April 19, 2024
Mobile & Internet
Naver to spin off mobile video messaging app Snow
[THE INVESTOR] South Korean Internet giant Naver said Wednesday that it will spin off its mobile video messaging app Snow as an independent company next month, encouraged by the app’s surging popularity across Asia.
Camp Mobile, Naver’s mobile business unit, plans to separate Snow into an independent company, to be named Snow Corp., on Aug. 1 with aims to nurture the app’s future growth with more efficiency, according to Naver.
Kim Chang-wook, who has been leading the development and launch of Snow at Camp Mobile, will become the chief executive of Snow Corp., Naver said.
Released in September 2015, Snow is a mobile messaging app that allows users to exchange video messages and photos with other users. It offers a diverse range of camera filters that can add shining eyes, bunny ears, police costumers and more to selfies and videos.
As an emerging competitor to Snapchat in Asia, Snow has quickly garnered popularity among Asian teens, particularly those in Japan and Southeast Asia. The app has racked up around 40 million downloads on app stores in the nine months since its launch, Naver said.
In allowing Snow to stand on its own, Naver is looking to nurture the app into Asia’s leading video-sharing interactive mobile messenger, just as it did with its flagship mobile messenger Line.
“We decided to spin off Snow as an independent unit to give the app more independence and efficiency in pursuing sustainable growth in the respective Asian markets where it has been successful so far,” Naver said in a statement.
Naver’s latest move is seen as part of its continued efforts to pioneer and nurture new, promising services in the highly competitive information technology business dominated by foreign giants such as Google and Facebook.
During a press conference earlier this month, Naver founder and board chairman Lee Hae-jin vowed to make “bold investments into new technologies to create new business areas to excel in,” including the globalization of its self-developed services such as Snow.
From Aug. 1, Snow Corp. will function as a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of Naver, as is the case with Camp Mobile.
By Sohn Ji-young / The Korea Herald (jys@heraldcorp.com)
Camp Mobile, Naver’s mobile business unit, plans to separate Snow into an independent company, to be named Snow Corp., on Aug. 1 with aims to nurture the app’s future growth with more efficiency, according to Naver.
Kim Chang-wook, who has been leading the development and launch of Snow at Camp Mobile, will become the chief executive of Snow Corp., Naver said.
Released in September 2015, Snow is a mobile messaging app that allows users to exchange video messages and photos with other users. It offers a diverse range of camera filters that can add shining eyes, bunny ears, police costumers and more to selfies and videos.
As an emerging competitor to Snapchat in Asia, Snow has quickly garnered popularity among Asian teens, particularly those in Japan and Southeast Asia. The app has racked up around 40 million downloads on app stores in the nine months since its launch, Naver said.
In allowing Snow to stand on its own, Naver is looking to nurture the app into Asia’s leading video-sharing interactive mobile messenger, just as it did with its flagship mobile messenger Line.
“We decided to spin off Snow as an independent unit to give the app more independence and efficiency in pursuing sustainable growth in the respective Asian markets where it has been successful so far,” Naver said in a statement.
Naver’s latest move is seen as part of its continued efforts to pioneer and nurture new, promising services in the highly competitive information technology business dominated by foreign giants such as Google and Facebook.
During a press conference earlier this month, Naver founder and board chairman Lee Hae-jin vowed to make “bold investments into new technologies to create new business areas to excel in,” including the globalization of its self-developed services such as Snow.
From Aug. 1, Snow Corp. will function as a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of Naver, as is the case with Camp Mobile.
By Sohn Ji-young / The Korea Herald (jys@heraldcorp.com)
