Smartphone launcher Buzzpia eyes overseas market

Competition to dominate the homescreens of smartphones is heating up as new Android interface-based customized services emerge in the market.

Market analysts forecast that those who dominate smartphones’ homescreens will be able to jockey for position in the mobile era.

Jay Seo, CEO of Buzzpia, hopes to get everyone around the world talking about the launcher developed by his firm, Buzz Launcher.

“The first target market will be the United States. Success in the nation is especially important since the market is linked to other regions such as Europe and Latin America,” Seo told The Korea Herald. 

Homescreen applications like Buzzpia’s allow Android-based smartphone users to alter the existing user interface by changing and decorating the background image, icons and widgets on their mobile phones.

“Outrunning Go Launcher, the world’s most popular launcher application, is just a matter of time, especially so in the Korean market,” said Seo.

Go Launcher, developed by the Chinese developer of the same name, secured a 12.2 percent market share in the Korean market as of October. It was followed by Dodol Launcher developed by Naver at 4.2 percent, Kakao Home by Kakao at 3.8 percent, and Buzz Launcher at 1.7 percent, according to online rank-tracking site Rankey.com.

“Buzz Launcher has a competitive edge over other rival services as it gives more leeway for homescreen developers and users in tweaking the layout of the homescreen and adopting various types of icons for applications,” the CEO said.

Buzz Launcher users can share their homescreens with other users, through the firm’s homescreen sharing application Home Pack Buzz, a feature that gives the app the name of the SNS launcher.

Seo emphasized that localization of services will be the key to success in the world market.

“I believe for companies and services to become truly globalized, they should become deeply localized,” he said.

He learned this the hard way while working for an American office of SNS service Cyworld, run by SK Communications, a Korean Internet service provider.

The domestic SNS service swept Korea for about a decade starting in the early 2000s, but its popularity has been in deep decline ever since it failed to go global while losing ground to Facebook and Twitter.

“So far the excellence of the service has been spreading by word of mouth among global users on the back of Google Play, Google’s application store, but we are now pondering teaming up with market research firms and marketing agencies in the U.S. to better understand the local users there,” Seo said.

Through the business model, he said, partners will be able to expose and spread their services to Buzz users, and his company in return receives fees based on the number of downloads and access or share sales profits made through the mobile service.

Buzzpia recently joined hands with YG, one of the largest Korean entertainment agencies, to promote their new boy band “WINNER.”

When the firm reaches the 10 million threshold, Seo said it will likely generate some meaningful financial returns.

In October, the number of downloads for the launcher application surpassed 3 million, of which 60 percent were from outside Korea. The user base is expected to exceed 5 million by the end of this year, and 10 million by next year, according to Buzzpia.

The launcher is provided in 14 languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Italian and Russian.

As of October, it was one of the top rankers in the “Personalization” category in Google’s application market in around 50 nations including Australia and Canada.

Around 1,500 new homescreens made by users at home and abroad have been put up on Home Pack Buzz, and some 120,000 homescreens are now available.

Seo predicted the Android would win in the battle with Apple’s iOS because the former is based on open-source standards.

“Buzz Launcher will play a significant role in overtaking Apple’s mobile operating system, which is usually said to have a better user interface design, as the launcher service enriches the smartphone experience with excellent design, and increases convenience,” Seo said.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)