By Yoon Sung-won
Naver, operator of the nation's top web portal, launched a mobile navigation service Wednesday through its map application.
As Naver Map is already the nation's most-used mobile map service with 12 million downloads and 8.97 million monthly users in Korea, the new navigation service is expected to threaten other services in the market including SK Planet's T Map, LOC&ALL's Kimgisa and KT's Olleh Navi.
"With the addition of a navigation function, Naver Map will provide a live and seamless local map information service for users," said Naver's map service team division head Kim Min-oh in a statement. "We will launch more diverse functions based on our map data service to further boost its usability in the future."
According to market researcher Nielson Korea, T Map has dominated the domestic mobile navigation market with 7.6 million users, followed by Olleh Navi with 2.76 million and Kimgisa with 1.71 million.
With T Map leading the market, KT plans to renovate Olleh Navi by introducing a new software engine this month developed by local navigation software maker Thinkware, aiming at enhancing the accuracy of location information.
LOC&ALL, a subsidiary of the nation's top mobile messenger operator Kakao, has boosted the service's distribution by connecting Kimgisa to Kakao's mobile call taxi application KakaoTaxi. But the company has recently been caught up in controversy for misusing SK Planet's digital map database.
Naver has upgraded its map application to include not only location searching but also public transportation information, shortest route calculation, street view and bird's-eye view functions.
It used Hyundai MNSOFT's digital navigation technology to develop the new service. The company said consumers can use the navigation service on their mobile devices regardless of their telecom operator. It also said the service is compatible with search inquiries from users on personal computers or mobile devices.
As of Wednesday, the application upgrade that supports the navigation service is available only for Google's Android environment. The upgrade for Apple's iOS devices will be rolled out afterwards, Naver said.
The company said it will update the navigation service to support voice-based location searching and a mirroring function for navigation devices embedded in a car.
The addition of a navigation function is also expected to solidify the Naver Map application's status as the company's key platform for online-to-offline (O2O) businesses. Naver will be able to connect the service to diverse business models including advertising, mobile commerce and mobile payments.
"The map service can be upgraded to provide O2O shopping services and the Naver Pay service," said Naver's service department head Han Seong-sook. "We will be able to boost comprehensiveness of the service and expand the market once we integrate shopping, content, searching and regional location information service into our platform next year."
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| Naver Map's navigation service |
As Naver Map is already the nation's most-used mobile map service with 12 million downloads and 8.97 million monthly users in Korea, the new navigation service is expected to threaten other services in the market including SK Planet's T Map, LOC&ALL's Kimgisa and KT's Olleh Navi.
"With the addition of a navigation function, Naver Map will provide a live and seamless local map information service for users," said Naver's map service team division head Kim Min-oh in a statement. "We will launch more diverse functions based on our map data service to further boost its usability in the future."
According to market researcher Nielson Korea, T Map has dominated the domestic mobile navigation market with 7.6 million users, followed by Olleh Navi with 2.76 million and Kimgisa with 1.71 million.
With T Map leading the market, KT plans to renovate Olleh Navi by introducing a new software engine this month developed by local navigation software maker Thinkware, aiming at enhancing the accuracy of location information.
LOC&ALL, a subsidiary of the nation's top mobile messenger operator Kakao, has boosted the service's distribution by connecting Kimgisa to Kakao's mobile call taxi application KakaoTaxi. But the company has recently been caught up in controversy for misusing SK Planet's digital map database.
Naver has upgraded its map application to include not only location searching but also public transportation information, shortest route calculation, street view and bird's-eye view functions.
It used Hyundai MNSOFT's digital navigation technology to develop the new service. The company said consumers can use the navigation service on their mobile devices regardless of their telecom operator. It also said the service is compatible with search inquiries from users on personal computers or mobile devices.
As of Wednesday, the application upgrade that supports the navigation service is available only for Google's Android environment. The upgrade for Apple's iOS devices will be rolled out afterwards, Naver said.
The company said it will update the navigation service to support voice-based location searching and a mirroring function for navigation devices embedded in a car.
The addition of a navigation function is also expected to solidify the Naver Map application's status as the company's key platform for online-to-offline (O2O) businesses. Naver will be able to connect the service to diverse business models including advertising, mobile commerce and mobile payments.
"The map service can be upgraded to provide O2O shopping services and the Naver Pay service," said Naver's service department head Han Seong-sook. "We will be able to boost comprehensiveness of the service and expand the market once we integrate shopping, content, searching and regional location information service into our platform next year."
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