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Daum and KakaoTalk merge
Daum與KakaoTalk合并
Getting the message
獲取消息
The latest tie-up between messaging apps and broader online firms
通信應(yīng)用程序與大型互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司的最新聯(lián)合。
IN THEORY Daum, an internet portal in South Korea, is acquiring Kakao, a startup whose messaging app, KakaoTalk, is on most of the country's smartphones. In practice, it is the other way around: the merger unveiled on May 26th gives Kakao's shareholders the lion's share of the new company, although Daum has more revenue, profits and staff, plus a stockmarket listing. The deal, valuing Kakao at $3 billion-odd, shows that messaging apps are still hot property.
Daum作為韓國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)門戶網(wǎng)站，合并新興公司—kakao，存在于大多數(shù)國家的智能手機(jī)中的消息應(yīng)用程序。事實上是這樣的情況：合并的消息于五月二十六日公布，給予kakao的新公司股東以最大份額，雖然Daum擁有更多的收入，利潤和員工，再加上，上市時kakao價值30多億美元，這也標(biāo)志著通信程序仍然是朝陽產(chǎn)業(yè)。
Hottest of all is WhatsApp, a Silicon Valley startup with 500m users, which Facebook bought in February for a staggering $19 billion in cash and shares.The same month Rakuten, a Japanese internet firm, paid $900m for Viber, founded by Israelis but based in Cyprus. Alibaba, a Chinese online giant, paid $215m for a slice of Tango, another Silicon Valley firm, in March. Tencent, Alibaba's rival, owns WeChat, which has almost 400m users. It also runs QQ, an older messaging service, and has a stake in Kakao.
最熱的是WhatsApp，這個擁有5億用戶的硅谷創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。二月份，facebook驚人地用190億美元的現(xiàn)金和股票將其收購。當(dāng)月，日本互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司樂天，支付9億美元收購由以色列人建立，以塞浦路斯為基地的Viber。3月，中國網(wǎng)絡(luò)巨頭阿里巴巴，為另一個硅谷公司Tango支付215億美元。阿里巴巴的競爭對手騰訊公司，旗下的微信擁有近4億用戶，老通訊服務(wù)QQ也在運(yùn)營，并擁有kakao的股份。
The South Korean deal means yet another pairing of a broader internet company and a messaging startup. The youngsters seek extra heft—for instance, like Kakao, in marketing. The oldies get a trendy mobile product. Daum doubtless hopes that KakaoTalk, which is installed and registered on 145m devices, will help it combat Naver, South Korea's leading portal. South Koreans do not just use the app to chat: it is also a popular platform for mobile games, from which Kakao makes most of its money, and for sending both digital and physical gifts. Naver, too, owns a messaging app, Line, with 400m users, but it is based in Japan.
韓國的這次交易意味著迄今為止又一個一個大型互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司和一個新興通信公司的配對。年輕者尋求額外有分量的依托，就像市場上的kakao。老者將得到一個時髦的手機(jī)產(chǎn)品。Daum無疑希望kakaotalk可以在145億的設(shè)備上安裝注冊，這將有助于打擊韓國領(lǐng)先的門戶網(wǎng)站—NAVER網(wǎng)。韓國人并非只將應(yīng)用程序用來聊天，它同樣是一個流行的手機(jī)游戲平臺，kakao大部分的錢也是由此而來，用來發(fā)送數(shù)字禮物。韓國NAVER網(wǎng)同樣擁有一個消息應(yīng)用程序—LINE，擁有4億用戶，只是它建立在日本。
The market is highly regionalised: most friendships are local, after all. Kakao has been trying to break out of South Korea, where it is running out of room. It is concentrating on Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, but it faces stiff competition from Line and WeChat. Which app if any will conquer the globe is an open question—though WhatsApp, with most users and Facebook's billions, looks the most powerful. Perhaps none will. People may end up using several—as they did with desktop messaging services in the internet's first wave.
市場是高度區(qū)域化的：畢竟大多數(shù)的友誼是帶有地域性的。kakao一直試圖打破韓國這個運(yùn)營空間。它將目光集中在印度尼西亞，馬來西亞和菲律賓，但它面臨著LINE和微信的激烈競爭。雖然WhatsApp擁有最多的用戶和facebook數(shù)十億美元的資金，看起來似乎是最強(qiáng)大的一個，但該應(yīng)用程序是否能夠占領(lǐng)世界市場還是一個開放性的問題——也許不會?；ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)的第一次浪潮可能會以人們使用幾個不同的桌面通信服務(wù)程序而告終。
