The initial screen of KakaoTalk service that goes beyond Korea and goes global. © News 1
Reporter Kim Geun-wook = The word texting has been changed to KakaoTalk. Send gift cards to friends on their birthday. When I need to take a taxi, I turn on Kakao T. This is how KakaoTalk changed our lives.
It has been 12 years since KakaoTalk started its service. It started as a messenger, but now it has become a platform for peoples lives. Occasionally, if an error occurs, daily life stops.
KakaoTalk, who turned 12, received a new mission this year. Beyond Mobile and Beyond Korea. It means going beyond mobile to metaverse, going beyond Korea and going global.
◇ Doesnt it cost money to send text messages?
March 18, 2010. This is the day KakaoTalk was first launched on the App Store. The advent of KakaoTalk has completely changed our messaging culture. Unlike SMS, which was paid and had a limit on the number of characters, KakaoTalk was able to send and receive messages for free and without restrictions.
KakaoTalk group chat was also a differentiating factor. Unlike messages, KakaoTalk allows friends, family, and colleagues to chat together in real time. Even without complicated procedures, it linked with the phones address book to find forgotten friends.
With these characteristics, KakaoTalk has over 10 million subscribers within one year of launch and 40 million the following year, earning the title of national messenger.
© News 1
◇ KakaoTalk changed the way of conversation
If there was one device that KakaoTalk brought to life in our chatting culture, it was emoticons. Kakao launched an emoticon service in November 2011. The emoticon service, which started with a total of 6 products at the time, exceeded 9,700 products as of 2020.
In the process, a new job as an emoticon writer appeared. It has become a new source of income for webtoon and character writers, and has developed into a platform where creation and profit are connected as it has become a gateway to realizing the dream of a writer for ordinary people.
KakaoTalk continued to try to diversify the chat format. Specifically, ΔSecret chat with enhanced information protection ΔChat with me for content storage ΔInterest-based conversation Open chatting has expanded the usability of chatting.
◇ Gifts, money transfers, taxis… From messenger to life platform
KakaoTalk was not just a simple messenger. With the goal of making life easier for users, it has expanded its services to various areas such as shopping, payment, music, games, and finance.
A typical example is KakaoTalk gift giving. This has created a new trend in the domestic gift culture by adding the distinction that a gift can be sent without knowing the address of the other party. As of 2020, the cumulative number of users is close to 38 million.
There is also Kakao Pay, which allows you to send money to acquaintances without an official certificate or account number. Kakao Taxi, which helps you avoid having to take a taxi on the street, and Kakao Bank, which helps you save money, are not to be missed.
Last year, various activities to overcome COVID-19 were carried out in order to fulfill a social role befitting the peoples life platform. Starting with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) chatbot, ΔResidual vaccine reservation service ΔQR check-in ΔVaccination authentication service was launched.
Pangyo office view of Kakao © News 1
◇ Now a global life platform challenge
At the age of 12, Kakao will start season 2 in earnest. The keywords for season 2 are Beyond Mobile and Beyond Korea. Simply put, it means moving beyond mobile to metaverse, and moving beyond Korea to the global market.
Kakao announced the beginning of season 2 and presented a new concept called the text metaverse. Nam Goong-hoon, Kakaos representative nominee, said in February that Kakao was internally discussing creating a metaverse based on text because the text part has a strong morpheme.
In particular, Kakao expects that open chatting, which is an interest-based chatting, by combining Metaverse and Open Chat will develop into a global business beyond Korea.
Since its launch on March 18, 2010, Kakao has established itself as a platform for peoples lives beyond a messenger. Now, the attention of all the people is being focused on whether it will be possible to achieve a new leap forward beyond Korea.
