14 DAY TRIAL // The South Korea market is again targeted by the Mountain View company after Google managed to sign a deal with the largest mobile network provide in the country, SK. The partnership will allow the mobile carrier to implement Google's adverts on its mobile phone portal starting with the second half of this year. According to MarketWatch, the two companies aim to present the adverts to approximately 20 million of mobile phone owners using the SK's mobile portal.
"More than 20 million subscribers of SK's mobile services will be exposed to advertisements when they use Google's search engine on their mobile phones, said a company spokeswoman. Revenue from the search ads will be shared between SK and Google, she said. The plan is part of an agreement reached in October last year, when SK signed a contract to use Google's search-engine technology for its wireless Web portal, Nate," MarketWatch reported today.
The Korean market was one of the "prohibited" territories for the search giant as Google had numerous attempts to conquer the Asian market but every time, it was quickly rejected. First, it was the local giant Baidu that is often described as the Chinese Google that offers almost the same products as the original Mountain View product. Moreover, it seems like Baidu prepares a European conquest that will challenge Google as most of the continent's residents are using the search giant's technologies.
Even if Baidu managed to steal the majority of users targeted by Google, the Mountain View company was also affected by the local clients that seemed to be more interested in Baidu's products than Google's. Then, the company's officials sustained that their image is affected by approximately 300 fake agents that pretended to be hired by Google and tried to sell the search giant's products without offering any product.