Futurize Korea

Korea government to make websites compatible with non-MS browsers

FuturizeKorea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:46:48 +0900

The Korean government is finally taking steps to make government websites less reliant on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser:

``The project is also focused on having the Web services available on Linux, Macintosh and other alternative operating systems and improving accessibility for the disabled,'' he said.

According to the plans, about 500 Web sites operated by central government organizations and regional governments will be redesigned to work on standards-compliant browsers, which only used codes ratified by the World Wide Web consortium, thus allowing non-Microsoft browsers to function on them.

Dong-A Ilbo: Korea’s Internet is Microsoft-Dependent (January 5, 2006)

TechnoKimchi: I'm sorry but Google Chrome doesn't mean jack in Korea (September 29, 2008)

Web 2.0 Asia: A discouraging news for Korean open web movement (July 25, 2008)

Update: NYT on the closing of Warner's DVD business

FuturizeKorea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:34:30 +0900

New York Times’ Saul Hansell blogged about the closing of Warner Bros’s DVD business and had some more data about the state of their business in Korea after interviewing some Warner executives:

At the beginning of this year, Warner started making a lot of its movies available through several services in South Korea that offer pay-per-view movies over the Internet. Some of these allow movies to be watched on personal computer screens. But many are part of Internet pay TV systems that connect to televisions through set top boxes. A high-definition on-demand movie in the country costs about $2.

In just a few months, these Internet rentals were making more money for the company than its DVD business.

They also attributed part of the problem to the high cost of DVD players in Korea.

Korea Telecom recently started broadcasting terrestrial television content in hopes to get more customers to their Mega TV Internet protocol television (IPTV) service.

Samsung releases mobile phone for children

FuturizeKorea — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:04:54 +0900

Samsung Electronics has released a new mobile phone designed for children called the Samsung Tobi:

With friendly graphical user interface (GUI) and splashy design, Samsung Tobi is a perfect match for the mobile users who wish to stand out from the crowd. Also with various safety features and eco-friendly material, Samsung Tobi assures the security of the Samsung Tobi users.

Police catch 2,030 people for spreading online rumors

FuturizeKorea — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:32:22 +0900

The National Police Agency recently announced the results of their crackdown on spreading rumours and malicious comments on the Internet:

The National Police Agency cyber terror prevention center said yesterday that it had rounded up 2,030 people who posted malicious comments on the Internet - 11 of whom are still being held - through its month-long intensive crackdown from Oct. 6 to Nov. 5.

The crackdown on malicious Internet users was triggered by the death of actress Choi Jin-sil early last month. Choi was found dead at her home, by apparent suicide on Oct. 2. It was later reported that she was driven over the edge by online rumors.

Daum to unveil new map service

FuturizeKorea — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:14:20 +0900

Daum Communications is preparing to launch a new beta for their map service with new high-resolution aerial and street-level photography to compete with Google and Naver for traffic:

Although company officials are reluctant to comment on costs, Daum is believed to be spending over 20 billion won to develop the new service, collaborating with SamAh Aerial Survey for the aerial photos and Pix Korea for the street-level images.

It took a year for Daum to build the database, which covers virtually the entire country including Seoul and the neighboring Gyeonggi Province areas, the six metropolitan cities and Jeju Island.

PIXKOREA (Korean) has a demo on their website.

Entering new markets: CyWorld, Second Life

FuturizeKorea — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:29:36 +0900

With Korean companies looking to expand to new global markets and foreign companies looking to open shop in Korea everyone is looking for the right formula.

First, Chang comments on CyWorld’s plans to cutback their US operations which follows on the failure of their European operations in March 2008. Chang’s diagnosis:

Cause of failure? Well, for starters (the obvious ones): Cyworld didn't seem to have sharp strategies as to how to position their service (Was it Myspace or Habbo hotel?); They didn't localize the service very well; SK Telecom, the parent company, didn't "get it" yet still tried to put a grip on the business.

Business 2.0: Cyworld Attacks! (October 2, 2006)

Korea IT Times: Can Cyworld Succeed in America? (August 1, 2006)

The Korea Times also reports that their prospects in Korea are under pressure from sites like MySpace, Facebook and other blog services:

Not so long ago, Cyworld was the place to go for Korean Internet users, undoubtedly the most successful subscriber-based service ever with 20 million plus members.

However, as the more sophisticated Internet users started moving off to blogs or other community sites with cooler features, updating a Cyworld page is now about as popular as wearing white socks with black shoes.

Next comes Second Life which is also struggling to crack the Korean market with their 3D virtual world:

Kim, the local head of Linden Lab, said major local firms Samsung, Hyundai, KT and LG experimented with the service last year, but haven't benefited much because only 110,000 Korean users have so far signed up.

``Second Life is a service that requires patience to maneuver, but domestic users prefer things quickly,'' he explained, adding that it will take a few years for the business to mature here.

KTF unveils Digital Pen service

FuturizeKorea — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:59:22 +0900

KTF has unveiled a new Digital Pen service for their mobile customers to keep a copy of handwritten memos using a new Bluetooth-enabled pen from Digilog Communication (Korean).

You can watch a short introduction video (in Korean) for the new service here:

Warner Bros shuts down DVD business in Korea

FuturizeKorea — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:52:18 +0900

After recently announcing plans to use a new Video on Demand (VOD) system to help combat piracy, Warner Bros is the final studio to close their home entertainment operations in Korea:

“As of Dec. 31 this year, the home video and DVD business in Korea will be shut down,” said an official at Warner Brothers Home Video Korea.

“One of the reasons for the pullout is a slump in the video and DVD market, resulting from online piracy and illegal downloading.”
Warner Brothers is the last remaining Hollywood company to withdraw its home entertainment business from Korea. “We are to focus on our digital distribution ‘pre-DVD’ business,” the official said.

SK Telecom looks to expand WiBro service

FuturizeKorea — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:38:14 +0900

SK Telecom has reinforced their commitment to their WiBro service rollout with more generous data packages and plans for new WiBro-enabled handsets and portable media players:

However, with its revamped network theoretically improving download speeds to a max 37.44 megabytes per second (mbps), about twice as fast as the current level, SK Telecom says its now sees a clearer market for WiBro.

To attract more customers, the company will allow more free connection time for fixed-rate subscribers paying 10,000 to 40,000 won per month. The company has also introduced a ``promotional rate,'' which allows a 30 gigabytes connection for 16,000 won per month.

Wikipedia founder on Korean Internet regulation plans

FuturizeKorea — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:35:22 +0900

Jimmy Wales the founder of Wikipedia was recently in Seoul to speak at the International Conference on Global Entrepreneurship and spoke out about plans from the Korean government to increase Internet regulation:

``Overkill,'' says Jimmy Wales, the founder of the online encyclopedia, referring to a legislative effort by the government.

``This is certainly a dangerous path to go down,'' Wales told The Korea Times on the sidelines of a Web industry conference in southern Seoul Tuesday.

``The governments that are given the power to block things usually tend to block things, including information that originally wasn't intended to be blocked from access,'' said Wales.

He made similar comments in a short interview with The Hankyoreh.

Wales also was in Korea to promote Wikipedia which included signing a deal with Daum to help increase Wikipedia’s presence in Korea:

Despite the country's high broadband Internet penetration rate, Wikipedia's Korean language page has been struggling to gain acceptance, with just 700,000 articles and around 500 regular contributors.

Daum, the country's No. 2 Internet portal, signed a deal to provide their encyclopedic content to Wikipedia's Korean page and provide them in its search results, which are expected to increase the number of articles to around 180,000.

The first statistic in the Korea Times quote is incorrect, the Korean version of Wikipedia currently has 78,424 articles.

Here’s a video (in Korean) showing how Daum incorporates Wikipedia into their site: