South Korea's homegrown app marketplace One Store said Thursday it will evolve into an “all-in-one store,” bringing app downloads, payments and instant-play games onto a single platform as the company marks its 10th anniversary.
“The (global) app market is now in an era of upheaval,” CEO Park Tae-young said during a press conference in Seoul.
“Korea’s revision of the Telecommunications Business Act became the starting signal for global legislation targeting app markets, and courts in the US, Japan and the EU are moving in a direction that allows external payments,” he added.
One Store said it will move beyond its traditional role as an app download platform by launching One Web Shop, a direct-to-consumer payment service that allows developers to sell digital content to users through web-based channels.
For game developers, the service is designed to reduce the burden of building separate versions for different app markets. Instead, they can introduce a web shop within their games using One Store’s existing payment integration system.
Payments made through One Web Shop will carry a total fee of 8 percent, including payment gateway charges.
“Until now, app markets and web shops have been seen as separate, and at times competing, channels,” Park said. “With One Web Shop, One Store wants to make the two channels complement each other.”
The company also introduced One Play Game, a service that lets users play casual games instantly without downloading or installing them. The service is scheduled for official launch next month after a pilot run, the company said.
Launched in 2016 as a joint venture between the country's three mobile carriers — SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus — and Naver, One Store has recorded 8 trillion won ($5.38 billion) in cumulative transactions and 7.4 billion downloads over the past decade.
In 2018, the company became the first in the industry to cut its in-app payment commission from 30 percent to 20 percent. One Store said the move has reduced costs for developers and users by a combined 1.2 trillion won.
“If the past 10 years were a journey in which One Store grew into Korea’s leading local app marketplace through a bold fee cut, the next 10 years will be about expanding the role of the app market and leading change,” Park said.
One Store said it aims to reach 2 trillion won in transaction volume by 2030 and provide developers with cumulative benefits worth 1 trillion won, including commission savings from One Web Shop.
yeeun@heraldcorp.com
