SK Telecom is going to make Mobile Application Store like Apple’s App Store
Posted: December 29th, 2008, by Yunho Chung
According to KCC(Korea Communications Commission) and SK Telecom, SK Telecom, the leading mobile operator in Korea, will make online marketplace for mobile application in 2009. SK Telecom invests 100 billion won to provide the service, people can sell and buy mobile contents, by next June.
For this service, SK Telecom will provide severs, payment systems and SDK to public. Also SK Telecom is planning to invite the public to join in a prize contest for creative ideas, and support them for commercialization. SK Telecom already set up the team for this mobile contents marketplace.
While smartphone usage is increasing in Korea, SK Telecom seems to need to build its competitiveness in mobile contents through business model like Apple’s App store.
In Korea, the power of mobile operator is very huge at mobile market, so this movement of SK Telecom will affect Korean mobile market in any ways for sure. It might open Korean mobile operators’ closed policy for mobile contents. However, like SK Telecom’s previous plan for mobile contents or internet, it could make walled garden at Korean mobile market more.
