Google`s New Strategy for the Korean Market: Cloud Computing

Google is currently the most popular international search engine, and on February 26, the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of its R&D Center, Kannan Pashupati, landed in Korea. During his five-day visit, finishing on March 2, he plans to examine preparations for Google R&D Center in Korea.

In an interview with this newspaper on February 27, he said, “Google will make significant inroads into the Korean Market this year. Establishing Google R&D Center for Korea in April shows our commitments.

He added, “What Google wants is a market with world class researchers and highly developed mobile and Internet infrastructure; of which South Korea has both. It really is a very attractive place.”

- Google announced its plan to establish an R&D Center in Korea last October. How is this project developing?

“It is set to open in Seoul in April. We have already hired scores of engineers, who are currently completing training courses at Google’s headquarters. We could employ hundreds more if they of adequate standard. Trained engineers will participate in research related to the company’s global strategy as well as service development specialized in the Korean market. Sociologists such as linguists could also be recruited if necessary and new graduates are also welcome.”

- Google ranks No.1 among the 100 best companies to work for. Will the R&D Center in Korea share the same working conditions as Google’s headquarters?

“Absolutely. We will serve gourmet foods and provide billiards tables, recliners with massage functions and gyms, to help rid our staff of stress. We never order them to do anything. We encourage our employers to work voluntarily, and push them to be innovative in the process.”

- What is Google’s plan for the Korean market?

“Google operates under the 70/20/10 formula. We spend 70 percent of our time on core research and advertising; we spend 20 percent on adjacent businesses – those related to our core businesses in interesting ways; and finally, ten percent of our time is allocated to work that is new and innovative. We will apply this formula to the Korean market.”

- In Korea, UCC (User Created Content) is very popular. How does Google manage YouTube, the free video sharing website that the company acquired last year?

“We acquired YouTube to boost Google’s video search function. We will allow users to search all moving images on the Internet, as well as YouTube and Google Video content.”

- In Korea, Google`s worldwide popularity lags behind domestic web portals which provide a search function.

“We have been understaffed in our focus on the Korean market. However, things will pick up when our R&D Center opens. We will strive to gain more share of the Asian market as well as the Korean market.

- Google is a search engine, but Korean web portals provide various additional services. The Korean people are simply not familiar with Google-like web searching.

“We don’t create content. We provide access to existing content in the fastest possible manner, no matter what the content. We call it ‘cloud computing.’ But for users who want something different, we will also focus more on a ‘personalized homepage.’ This will provide users with tools to customize and organize their own homepage.”

sublime@donga.com