7 mobile innovations from the land of Samsung and LG
This is the second part of the list of the most promising mobile innovations of South Korea. You can check the first part here.
Here are seven most promising Korean innovation in mobile technology which we saw at Global Mobile Vision 2014 in Seoul last week. Most of the companies are at a mature stage having being founded before 2010, with an experienced team and already profitable.
- BridgeCall (Bridge Mobile, Inc)
What is it?: Ever since the first VOIP call was made, the world has changed to a better place where it is possible to keep in touch with people who matter in one's lives, for a cost that was once unthinkable: free. However, and despite the ubiquity of VOIP technology, the only way to have a truly seamless integration of VOIP in the mobile phone experience is a carrier-supported WiFi call feature, which is very rare.
Bridge Call may be the solution: it is an Android app, which aims at being invisible. It integrates with the existing phone and contact user interface. When a call is made, it determines if both parties are registered on Bridge Call, and if that's the case, the call is switched to a free VOIP call, without user intervention. If not, the call uses the standard voice call provided by the carrier.
Why is it in the list?: Bridge Call does an impressive job of integration that has eluded established players who all require users to open a different app. This gives Mobile Bridge Inc a chance to provide what users truly want.
What is it?: CallGate is a SaaS provider of high ROI enterprise mobile solutions. CallGate Visual Voice allows customers to view call center’s service menu on their mobile screen while listening to recorded voice from the IVR service.
Why is it in the list?: CallGate is solving an important problem faced by all while making calls to customer service centers. The company has a strong IP with over 300 patents in APAC region. With USD 3 million raised so far, they have already gone profitable last year and the revenue is almost doubling every year. The company has 40+ call centres as their clients (of the total 700) in Korea. They are soon going to launch in the US, Taiwan & Japan. An experienced team behind the company makes its future more promising.
- Hub & Spoke (Tenjoy Board)
What is it?: Tenjoy Board is a tweaked gym board with multiple functionalities which can be used for education, fitness and gaming. Men and women of all ages can exercise continuously anytime and anywhere with Tenjoy Board. One can exercise by manipulating the smartphone and computer games with their feet.
Why is it in the list?: The company has an experienced team behind the product who has already sold over 300,000 gym boards in the past (in Korea). It has a tie up with the telecom giant SK Telecom in Korea to sell the product (Tenjoy).
Korea is undeniably one of the hottest gaming markets in the world, and with the additional applications in education and fitness, the Tenjoy board is more promising than any other piece of hardware. The applications (software) have massive potential to be tweaked around and thus increase the number of use cases for the board. The product is apt for all age groups; education for kids, gaming for teens and youth and fitness for elderly. A possible collaboration with companies like Samsung and Intel can further boost the international presence of the product (already in talks).
- Korea Creadic Life (Adpop)
What is it?: Korea Creadic Life develops software and provides payment service related to CAT, POS, electronic signature pad, and credit card payment at about 450,000 member stores.
AD-POP is equipped with multifunction (NFC payment, RF payment, QR code recognition, advertisement, and mobile coupon, etc) unlike conventional sign pad that only credit card users could use to sign the bill. This embraces even mobile-based payment market along with the credit card users.
Why is it in the list?: There are additional features like visitors personal information encryption, real time visitors statistics, automatic transmission exhibition e-catalog, which cater to exhibition industry. The innovative features provide usefulness and fun to the users and convenience and service to member stores and advertisers.
- SpacosaCorp (Famy):
What is it?: They provide learning content applications for infants and toddlers based on the key concept of ‘family value’ and ‘smart organization’ service which recommends customers with customized information by analyzing big data such as childbirth, infant care and shelter, shopping information.
Famy, a family locator application, is a mobile service for private groups with location information share and group messenger.
Why is it in the list?: Currently, Famy is localized for 10 major languages and used in more than 130 countries, with a great growth rate in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China.
What is it?: Mobile accessory development company, Bench Soft has made a charging cable which enables charging at 2X speed.
Why is it in the list?: The product and the team of specialized engineers in audio DSP, 2.4 GhZ wireless technology, mobile applications, battery operations.
- Ilias Project (by Puzlook)
What is it?: It is an optical lens case for smartphone which doesn’t need any clips, magnets or detachable covers.
Why is it in the list?: The product is designed based on portability, convenience, simplicity and fun. They also won CES 2014 Innovation Design and Engineering awards.
Gaming mobile applications is big in South Korea, so is IOT. Want to know what else is picking up in Korea? Check out this space for a detailed perspective on Korean technology and innovation trends.
