[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s No.1 portal Naver has unraveled plans to beef up its online services aimed at foreign tourists ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the company spokesperson said on July 5. Naver estimes 5 million tourists -- including 50,000 foreign visitors -- to participate in the Winter Olympics in 2018. The portal’s e-services -- mobile map, search engine, and booking – will be renovated. A global login and payment system is also being considered.The firm revealed its

[THE INVESTOR] Tech giant Samsung Electronics will release its earnings for the April-June quarter on July 7.All eyes are now on whether its operating profit crosses the 8-trillion-won (US$6.9 billion) threshold for the first time in two years. The firm earned 8.5 trillion won in the first quarter of 2014.Samsung posted more than 8 trillion won of operating income for the seventh consecutive quarter since the third quarter of 2012. Its operating profit reached its peak in the third quarter of 20

 [THE INVESTOR] Mobile messenger operator Kakao has opened its flagship store for character products based on its mobile stickers, called Kakao Friends, in the posh Gangnam district, Seoul, aiming to expand its clout in the mobile world into the retail realm.Despite the heavy rain in Seoul on Saturday, more than a thousand people formed a snaking line in front of the store on the opening day of the Kakao Friends Flagship Store.Kakao`s flagship store in Gangnam. KakaoAs Kakao ran a series of prom

[THE INVESTOR] Internet giant Kakao on July 1 announced the official launch of its renamed game unit KakaoGames following its shareholders’ approval the day before. The company said the branding renewal comes in order to elevate its global awareness and improve operational efficiency overall. The company aims, among other things, to expand its presence in the global market. Unlike its cross-town rival Naver that earns more than 35 percent of sales from overseas markets, Kakao has almost no prese

[THE INVESTOR] Korea has the highest average Internet connection speed in the world, according to a report by Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network provider headquartered in the US. The organization’s quarterly report, “State of the Internet,” showed that in the first quarter of the year Korea has four times faster average Internet speed at 29 Mbps, an 8.6 percent increase over the previous quarter. It was followed by Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong and Switzerland. The world average was 6.3

[THE INVESTOR] Qualcomm Korea held the 14th Qualcomm IT Tour for engineering students in Korea and invited them to its American headquarters as part of it efforts to update them on cutting-edge wireless technologies, the company said on June 30. A total of 25 Korean engineering students had a chance to meet with engineers and management from the firm and learn about the company’s mobile technologies.They also had a presentation in the presence of Derek Aberle, president of the company, and discu

[THE INVESTOR] Korea leading network operator SK Telecom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson to develop core technologies for the next-generation network, or 5G.Through the partnership, the three will conduct trial tests of key 5G technologies including network functions virtualization(NFV), software-defined telecommunications infrastructure(SDTI), and distributed cloud, all of which will provide optimized end-user experiences, SKT said on June 30.The Kore

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Google Maps will be allowed to offer full services in the nation only if it censors core security facilities on its digital map.Earlier this month, the US Internet giant requested permission from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to get access to South Korea’s geographical data in a bid to make its flagship online maps’ services, such as the zoomed-in view of the satellite images, fully available in Korea.It was Google’s l