KaKao

[Seoul, South Korea - May 29, 2015] KakaoTalk, Korea’s number one messenger application was shown to be the most frequently visited messenger per user, leading significantly in number of sessions.

According to the 2015 Internet Trend Report, published by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers(KPCB) and presented by its partner Mary Meeker, KakaoTalk was shown to be the number one app in number of sessions*. In this case, “sessions” refers to a usage session or opening of/engaging with the app. Topping the list with 55 sessions, the app was shown to be used 1.5~7 times more than the other five messaging apps on the top 10 list. These results are significant in that it shows that messengers are the most used apps globally, and also in that it shows KakaoTalk to be the most frequently visited and heavily replied on app per user, proving its potential to be one of the most influential services among its users.

These facts were revealed at Recode’s Code conference by Mary Meeker, an analyst renowned for her Internet Trend reports that hold a strong reputation for providing in-depth and accurate insights on Internet industry trends since 1995.

This year’s Internet Trend report focuses on how much web and mobile have penetrated our everyday lives. One of the report’s foci was the power and influence of messenger apps. She demonstrated that messaging apps like KakaoTalk have already transcended simple communication and become platforms for gaming, commerce and payment, media, taxi services and beyond. Meeker pointed out that if such trends continue to play out globally, mobile messaging leaders may evolve into central communication hubs.

Brandon Park, who heads the KakaoTalk service department at Daum Kakao said, “We are extremely proud to see that KakaoTalk is the application with the highest session generation,” and continued, “As a service that is used with devotion and incredible frequency, we are confident that KakaoTalk will be able lead the transition a messenger into a mobile life platform,”

At present, KakaoTalk is the number one messaging app in Korea with more than 38 million MAU in the country alone, with more than 97% penetration. Based on high traffic and concentrated user base, KakaoTalk has led the trend of platformization of messaging apps. As a mobile social platform, KakaoTalk has played a key role in connecting people and businesses in new ways, from commerce, content, ads, games, payment and more, and is now driving innovation to evolve into a mobile lifestyle platform. 

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*Source: KCPB Internet Trend Report, sourced from Quettra “Mobile Insights, Quarter 1 – 2015”. Data ranked based on usage. Quettra analyzes 75MM+ Android users spread out in more than 150 countries, collecting install and usage statistics of every application present on the device. Q1:15 data analyzed three months of data starting from 1/1/15. Data excludes Google apps and other commonly pre-installed apps to remove biases. Only apps with 10K+ installs worldwide and 100+ DAU are counted.

http://kpcbweb2.s3.amazonaws.com/files/90/Internet_Trends_2015.pdf?1432738078