Naver, Google in mobile services war

Naver, Google in mobile services war

구글 vs. 네이버 이번에 모바일 전쟁 구글이 국내 모바일 시장 공략에 본격적으로 나섰다. 구글의 안드로이드 운영체제(OS)를 기반으로 한 안드로이드폰이 이미 출시된 가운데, 앞으로 모바일 서비스를 통해 국내 포털 사이트 부동의 1위 자리를 지키고 있는 네이버를 넘보겠다는 각오다. 구글코리아는 18일 역삼동 본사에서 기자간담회를 열어 모바일 전략을 소개했다. 이 자리에는 엔지니어링 디렉터인 앤 메이 창과 프로젝트 매니저인 휴고 바라가 참석했으며, 새롭게 선보이는 한국어 음성인식 검색 및 음성번역 기술 등을 소개했다. 이들은 간담회에서 "2년전부터 모바일 검색 트래픽은 빠르게 증가하고 있다"면서 "한국에서도 이 같은 트랜드가 시작됐고, 안드로이드가 한국 시장에 본격적으로 진입하면서 다양한 애플리케이션이 활용될 것"이라고 자신감을 보였다. 한편 네이버도 이미 다수의 스마트 폰 애플리케이션을 개발했으며,현재‘모바일 센터’도 운영하고 있다. 네이버는 웹 검색과 소셜 네트워크 서비스 등이 스마트 폰 서비스의 핵심으로 보고 이에 보다 주력하고 있다. Despite its dominant position elsewhere, Google has lagged far behind Naver in the Korean search engine market. But with Web searches and other Web-based services going mobile with the growing popularity of smartphones, Google is looking to narrow the gap with Naver with a variety of mobile applications and services. Two executives in charge of Google's mobile applications and services business visited Korea and held a media briefing on Google's mobile strategy in Seoul yesterday. "We think that Korea is just beginning to see these (mobile internet) trends perhaps a year later than many other countries like the United States, or Western Europe. But there are clear signs that this is now happening in Korea," Hugo Barra, Product Mangement Director of Google, said at the briefing. The rollout of Apple's iPhone in Korea late last year has invigorated the country's sluggish smartphone market, prompting local carriers and vendors to launch smartphones including Android-based ones. "We will see a lot of these smartphones, particularly Android devices coming to the (Korean) market, and a whole new ecosystem of clouding computing-based applications will be born," he said. He demonstrated a number of Google's mobile services such as Voice Search, Google Goggles, using its Nexus One Android smartphone. One of the services is to search, text message and translate languages using Google's voice recognition technology. "Instead of typing, I can just speak," Chang said. Google plans to launch its Voice Search service "as soon as possible" in Korea, Ted Cho, engineering site director of Google Korea said. "The Voice Search service is strategically important for Google," he said. Google is also looking at expanding the deployment of Google Voice, a mobile calling application, in Korea and elsewhere. "It is a process that requires working with the telecom operators as well the regulators so we are in the process of doing that in many places around the world, we have nothing to announce at this time," Barra said. In the face of a growing threat from Google, Naver, Korea's dominant search engine, has introduced a decade of smartphone applications and set up a "mobile center" dedicated to its mobile business early this year. Naver has focused on mobile search, "personal Web environment," and social networking services, which they believe are one of the killer services for smartphones. "We think that we are ahead (of Google) in understanding what local users like, and reflecting that into services," a spokesperson said. Although Naver is far ahead Google in both PC and mobile web market, the gap is smaller in the mobile arena. Google, which held a single-digit share in the PC web market, grabbed a 23.1 percent share in the mobile web market in January, according to local market research firm Matrix. Naver controlled 82.6 percent of mobile web usage that month. Mobile search engine Feeling threat coming from Google, NHN, the operator of Naver, said its search engine should be pre-loaded into smartphones, along with Google which is being currently offering as the default search engine for the iPhone and Android-based smartphones. Naver CEO raised concerns that having Google as the default search engine prevents Naver and other search engines from entering the mobile market, and therefore hinders competition. However, Google Korea said that its Android operating system has never forced operators to use Google as the default search engine, and that operators opted for Google and its services. "From my view, it is a fair choice made by operators," Cho said. "Android is developed as an open platform - certainly we like to have Google as a default search, but it is the carriers' option as to what type of search or other services that they like to provide," Ann Mei Chang, Engineering Director of Google, said. About rumors that Apple may replace Google with Microsoft's Bing as the iPhone's default search engine, she said, "We have not been notified of the change, but it is possible (for Apple to change its default search engine). Google executives declined to comment on a news report yesterday that Google is working with Intel and Sony to develop Internet-connected televisions. Meanwhile, Chang downplayed speculation that Google-Apple relations have soured, saying, "Apple has for many years been a phenomenal partner of ours." "Apple is a very strategic partner for Google. It has always been," he told The Korea Herald. (hjjin@heraldm.com) By Jin Hyun-joo