KT releases SNS, messenger app to challenge Kakao Talk

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's telecom titan KT Corp. launched a mobile application Thursday that enables users to exchange free messages and share photos over smartphones.
The new service from KT, called "Olleh Talk," is poised to compete with existing mobile messenger applications that are quickly replacing paid text messages and e-mails for South Koreans. A mobile application called Kakao Talk lured more than 10 million users in about one year, threatening mobile carriers' short message services (SMS).
Olleh Talk, available for Android, iPad and iPhone users, helps manage a growing number of social networking services (SNS), text messages, group chats and an individual homepage in one application, KT said in a statement.
There will be no additional charge for sending text messages on the application, KT said.
South Korea's Web portal giants, such as NHN Corp. and Daum Communications Corp., as well as its smallest mobile carrier, LG Uplus Corp., have released their own mobile messenger services to capitalize on Internet users who spend more time with their smartphones than personal computers.
Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone, was the latest to join the group. It gave the public a glimpse of the "iMessage" service earlier this week, which works on a string of Apple devices.
The flux of mobile messenger applications will likely encourage consumers to ditch paid text messages and to use free-of-charge applications, which are also easy to use.
Some say that these free services will cut into mobile carriers' profits and clutter network capacity, but KT said it still sees a stream of demand for paid services.
"Important messages are sent via SMS," said KT spokeswoman Kim Yoon-jeong. "We see users are using both text messages and free mobile messenger applications."
ylee@yna.co.kr