Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most widely used mobile messenger KakaoTalk, is striving to transform itself into an all-around lifestyle platform that connects users with diverse businesses and services.

Kakao will embark on this new direction with a repositioning of its “Plus Friends” feature -- corporate accounts on KakaoTalk that let firms send out promotional messages to users who add them.


In the future, “Plus Friends” will go beyond being a one-way marketing channel for brands and reposition itself as an easy-to-navigate commerce platform for both users and brands and alike, Kakao said.

This week, the firm unveiled the new “KakaoTalk Order” feature -- which lets users order food from local food franchise brands by clicking a button within the brand’s “Plus Friends” chatroom.

Payments can be made via Kakao’s simplified mobile payment system Kakao Pay as well as regular credit cards or cash. Users are informed of the delivery process in real time via KakaoTalk messages.

As it looks to introduce more tech-savvy services for local users, Kakao has recently set out to heavily invest in artificial intelligence technology development, joining other global internet technology companies already headed in this direction.

Last month, it invested 20 billion won ($17.5 million) into forming a new subsidiary dedicated to AI research and development, Kakao Brain, which is being led by Kakao’s founding Chairman Kim Beom-su.

By adopting AI into its mobile messenger platform, Kakao aims to introduce new, cutting-edge features such as an artificially intelligent chatbot system that can handle complex tasks, including consumer inquiries, restaurant reservations and online shopping support.

Meanwhile, the Korean mobile tech giant is continuing to nurture the remaining pillars of its business -- content and game publishing.

Kakao Page, on which users can freely view or purchase episodes of web comics and novels using cash points, plans to introduce a “win-win” advertising model that will reward points to Kakao Page users who participate in a brand’ s promotional campaign.

By completing a task required by the brand -- be it watching a 30-second commercial, clicking on three videos on a particular website or downloading a particular mobile game -- users can obtain cash points to be used on Kakao Page, a company official explained.

Kakao Games will continue to diversify its game publishing platform to expand its market influence. To attract casual game players, it launched “KakaoTalk Game Star,” available as a tab within the mobile messenger app.

It hosts simple games featuring KakaoTalk’s signature characters that can be played directly on the page without downloading an independent app. 

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)