SK Planet, a leading tech solutions developer owned by SK Telecom, on Monday expressed hopes to enter the U.S. market in October this year with its new mobile sales solution, NEXT Commerce.The Korean firm will test the service starting this month in Berkeley, California, where SK Planet said it has secured partnerships with around 20 firms.Based on these plans, the company is aiming for 2.8 trillion won ($2.7 billion) in annual sales over the next three years, double the 1.4 trillion won it reco

The Internet, one of the world’s greatest inventions of the 20th century, faces a possible makeover as it is being threatened by a new U.S. rule that can overthrow its openness and indiscriminate accessibility.Concerns over the possible breakdown in net neutrality, in which all Internet data should be treated equally, have been rising especially since the U.S. Federal Communications Commission lost a court battle against Verizon early this year.The two sides have been duking it out over net neut

The reputation of the Incheon Free Economic Zone in the city of Incheon has been slowly but steadily building over the years, and it now stands as an international business hub that is attracting an ever-growing list of global firms and organizations. Just looking at the numbers, the IFEZ has so far attracted 13 international organizations including the Association of World Election Bodies and UNESCAP.Among the organizations nestled in the international business district, the Green Climate Fund

Gaming giant commits to developing mobile era ‘masterpieces’

With Samsung Electronics expected to unveil its first smartphone embedded with the Tizen operating system next month, a new competitor is set to join Android and Apple in the mobile OS market.Industry watchers said small OS players such as Tizen, Firefox and Windows will increase their presence as demand for low-end smartphones increases, especially in developing countries.Samsung’s Tizen smartphones will reportedly roll out first in emerging countries including Russia and India, in an apparent

LIG Nex1, a South Korean defense company, said Tuesday that it would showcase a variety of defense products ranging from robots to military products during an exhibition at KINTEX from June 1 to 4 in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province.It will introduce the company’s mobile bird deterrent robots, better known as “the bird strike,” which are used at civilian and military airports to prevent birds from colliding with airplanes.Also, the company will feature electronic full-body wearables allowing soldiers to

Merger to create No. 2 firm on KOSDAQ

Watch out Naver, here comes Daum and Kakao.The merger between Daum, the nation’s second-largest search engine, and Kakao, the most-used mobile messaging service, surprised many observers, who said that it was a “game-changing move” that can potentially shake things up, at least here in Korea.But globally, they may find it challenging to stand out among heavyweights such as Naver, Facebook, Tencent and Google in this mobile age, or even win a foothold in the mobile messaging market dominated by W

Apple and Samsung dominated the global market for mobile phones in the first quarter of this year, while LG Electronics reached a distant third for the first time, data showed on Monday.According to Strategy Analytics, Apple held a 34.2 percent global mobile phone market share based on sales, followed by two South Korean companies ― Samsung with 30.4 percent and LG Electronics with 4.2 percent. Sony was ranked fourth with 3.3 percent, narrowly ahead of Nokia. Chinese phone makers Xiaomi and Huaw