Interesting to note here is that SK has a healthy local "online services" industry.
They have their own Google equivalents, like Naver, that have comparable(and sometimes better because optimized to SK) services and don't have that much of an incentive to keep Google "happy".
Local online services yes, but healthy I think is debatable. Kakao is quickly spreading its influence beyond just information technology. Messenger, search, payments, banking, blogging, maps, taxi, webtoon, celebrity management, music, character goods, games, golf, etc.
Naver runs a wide variety of services you'd expect, like payments, an online translator, a Yahoo Answers equivalent, messaging(LINE, which is ubiquitous not just in SK), a free blog offering, a search engine and a web browser.
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Interesting to note here is that SK has a healthy local "online services" industry.
They have their own Google equivalents, like Naver, that have comparable(and sometimes better because optimized to SK) services and don't have that much of an incentive to keep Google "happy".
Local online services yes, but healthy I think is debatable. Kakao is quickly spreading its influence beyond just information technology. Messenger, search, payments, banking, blogging, maps, taxi, webtoon, celebrity management, music, character goods, games, golf, etc.
Could you list examples of the local equivalents that are in common use?
I know of Naver maps https://m.map.naver.com
Naver (search), Kakao(message+maps+transit), Daum(search/blogs etc), Coupang(online ordering), Shuttle Food Delivery / Yogiyo (uber eats) - few examples.
Naver runs a wide variety of services you'd expect, like payments, an online translator, a Yahoo Answers equivalent, messaging(LINE, which is ubiquitous not just in SK), a free blog offering, a search engine and a web browser.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naver_Corporation#Products_a...
Kakao: Wechat/Uber
Ahnlab: Symantec/Norton
Hancom: Microsoft Office
Snow: Snapchat
Melon: Spotify
Cyworld: Myspace
Afreeka: Twitch
Toss: Venmo
NCSoft: Blizzard
Coupang: Amazon
Carrot: Ebay
Daum: Google/Medium
I don't really have a list, but in addition to maps, Naver also has search, email, calendar, cloud storage, etc.