[THE INVESTOR] China is the only Northeast Asian nation where LINE Corp. has yet to launch its mobile messenger service so far. Line is the mobile messenger service operator owned by Naver (chairman Lee Hae-jin)In a recent media interview, LINE’s chief global officer Shin Jung-ho said the firm could consider “setting up a joint venture with a Chinese company” to increase its foothold in a country where its services are blocked due to government regulations. The banners of LINE Corp. hang on the

[THE INVESTOR] After its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 15, LINE Corp.’s share soared around 52 percent to 5,000 yen (US$47.40) from its offer price of 3,300 yen, as of 10:39 a.m. The opening price stood at 4,900 yen. A Line character shop in Seoul / The InvestorTrading of the company’s share in Tokyo was a bit delayed early in the morning as buyers outnumbered sellers around four times.Line is the mobile messenger service operator owned by Korean Internet portal giant Naver (chairman

[THE INVESTOR] LINE Corp., the mobile messenger service operator owned by Naver (chairman Lee Hae-jin), jumped 26.61 percent on the first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 14. LINE’s million American Depository Shares (ADSs) began at $32.84 topping the expected price range, and closed at US$ 41.58, rising 26.6 percent over the course of the day. Line Corp. CFO Hwang In-joon (center left), along with chief strategy and marketing officer Jun Masuda (center right), and chief glo

[THE INVESTOR] The head of Internet giant Naver who is in the hot seat for his alleged involvement in making illegal profits from game developer Nexon’s 2006 initial public offering is likely to be summoned by prosecutors soon.Naver CEO Kim Sang-hun reportedly made profits with inside information for Nexon’s IPO with borrowed money. Naver CEO Kim Sang-hun /The InvestorKim, prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon and Park Seong-joon, a director of Boston Consulting Group, purchased shares valued at 425 million

[THE INVESTOR] The global craze for Pokemon Go, Japanese game developer Nintendo’s augmented-reality smartphone game, has taken the nation by storm with downloads exceeding 400,000 as of July 13, according to a survey by market research firm WiseApp. The survey result is based on 14,439 Android phone users in Korea from July 7-13. The mobile game, which has not been officially launched here, achieved the feat in less than two weeks since its release in other parts of the world on July 5, includi

[THE INVESTOR] Korean fingerprint module maker CrucialTec said on July 14 it will supply its mobile fingerprint module, BTP, to Huawei’s upcoming new smartphone Honor 8. The Honor 8 features a 5.2-inch curved glass display, a 12 mega pixel dual camera, and is powered by an in-house octa-core Kirin 950 processor. The pricing and launch date have not been disclosed. Huawei’s Honor 8CrucialTec has supplied BTP to Huawei’s premium lineup, including the Mate 8 and the P9, and the latest mid-range Hon

[THE INVESTOR] Korean Internet giant Naver plans to unveil its own voice recognition system specialized in Korean language next year, industry sources said on July 13. Based on its own data analysis and artificial intelligence technology, the company aims to unveil the system mimicking Apple’s Siri as early as in January next year. Global IT companies are rolling out their own voice recognition systems mostly in English but it is rare for them to offer Korean language service due to their lack o

[THE INVESTOR] LINE Corp.’s simultaneous initial public offerings in Japan and the US this week were nearly 25 times oversubscribed with deposits totaling 2.77 trillion yen (US$2.66 billion), according to lead managers of the dual stock listings on July 14. LINE, operator of its namesake immensely popular mobile messaging app, will make its stock debut on the New York Stock Exchange on July 14 and Tokyo Stock Exchange the next day. Naver board chairman Lee Hae-jinReflecting keen interest among i

[THE INVESTOR] Netmarble Games, a South Korean game producer, said on July 13 that it will release “Soul King,” a comedic mobile role playing game, in 154 countries including Japan and North America.The game provides about 370 characters, and players take missions to defeat evil at each level to protect the Kingdom of Dune. The game was released in South Korea on June 15. Established in 2000, the firm was ranked eighth in global mobile game revenue last year, according to the company’s website. 

[THE INVESTOR] SK Holdings C&C, a data services firm, said July 13 that it would work with a local robot company to develop new robot solutions utilizing up-to-date artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies.Signing a partnership deal on the day at its headquarters in Bundang, the C&C and Robocare vowed to collaborate to develop the robot solutions.The C&C will deploy its AI, big data and cloud computing technologies for the joint project while the local robot maker will make use o

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean network operator KT has joined hands with tech giant Samsung Electronics and media content producer Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to commercialize high-dynamic-range imaging -- a next-generation video technology that produces more dynamic images.During a media event on July 12 in Seoul, KT unveiled a lineup of services and products utilizing HDR. Yoo Hee-kwan, KT’s head of media business, introduces the firm’s HDR services at the press meeting in Seoul on July 12. K

[THE INVESTOR] Korean Internet giant Kakao, the operator of the immensely popular KakaoTalk mobile messenger, on July 12 launched a new hair salon booking app as part of its ongoing push for diverse online-to-offline services. The service, called Kakao Hairshop, has partnered with some 1,500 hair salons nationwide and plans to add an additional 2,500 shops by the end of this year. Users are required to preregister their credit and debit cards and make reservations and payments simply by typing i