Korean mobile operators SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus, in partnership with domestic ISP Naver, have launched a unified app store. The new mobile application market dubbed ‘One Store’ targets users of Android-based devices, The Kore Times reports. The new app market combines SK Telecom's T Store, KT's Olleh Market, LG Uplus' U+Store and Naver App Store.
"We plan to foster One Store as the nation's leading mobile marketplace where customers can purchase diverse apps, games, e-books, music, video-on-demand content and smartphone accessories", said an unnamed official at One Store.
The management of the new app market will be led by a subsidiary of SK Telecom established in March. Naver has also participated in this move by selling its app store for KRW 4.5 billion in April. KT and LG Uplus will pay a commission to One Store for the profits they generate.
The integrated app store is expected to have an initial base of 30 million users. The integrated app store enables customers to keep their market accounts and purchase records even when they change mobile networks. User can also sign into One Store using their existing Naver, Facebook or Google accounts.
Via their One Store platform, the four companies plan to compete against Google Play, which holds a 51.4 percent share of the domestic mobile app market, and Apple Appstore with a 33.4 percent share. One Store is only downloadable on mobile devices with the Android operating system and is not available on Apple devices.
