Seoul — Google, the world’s leading search engine, is expected to beef up its alliance with Daum Communications, Korea’s No. 2 Web portal, to make a full-fledged attack on the local market.
Google’s chief will visit South Korea this week to discuss business cooperation with local partners, officials said Monday.
A source familiar with the issue said on Sunday that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is scheduled to hold separate talks with Seok Jong-Hun, president of South Korea’s second-largest portal Daum Communications, and with Kim Shin-Bae, president of top local mobile carrier SK Telecom.
"Schmidt and Seok will meet in Seoul on April 30 to discuss a broader partnership between Google and Daum," said the source declining to be named.
"As far as I know, they have two agendas — showing audio-visual footage of YouTube at Daum’s video services and demonstrating Daum community service content at Google’s search results," he said.
Google started its Korean-language search site in 2000 but has struggled to boost its presence in the country. Nearly three-quarters of homes have high-speed Internet access but many prefer local services.
It has forged ties to provide mobile phone services with Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in addition to SK Telecom.
"The meeting between Schmidt and Seok will cover a broad range of issues and ways to enhance partnership," a Daum spokesman told AFP.
The source said the hook-up can be a win-win formula for the two companies, which have good reasons to do so.
Should Daum feature numerous video clips of YouTube, which Google acquired late last year, the nation’s turbulent Internet business landscape is expected to change to the benefit of Daum.
Daum is currently a distant second-placed player in the domestic Internet industry dominated by perennial leader Naver. In return, Google will be able to gain access to the rich database of Daum’s popular community services, dubbed Cafe, which retains huge content.
Google and Damum agreed last December to cooperate in the online advertisement market. Daum is running Google’s cost-per-click search ads, one of the fastest-growing types of Internet advertising. And rumors have had it that the two corporations will strike more deals to beef up collaborations.
"The renewed alliance will enable Daum to challenge Naver while Google will be able to secure a platform to make inroads to the local market in full swing," the source said.
Yonhap news agency said the two would discuss providing user-created content posted on Google’s YouTube through Daum’s website. YouTube is the world’s most popular online video-sharing service.
SK Telecom officials said their partnership with Google would focus on mobile products and services. Mobile telephones equipped with Google software applications will enable users to search the Internet, check emails and map their routes.
Google Korea said that Schmidt will visit Korea this week to participate in the Seoul Digital Forum 2007, and he will also be the keynote speaker at the annual conference.
But it refused to confirm the CEO meeting and so did Daum.