Samsung Electronics’ mobile payments service Samsung Pay has hit 5 million subscribers, with combined transactions exceeding $500 million in Korea and the U.S. since its debut in August. The Korean tech giant said Saturday it will start the service in China in March and other countries such as Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Spain, the U.K. and Canada in phases later this year.  Detailed plans for its future launches and partnerships with local banks and card issuers are expected to be revealed du

Samsung Electronics is expected to complete the relocation of its Seoul offices to Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, next month, a move that is widely considered part of Samsung Group’s ongoing business restructuring. Even though the tech giant has been headquartered in Suwon where its production facilities are based since 1973, the Seoul office has played a control tower role together with Samsung Corporate Strategy Office that oversees all group companies. Samsung Group has created the so-called “Sams

LG Electronics on Wednesday unveiled new refrigerator and water purifier products, saying it would seek synergies between the two home appliances to differentiate itself in the premium market. LG entered the water purifier market in 2009 and combined the business with the refrigerator division in 2014. Based on their technological synergies, the company was the first to launch a water purifier refrigerator in Korea in 2013.  LG said it would apply its new PuriCare brand to water purifiers. The P

A Google campus in SeoulThe initial capital needed to start a tech venture in Korea is estimated at about 70.5 million won ($57,500) on average, with the most coveted area being mobile apps, a recent survey found Tuesday. Born2Global, a start-up accelerating center affiliated with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, recently conducted a survey of 707 Korean start-ups established over the past seven years.The highest number of respondents, or 29 percent, said it took 50 to 100 milli

Netmarble Games, the nation’s No. 2 game developer, said Thursday it is seeking an initial public offering later this year in Korea or in other countries such as the U.S. as part of its global expansion plans. “A Nasdaq debut will give us a lot of media attention, which is crucial for our global success. But we are also considering to list on the Seoul bourse,” said Netmarble founder and senior adviser Bang Jun-huk at a press conference. He said more details of the planned public listing, includ

There is growing market speculation that Samsung Group is considering selling off its advertising unit Cheil Worldwide as part of its ongoing business restructuring led by Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong. Over the past weeks, French ad giant Publicis Groupe has been rumored to have evinced interest in buying all or a controlling stake in Cheil, which has a market value of $1.9 billion. Cheil, which rarely responds to market rumors, said Wednesday in a regulatory

Mobile bio-verification firm CrucialTec has developed a biometric verification system recognizing fingerprints and heartbeats at the same time, company officials said Tuesday. The new system Anti-Fake BTP is a combination of the company’s representative product Biometric TrackPad, a fingerprint recognition sensor, and a heartbeat rate monitoring system to block fake fingerprints.  Anti-Fake BTP (CrucialTec)Unlike common optical fingerprint scanners, Anti-Fake BTP is designed to prevent fake fing

E-commerce, P2P, high-end markets could take hit in second half

TRIAL STARTS FOR QUANTUM CODING -- SK Telecom CEO Jang Dong-hyun (left) and Vice ICT Minister Choi Jae-yu (center) visit the telecom carrier-led consortium’s testing center for quantum coding technology Wednesday in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. A national trial network has been built near the metropolitan area to test the enhanced data security technology in an era of the Internet of Things and smart cars. (SK Telecom)

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it plans to use its prowess in smartphones and close partnerships to build up an ecosystem in the virtual reality (VR) sector.The move comes as Samsung Group's top executives tested Gear VR devices during their weekly meeting in Seoul, reflecting the conglomerate's efforts to tap the VR segment as one of its next growth engines. Samsung Group's main headquarters in southern Seoul (Yonhap)"It is important to build an ecosystem for the VR market," said an officia

Korea's top portal operator Naver said Wednesday it released a new photo application through the LINE messenger platform, aiming at meeting users' growing need to post food photos on their social network accounts.The Foodie app provides 24 filters for food-related photos taken by users. Naver said it hopes the new service will follow the path of its selfie app, B612, which boasts more than 10 million downloads around the globe.Naver said the app provides various effects on different menus from c

The world’s first braille smartwatch, developed by a Korean start-up, will make its debut at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, the telecom industry’s largest gathering in Barcelona next week. According to the developer Dot, the device has 30 braille dots on the watch face so that blind people can send text messages without limitations. Thanks to a special module set that has drastically reduced the size of the device, the price has also become affordable at about $300.  While the current voice

The nation’s top three telecom carriers – SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus – plan to offer the world’s fastest tri-band LTE service from March when updated handsets are launched.The breakthrough comes as they have succeeded in applying the 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation or QAM software technology that bundles more bits into the spectrum being used.　According to LG Uplus Tuesday, the application, the first of its kind in the world, will enhance data transmission speeds and network capacity by abo

 Microsoft Korea said Monday it has named Afred Koh, former Samsung SDS CEO, as new country chief. Koh, 58, has more than 30 years of experience in the tech scene while working at global companies such as Samsung SDS and IBM.  Prior to taking the helm of Samsung SDS, the IT solutions unit of Samsung Group, he served at planning, marketing and public business divisions of the company. Microsoft Korea said he is also joining the “leaders’ group” at the headquarters as one of the key management mem

Google’s baduk-playing software AlphaGo will battle the world’s Go champion Lee Se-dol next month in Seoul. The five-match game, which will have a $1 million prize, will start on March 9 and the matches will be broadcast live on YouTube.Artificial intelligence AlphaGo successfully beat the three-time European baduk, or Go, champion Fan Hui 5-0 in a series of games in October. Lee, 32, is currently the highest-ranked Go player in the world. He turned pro in 1996 at the age of 13 and has a 71.8 pe