 Models show LG Electronics’ latest smartphone model, “Andro-1,” which is based on the Google-backed Android operating system. Korean Internet companies such as NHN and Daum are finding their services squeezed out by the Google-centric content environment of currently released smartphones. / Korea Times |
Staff Reporter
Korean Internet companies like NHN and Daum (www.daum.net) have taken pride in being among the world's few and proud Google-beaters. However, as the Internet moves beyond desktop computers and increasingly toward mobile devices, these language-specific search engines appear to be in danger of becoming also-rans.
After being a hard sell for years, smartphones are finally going mass market here, with Apple selling more than 500,000 iPhones within just four months after its local release, or about 4,000 units per day.
The market for these premium handsets is only expected to increase in the coming months, with other handset vendors like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics expecting to release a slew of smartphones based on the Google-backed Android operating system.
Both the iPhone and currently released Android-based handsets, which are also backed by Motorola, Sony Ericsson and HTC, use Google as their default search engines.
This has the Korean Internet companies, as well as the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and other government agencies, calling for Apple and Google to include local search engines like NHN's Naver (www.naver.com) and Daum on their mobile platforms.
Despite the advancement in mobile devices, picking and changing software programs and search engines on smartphones aren't nearly as easy as they are on personal computers, according to the Korean Internet companies.
There are also concerns that Apple and Google could go the ``Microsoft route,'' bundling their applications and browsers on handsets to leverage their dominance in one market to another.
``Providing neutrality in the mobile Internet platform would benefit users as well as Internet companies,'' said NHN official Han Jong-ho.
Obviously, Google isn't too interested in getting involved in the debate over a Google-centric experience on smartphones. The issue was to be discussed in a panel in Seoul Friday, dubbed as ``Promoting User's Choice in Mobile Environments,'' but representatives from KCC, NHN and Daum were left out in the cold after Google Korea backed out at the last minute.
``Android is an open platform, and the specifics of the default settings should be decided by each handset developer and mobile telephony operator. We didn't think there were anything for us to talk about,'' a Google Korea official said.
Internet companies have been hoping to benefit from the mobile Internet explosion triggered by smartphones, looking to dabble further in revenue models for local search and customized advertising services.
Naver is currently providing 11 applications to the App Store, the content market for iPhone and iPod Touch users, including its digital map, blogs, news updates, ``me2Day,'' a Twitter-like micro-blogging service, and a restaurant review service called ``Wingbus.''
Daum is focusing on providing smartphone versions of its "TV Pot" Web television, digital map and ``Tistory'' blogging platform, while Nate (www.nate.com) is hoping to generate a buzz from the mobile version of the immensely popular Cyworld (www.cyworld.com) social media service.
However, some industry watchers wonder whether the Internet companies are struggling to adjust to the mobile transition, as they are scrambling to deliver lighter, watered-down versions of their desktop services to mobile users, but fail to present game-changing innovations.
An appetite for social media is expected to add fuel to the smartphone boom. And unlike the desktop realm, where Korean-language Internet services have dominated the computing experience, smartphone users seem to be opening up to global services like Twitter (www.twitter.com), which allows users to broadcast their status updates.
``It was found that smartphone users are spending 20 to 30 percent less time on their personal computers compared to before they bought the handsets. Web portals like Naver will continue to find their traffic diminish as smartphones become more popular and this may have visible effects on their business,'' said Jeon Jong-hong, a researcher from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).
``Social media services, Web searches, instant messaging and news alerts are emerging as the main applications for smartphone users, and Web portals only seem to be prepared for the first two.''
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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