it was the dawn of Cyber-Space . Koreans twinkling on the black monitor screen adorned with white letters were amazed at the information high-way BOTH at work as well as home over 1990, when a greener, multi-color actually, dimension opened to the World-Wide-Web . very few local start-ups struggled to find out what it was all about, themselves before even contemplating to make money on it .
1997 when barely a few Korean portals were poised to see what was going to happen, the American search engine now armed as a mighty portal landed on the Peninsula, with an intriguing conception as its exclaimation point ! it was a time another American marvel : Motorola was the coolest in mobile communications .
although its search engine reigned for a while, Korean portals with finer knack into local culture, which was swiftly migrating with young trends, found their own space . they were still few, but quite large . there were almost half a dozen camps, to eventually be reduced or rather concentrated to again HALF of that as a generation changed over the Millennium, and a decade even after that .
as with Wal-Mart before (1998~2006), it was still there BUT you could sense the soul wasn’t . it is as interesting even though NOT a happy ending, to see you many reflections of these in the international brands I mention on top menu : how some integrate amazingly over-time into local culture, and others afloat with no-one seeming to know where – head office abroad as well as local branch clerks AND its curious consumers . the first give-away is their automated-translation tone on their website, and the tone of technical support personnel .. as if mumbling in Mars . it is a stark contrast to how well Yahoo and even Apple, is operating in neighboring Japan and Hong Kong, truly as a well-planned AND understood local branch .
the news came mid-October 2012 abruptly to local media, as to almost 200 Yahoo Korea employees : that it was shutting-down end of the Year . it wasn’t even big news, NOT even close to another iPhone release, for the glory was long past faded, when everyone was so possessed with the new gadgets and service . many wondering what would happen to its local Weather update, than others -_- quite quiet announcement to users was that all Korean service would halt by the end of the year, and would have another Month in January 2013 to migrate to the American site .
