first page of the mobile website as part of efforts to make its homepage similar to that of Google.

This marks the first time for the IT firm to overhaul its mobile website since 2009 when the service was introduced.

The new mobile website comes after Naver CEO Han Seong-sook announced overhaul plans in October amid controversy over alleged deliberate manipulation of internet comments led by a power blogger on news articles on the web portal.

At the time, the company faced mounting pressure to take measures to prevent online public opinion-rigging.

In his trial held in January, the power blogger nicknamed Druking was convicted of using software to increase the number of likes or dislikes on particular comments and articles, in an attempt to manipulate public sentiment in favor of or against certain political figures.

An appeal is currently ongoing.

Users can see the search engine feature and shortcuts to other services such as email on the first page of the new mobile website. Users need to swipe left to read news articles.

“We focused on helping people using the mobile website faster and more easily,” said a Naver official.

The company noted its mobile version will also revolve around a “green dot” interactive search button to enable users to have a smarter web search experience.

The green dot interactive search button is Naver's new design identity and has become a center pin that can respond to various changes in its services, the firm said.

“The latest changes are part of our efforts toward the transition away from our busy homepage in favor of a simple experience,” the official said.

Naver, however, plans to maintain news headlines and a rolling bar of trending keywords on the first page of its mobile app.

The firm has made the decision after releasing a mobile app beta version and carrying out user-behavior research.

The company said the number of mobile app users was nearly twice more than that of mobile website users.