The Second Revolution
August 3, 1999. The third and final day of IDDC 99 had arrived. After the successful unveiling of the iWorks notebook packed with cutting-edge technology on day two, attendees of IDDC 99 left the venue clutching their gift packs, yet they couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
A game console!
The end of ID Group's partnership with Sony had long been public knowledge, and it had come as quite a shock to gamers. Sony's PlayStation 1 had enjoyed solid success even in the United States. In North America alone, tens of millions of units had been sold, with new titles flooding the market every week. The PlayStation 1's architecture closely resembled that of a PC, and its development environment was one developers already knew well. Sony had also made licensing straightforward, allowing anyone to create games without excessive difficulty. The PlayStation 1's victory in the 32-bit console wars owed much to Android OS and its development tools.
Yet Sony had been the one to declare the split. In response, rumors quickly spread through the industry that ID Group would enter the console market. The company had already inquired with CPU manufacturers Intel and AMD about custom models and large-scale orders, and the same questions had gone to VGA card makers. ID Group even housed a world-class game development studio. Most tellingly, when ID Group merged three major Korean electronics firms into ID Electronics, people immediately suspected the conglomerate was preparing its own gaming hardware.
That was why, upon seeing the IDDC 99 schedule, many had assumed the second day—featuring the NewEgg 3 and iWorks 2nd Gen announcements—would also include the console market entry reveal. But no such announcement came. Whispers that ID Group might have abandoned its console plans began circulating, and concern grew as the third day dawned.
“NextCom, the world's first and greatest portal site, has grown alongside the history of the internet.”
On day three, the main stage belonged to Henry Samuel, president of NextCom. The day's program featured keynote speeches from internet companies, and NextCom—highest in rank and boasting the largest user base—would open the proceedings.
President Samuel's words made it clear that the history of the internet was, in essence, the history of NextCom. With the creation of the World Wide Web and the establishment of HTML, the internet entered the mainstream, and soon after came NextCom, the very first portal site. Though much time had passed, NextCom's dominance remained unchanged. It held an overwhelming first place in North America, ranked first or second across European Union nations, and led the market in both Korea and Japan. Its cumulative registered users had long surpassed one hundred million, and its diverse premium services and exclusive paid content continued to win widespread affection.
Simply put, no one any longer considered the word “webtoon” a neologism. The premium webtoon service, structured around the rivalry between Marvel and DC, remained immensely popular, with new titles steadily added. The fears once held by the two comic publishers—that paper book sales would decline—had become reality. Comic sales in physical form continued to fall. In their place, revenue from internet content delivery grew steadily.
Next Music had grown so large that it had spun off from NextCom as an independent entity. NextCom hosted countless services of this scale.
“And with IDDC 99 as our starting point, we intend to launch our second revolution—mobile services.”
President Samuel boldly proclaimed the second revolution. As the words left his mouth, the address m.nextcom appeared on the main stage screen.
“We have completely rebuilt every NextCom service to run in a mobile environment, optimized around the T-Touch Phone's resolution.”
A hint of moisture touched his voice. After receiving Yoo Jae-won's directive to adapt all of NextCom's services for mobile, the company had been in constant upheaval. No one had known exactly how to structure the pages or what new services to introduce. Yet Henry Samuel was the sort of man who gave his absolute best when faced with difficult challenges. He had started from nothing when bringing broadband internet to America and ultimately succeeded, making the United States the nation with the world's most advanced internet infrastructure. Other countries had since followed with their own IT revolutions, and Korea's growth in particular had been nothing short of explosive. Its compact territory and high urban population density had made rolling out asymmetric high-speed internet like ADSL relatively straightforward. As a result, Korea now boasted the fastest internet speeds, followed by Japan and then the United States.
Still, adapting every NextCom service for mobile had felt as daunting as the early days of broadband deployment.
“Accessing the NextCom mobile page is as simple as replacing www with m in the address. If that feels inconvenient, you can download the NextCom mobile app from the App Store for even easier access.”
Yet Henry Samuel had succeeded. That was why he could proudly unveil the NextCom mobile page address before hundreds of people on the main stage. Anyone visiting the address right now could use it immediately. He chose not to mention that detail, however. He knew all too well that when large crowds in a confined space tried to connect to the internet simultaneously, connection failures would spike. Moreover, the already limited data speeds of 2G would degrade further under heavy load.
Instead, President Samuel made full use of the main screen. Following Yoo Jae-won's example of connecting the T-Touch Phone to the screen for a demonstration, he launched straight into a live demo. First, he accessed NextCom through the T-Touch Phone's mobile browser. Then he downloaded the NextCom mobile application from the App Store and used it. Both connection methods were available, and the displayed interfaces looked identical—though the speed difference was obvious. The dedicated application was noticeably faster.
NextCom's mobile pages were optimized for one-handed use, with layouts rearranged to fit the compact T-Touch Phone display. Fonts had been chosen for maximum visibility, making the experience markedly superior. President Samuel demonstrated using the mobile-exclusive app to access a wide range of existing NextCom services, drawing audible admiration from the audience. It was a world apart from the frustrations of using the PC version on a small screen.
“Even so, this alone falls short of true innovation.”
President Samuel smiled like Santa Claus about to reveal a surprise gift.
“It is my great pleasure to announce two brand-new NextCom services.”
The gift was not one, but two.
“First, allow me to introduce Next Answer.”
As he spoke, the main screen came alive with a lively animation of countless questions being entered into NextCom's search bar.
“When we use the internet, we type keywords into the search bar to find related information. Yet answers are rarely easy to obtain. Now, with Next Answer, solutions appear as if by magic.”
No matter how powerful a search engine might be, it could never create information that did not exist. Next Answer was exactly what its name suggested: a knowledge-sharing service where users could post questions and receive answers from those who possessed the relevant information. Through the collective efforts of countless users, it would build its own database—an encyclopedia written and expanded by the users themselves. The service's impact had proven so powerful that a Korean portal site in the twenty-first century had used it to instantly become the nation's largest.
“There are no restrictions on posting questions or answers. Questioners may designate the most helpful response as the official answer. This process generates points. Accumulated points can be used to purchase items for customizing your avatar or converted into credit usable across ID Group's various web services.”
Although the service had previously operated without compensation, Yoo Jae-won had decided to offer rewards this time. He despised the notion of “passion pay” in any field. Would he personally bear the entire cost of these points? Not at all.
“Answers that achieve high quality and accuracy and are frequently cited will also display advertisements through AdSense.”
The advertising system of Android ME, AdSense, had arrived.
“Advertising revenue will be split fifty-fifty with the answerer. If multiple answers exist, distribution will follow various criteria. Should a higher-quality answer later receive more recommendations, the distribution ratio will naturally adjust.”
The true power of AdSense lay in its ability to attach itself anywhere. For now, advertisements would be text-based with links, but as internet speeds increased they would evolve into images and eventually video. As President Samuel explained, revenue would be divided equally between the answer poster and NextCom. Although ID Group had built the advertising platform and created AdSense, the system could not survive without user participation, which was why the revenue split had been made so generous. As he noted, high-quality answers with strong view counts would generate significant ad impressions and, consequently, substantial payouts. Simulations suggested that an answer reaching fifty thousand views could earn its author between two and three hundred dollars. While the amount felt modest, as the online advertising market expanded and ad quality improved, payouts would naturally grow.
“Hmm.”
President Samuel, gauging the audience's reaction, felt a twinge of disappointment. The response had fallen short of expectations. The combination of Answer and AdSense was nothing short of brilliant. The synergy was so impressive it practically begged for the exclamation “As expected of the chairman.” Moreover, it served as the clearest demonstration that AdSense was not confined to the operating system but could be applied anywhere on the internet. Yet it seemed no one in the audience had reached that conclusion.
“Our second service will exceed your expectations by one hundred and twenty percent.”
Setting aside his disappointment, President Samuel revealed his second hidden card.
“Allow me to introduce Next Maps.”
ID Group's naming convention had always been straightforward. The icon that appeared on the main screen was a simplified map. President Samuel immediately tapped it to launch Next Maps, revealing a map of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Using two fingers, he demonstrated zooming in and out to freely adjust the map's scale. At maximum zoom, even recently created alleyways near the convention center became visible. Zooming out far enough displayed not only the entire United States but a full globe. He spun the globe, selected Korea, and zoomed in again to reveal Seoul. The precision was not yet high. Digital maps required painstaking manual work, and NextCom had only begun preparing Maps less than a year earlier. Currently, efforts were focused on the United States, with only major metropolitan areas completed. Outside America, the only country with a prepared digital map was Korea.
“Let me show you a bit of magic.”
With a playful expression, President Samuel pressed a button at the bottom of the Maps app. The simplified digital map transformed into something resembling a photograph—a satellite image.
“For the Maps application, we purchased map data from GeoCity Global, a specialist in satellite imagery, and from Keyhole. It cost a considerable sum, but starting today we are offering satellite maps free of charge to NextCom and T-Touch Phone users.”
Gasps of awe rose from the audience. Many were seeing a high-resolution satellite map of Silicon Valley for the first time. And it was free! While not at military satellite levels, GeoCity Global's imagery was detailed enough to distinguish individual vehicles. Furthermore, because NextCom's various services exposed their core functions through APIs, developers could leverage them to create even more powerful applications.
Applause erupted spontaneously. With that, President Samuel concluded his presentation on NextCom's renewal and new services.
The person who took the stage next was the one everyone had been waiting for—Yoo Jae-won. With his usual confident stride, he ascended the stage, a cardboard box marked with a clear X in his hands.