A promotional image provided by Naver Webtoon.
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign tech giants are entering the webtoon market, indicating a possible paradigm shift in the Korean-dominated industry.
Last month, Amazon.com, Inc. launched Amazon Fliptoon, a webtoon service, on the Kindle Store. Additionally, Apple Books, an e-book platform powered by Apple Inc., launched a vertical reading manga column.
South Korean webtoon production companies such as Kidari Studio and Lezhin Comics are currently supplying content to Amazon Fliptoon, while Kenaz is working with Apple Books for web comics.
This indicates that worldwide readers are becoming familiar with the South Korean webtoon system.
South Korea is, in fact, the birthplace of webtoons.
Content-wise, South Korean web-based comics have wider channels to engage with Japanese readers. However, the country may lose dominance in the webtoon platform industry.
Unlike K-pop or K-drama, webtoons and their platforms have primarily been led by South Korean companies in the global market.
Nevertheless, the industry is more or less unaffected by the incoming big-tech challengers.
Kim Joon-ku, CEO of Naver Webtoon, stated in an open seminar last month that big-tech companies like Apple and others will “struggle to compete with South Korean companies,” adding that they already have a “large pool of webtoon creators and readers.”
South Korean companies have invested considerable time in pooling local creators and have already become the world’s largest platform for both creators and readers.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
