Seoul, Korea/ “It is with continued search for new value that we are able to provide users with a richer experience.”
Sirgoo Lee, the co-CEO of Kakao, the company behind KakaoTalk, today gave a keynote address at the Mobile Asia Expo 2014 in Shanghai. Lee declared that Kakao's journey to creating a social mobile platform with rich services was guided by its principles of always adding value to the user experience, and treating its users and the social graph as its most valuable assets. KakaoTalk, with more than 150 million users worldwide, is the world’s first messenger to evolve into a mobile platform. It offers multi-faceted social, marketing, commerce and content services, which has made its user experience even richer on mobile, and made it the most engaging mobile messenger in the world.
“From the beginning, we were determined to become a ‘smart connector’ that could offer new ways of connecting and communicating,” explained Lee. “Instead of asking, 'What should we sell' or 'How can we make money' we asked, ‘Who do we connect’ and ‘How do we connect them’”
Lee recalled that it all began with a very simple proposition, “Why not make messaging free” So four people got to work developing KakaoTalk, as a basic mobile messaging app. Four years since then, Kakao tackled multiple ventures, rising from everyday needs and inconveniences—the high cost of SMS, desire to share multimedia, cumbersome gift sending through the Internet, boring non-social games, difficulty sharing music, etc.—resolving each of these issues resulted in a new popular service.
“By continuously asking ourselves how we can give our valuable network of users even more of what they want, and make their connections even stronger, we’ve developed a platform that offers an array of rich services,” said Lee. “This, combined with KakaoTalk’s powerful social graph, brought along phenomenal new records, creating new opportunities for various industries and tens of thousands of new partners.”
Lee asserted that the merger with Daum Communications would drive this initiative further. “Together, we will bring new innovations and grow into a platform provider that encompasses not just areas of mobile and communications, but also in areas of search, advertising and expertise in information,” emphasized Lee.
“We are confident that through continued search for new value and through the partnership with Daum, we will be able to create new innovations and services that will provide our users with even richer experiences,” Lee said.
The Mobile Asia Expo, now in its 3rd year, is one of the fastest growing ICT conferences in Asia, attended by more than 20,000 industry players each year. Also organized by the GSMA, the host of the world's largest annual conference for mobile operators and device manufacturers—the Mobile World Congress—the Mobile Asia Expo is also known as the Asian version of the Mobile World Congress. Under the theme of ‘Making Global Connections,’ MAE 2014 highlighted the most significant advances in mobile driven by Asia, with in-depth insights on current and future trends impacting the ever-changing mobile industry.