Korea's automobile output is on a decline but largely due to a rise in overseas production, industry data showed Thursday.In 2015, the country's overall automobile output came to 4,555,957 units, down 2.2 percent from 4,657,094 in 2011, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.Korea and Germany were the only countries among the world's top five automaking countries whose annual output dropped.China, the world's largest automaker, had its production spike 33 perce

Koreans in their 20s prefer Apple Inc.'s iPhone to other smartphones, while the Galaxy S by Samsung Electronics Co. is preferred by those in their 50s and 60s, a survey showed Wednesday. According to the survey of 1,004 people, conducted by Gallup Korea last week, 41 percent of the respondents who are aged 20 to 29 use iPhones. The survey found that 3 percent of the respondents who are aged 50 to 59 use iPhones and 1 percent of the respondents aged 60 to 69 use iPhones. In contrast, 57 percent o

Mobile messenger operator Kakao has been boosting investment in local game firms apparently to secure continued cash flow while its new online-to-offline business takes time to generate meaningful profits. Kakao announced Tuesday it plans to invest in game developer Shiftu, run by a former art director of “Blade & Soul.” In May, the company also invested 3 billion won ($2.6 million) in mobile role-playing game developer Kokomo and 1 billion won in social-networking game maker V8.  (Kakao)Now, it

South Korea’s leading network operator SK Telecom vowed to become an uncontested leader in the local mobile navigation business by making its flagship car navigation app T-map free for everyone starting from Tuesday.By freeing up T-map -- which non-SKT subscribers previously had to pay 4,000 won ($3.50) per month to use -- SKT is looking enhance the app’s competitiveness by securing more users. A model holds up a smartphone with SKT's flagship mobile navigation T-map in operation. From Tuesday,

[THE INVESTOR] The growing global digital signage market is becoming a new battlefield for Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, each vying to gain the upper hand.The shipment volume of digital signage displays in the global market is forecast to grow from 4.4 million in 2015 to 7.7 million units by the year of 2020, according to a recent report by market research firm IHS.The signage market will grow 8.3 percent per year on average, the market researcher forecast. Samsung E

[THE INVESTOR] The Chinese government has recently decided to review the safety of nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide batteries, or NMC, that are produced by leading battery-makers like Samsung SDI and LG Chem. Industry watchers say it is highly likely that the decision is politically motivated to offer benefits to China’s less experienced battery-makers that are still focusing on lithium-ion-phosphate batteries, or LFP.The NCM manufacturing improves battery life and performance but requires more adv

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics, which is making a big push on automotive parts business, is forecast to increase the sales to about 4 trillion won (US$3.5 billion) in the next two years, according to analyst estimates on July 20. The company’s auto parts business division is expected to post more than 600 billion won in sales in the second quarter. Last year’s sales reached 1.8 trillion won. A see-through image of GM’s upcoming full-electric Bolt. LG Electronics will supply 11 key parts, includin

[THE INVESTOR] The much-publicized initial public offering of Line Corp. -- the world‘s seventh-most used messaging app -- has finally happened.Owned by South Korean Internet giant Naver and based in Japan, Line went public on the New York Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 14 and July 15, raising $1.3 billion in the biggest IPO of the year in the local tech sector.But the IPO marks only one of the steps Line has been taking to maximize profit and strengthen its identity as a global

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is expected to release the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 with a 64-gigabyte internal storage capacity only, ditching its existing marketing strategy of offering two storage options. According to industry sources, Samsung has decided to do so considering the latest trend of bigger smartphone storage as mobile users are increasingly enjoying multimedia functions, including high-resolution photos and videos. Its predecessor Galaxy Note 5 came with 32GB and 64GB memory op

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics said on July 19 it will offer 12,500 Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones to all athletes participating in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The phone model to be offered is the company’s latest Olympics-themed Galaxy S7 Edge. It will be offered together with the Gear Icon X, the new wireless Bluetooth earbuds. The total amount is estimated at about 15 billion won (US$13 million). Samsung’s Olympics-themed Galaxy S7 EdgeDuring the 2014 Sochi Winter

[THE INVESTOR] LG Display, the display-making unit of LG Group, has almost doubled production of its 65-inch organic light-emitting diode panels in the second quarter as more TV manufacturers are adopting the larger OLED display. According to UBI Research, a local research firm specialized in OLED, the company shipped a combined140,000 OLED panels in the April-June period. Of them, the 65-inch panel made up 28,000 units, doubling from some 14,000 units in the first quarter. The increased shipmen

[THE INVESTOR] The Korea Communications Commission, the state media regulator, said that a preparation committee for starting ultra-high definition broadcasting in Korea was launched on July 19.The committee consists of 14 members from the government agencies, TV makers, research institutes, and academia, including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics.Lee Ki-joo, a standing committee member of the KCC, and Second ICT Vice Minister Choi Jae-yoo

[THE INVESTOR] SK Telecom will join hands with Thailand’s CAT Telecom and enter the Southeastern country’s electronic payment market, Thai daily The Nation reported on July 19. Surapant Meknavin, acting president of the public enterprise, acknowledged that the two telecom operators will set up a joint venture to provide an e-payment gateway service. SK Telecom will own 51 percent of the JV, reportedly named Tree Pay, with registered capital of 200 million baht (US$5.72 million). Scheduled to be

[THE INVESTOR] The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said July 19 that the ministry will invest a total of 12.5 billion won (US$11 million) in the field of bio-inspired robotics, often called “soft robotics,” over the next seven years. Soft robots are highly flexible and look like sea creatures. The research aims to build machines that handle tasks impossible with traditionally designed robots. A stingray-shaped bio hybrid robot (left), a joint research project of Korea’s Sogang Unive

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is seeking to lure more users to its mobile payment service Samsung Pay with a new loyalty rewards program, tentatively called Samsung Pay Rewards, industry sources said on July 19. The Korean tech giant has been pouring resources into expanding Samsung Pay’s presence globally, which it believes is crucial for its device sales. Since its launch in August 2015, the number of subscribers has reached 2.5 million globally, with the total transaction volume surpassi