Future of Internet
“The past 30 years was like a warm-up in the Internet industry, and the upcoming change will be much more drastic than what we saw during the period. Korea is standing at a critical juncture before joining the ranks of global Internet powerhouses, which means it has to clean things up and start fresh. It should not forget that it must further sharpen its competitive edge in the field of software associated with the manufacturing industry, either.”
Jeon Kil-nam, computer science professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), emphasized the significance of preparedness for the Internet revolution which is around the corner. The professor, who introduced the Internet to Korea three decades ago, is called the Father of Internet in the country.
He mentioned the correction of errors and setting of the right direction as the two most urgent measures for the Internet revolution. According to him, Naver and Cyworld kicked off their services around the same time as many American firms, but failed in the end to become global players. Other companies can be taught a lesson from them.
“We need to classify what we can do well and what we cannot do well, and we do not have to be struggling to do what the US is doing best, such as social networking and the development of pure software,” he continued, “What I mean by saying this is that we copy the models of Germany, Japan, Finland, Sweden, and Britain to follow their success, like Luxemburg’s Skype and the auto manufacturing software of German and Japanese carmakers.”
In this context, he is regarding that Naver’s LINE, which found its way into the Japanese market earlier than the others, has a larger growth potential than Kakao Talk that has taken root in its home turf. “We have already witnessed that the Korean government banned the VoIP service of KakaoTalk to get in its way, to say nothing of assisting its growth, but the export of advanced technology is the key to the realization of its goal of creative economy.” He went on, adding, “In addition, we need to be more interested in cyberspace governance, which is sure to become a major issue in the near future.”