8 September 2015.
The Korean internet giants Naver and Kakao are in fierce competition over the country's mobile market.
With more Koreans now using their mobiles to access the internet than their desktops, the two companies are battling for dominance in mobile as the winner will have the upper hand in the internet market as a whole.
While Naver leads the Korean mobile search engine market, Kakao dominates the Korean mobile messaging app market.
In fact, Kakao, previously known as Daum Kakao, recently dropped the “Daum” from its name in order to emphasise the mobile aspect of its brand.
An industry insider revealed that Naver and Kakao are currently ramping up their efforts in the Korean mobile payments, messaging apps, image sharing apps, online-to-offline, financial technology, mobile games, webtoons and videos markets.
The Korean smartphone market is the most mature in the world, with a mobile penetration rate of over 100%, meaning that some people own more than one smartphone.
