Yahoo and Naver have each launched upgraded mobile phone services that offer more intuitive, personalized and easy-to-use searching.
The introduction of user-friendly mobile portal services shows that the competition will become jam-packed with big Internet firms, though the growth in the field has been slower than expected. Other Internet powerhouses such as Daum, Cyworld and Google are also seriously involved in the mobile Internet business.
Yahoo Korea said yesterday it has launched the Yahoo "OneSearch" service for LG Telecom users. It is a "smarter" search engine for mobile handsets as it gives the most likely anticipated answers in relation to the user's location.
When someone, for example, enters the "repair shop" on the Yahoo search window on his mobile phone, it will present them the list of the nearest car repair shops from where the user is located, the firm said. Or, a query on a specific product will automatically show the lowest sales price found on various Internet marketplaces, it said.
"Yahoo will keep expanding customers' benefits by providing customer-oriented mobile search services that are not inhibited by time or location," said Kim Yong-soo, chief of Yahoo Korea's mobile division.
Naver, South Korea's Internet portal king, said it has improved its "Phone Naver" service by allowing users to customize their homepages.
Phone users can select one of three types for the mobile Internet home page -- the standard type, the search type, and the "individual" type specialized for blogs and e-mail.
The firm is expected to increase investment in the mobile business to extend its dominancy in the PC-based Internet market. It is enjoying a virtual monopoly in the online search market by processing some 70 percent of the total queries asked on the Web every day by Koreans.
Chae Hwi-young, chief executive of Naver, had said during a conference call with investors earlier this month that the firm is "closely cooperating with mobile service firms" and is operating a specialized team for developing mobile solutions.
Internet portal services for mobile phones were first launched in Korea by Daum Communications, Naver's closest rival, in 1999. The firm now specializes in a cyber community service called "cafe" and a video-sharing service "TV Pot."
Cyworld, a popular mini-homepage service operated by SK Communications, also has some 5.5 million mobile Cyworld users.
It is not only South Korea where the mobile Internet has become a buzzword.
LG Electronics, Nokia and Samsung Electronics have been selling handsets worldwide that have pre-installed Google products such as Google search, G-Mail and Google Map.
There have been rumors that Google will soon release Google Phones that will enable users to make free calls and messaging services in return for watching Google's advertisements on the phone.
Source: AsiaMedia
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