South Korea's homegrown app marketplace One Store will challenge Apple Inc and Google Inc in the global app market by offering customized services that cater to local demand in each country, the company's president said on Wednesday.
“We provide services tailored to local needs. This differentiates us from Apple and Google, who operate their app stores with uniform policies regardless of country,” OneStore CEO Jeong Dong-jin said at a press conference.
Based on the so-called hyper-localization approach, One Store will share technology and know-how in operating an app marketplace to develop localized services for different regions and countries.
South Korean app store operators have decided to work with local partners in each country to quickly expand into overseas markets with localized services.
The company explained that it will provide the platform and content, while its partners will provide local payment tools and marketing promotions under local brand names.
Taiwan was the first overseas market the company entered with a country-specific service, and it partnered with Happytuk, the country's number one game publisher, which operates the game portal site Mangtot5, which has over 4 million members, to launch a localized app marketplace.
According to One Store, since the beta service began in June, the new app store has added more than 200 game apps, including “Candy Crush Saga” and “Cookie Run: Tower of Adventures,” and the number of downloads has exceeded 20,000.
ONE Store for iOS in the EU
Following Taiwan, One Store plans to expand into the US later this year through partnerships with well-known local companies, and into the EU and Japan next year.
Chung said the company is already in talks to forge partnerships with major mobile phone carriers in the United States and Europe, raising hopes that One Store's app marketplace could come pre-installed on smartphones sold in those markets.
The company is currently developing an app store for iOS that it plans to launch in the EU next year after Apple changed its policy to allow third-party app stores on iOS in the region following the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) coming into force in March.
The change will undermine the dominance of the Apple App Store as the sole distributor of iPhone apps.
John said the One Store has already earned its place as Apple's “alternative app marketplace.”
The company said it plans to roll out localized app stores in other countries beyond Europe over the coming period through Android-based Google Play.
Supported by game developers around the world
One Store has high hopes for the global gaming company as it expands globally.
Epic Games has agreed to offer the global hit game “Fortnite” on the One Store.
Nate Nanzer, vice president and head of global partnerships at Epic Games, said during a press conference that the company is looking forward to adding the mobile versions of Rocket League: Sideswipe and Fall Guys to the One Store.
He welcomed the global expansion of One Store, which is expected to enable Android users around the world to experience new ways of enjoying mobile apps.
One Store is a Korean native app marketplace that was launched in 2016 by integrating the app stores of South Korea's three major mobile carriers and Naver Corp.'s app market.
SK Square holds the largest stake with 46.5%, followed by Naver, KT, LG Uplus, Microsoft and Krafton.
The company also raised $10 million from Nasdaq-listed Digital Turbine in February.
One Store provides Android OS apps, games, and various content in Korea, with 15 million monthly active users, over 800 million cumulative downloads, and a 17.3% annual growth in total merchandise volume.
The company had aimed to go public in 2022, but scrapped the plans due to weak demand from institutional investors.
The company plans to resume the IPO process within the next two to three years, but that will depend on the results of its global expansion, Chong said.
“We will be IPO ready from 2022,” Chong said. “By 2030, we will be the most powerful app market in the world.”
Write Lee Seung-woo leeswoo@hankyung.com
This article was edited by Sookyung Seo.