Kakao (CEO Lee Je-beom, Lee Seok-wu) announced on February 8 that it launched Voice Talk, a mobile VoIP service, in Japan. The new service is for free and real-time voice communication in Kakao Talk chat rooms.
Users can try it by updating their Android Kakao Talk application. The service is limited in Japan for now. Those in Korea can enjoy it by picking up a call someone in Japan makes via the application. The company is planning to launch the mVoIP service in more countries down the road.
Currently, Kakao is considering Japan as the foundation of its global business growth. It is in this vein that it has established a local branch office there to concentrate investments. Still, the country has been home to advanced mobile Internet services and the people have preferred e-mailing over text messaging. As such, the concept of smart phone-based mobile messenger is rarely taking off there.
Besides, NHN’s mobile messaging service Line is winning over users at a rapid pace nowadays to pose a challenge to Kakao Talk. The former has recorded over six million download hits in Japan so far while the latter has posted 1.7 million or so. Line’s popularity is attributed to its successful penetration into the niche market of free voice call.
