Korea's SK Telecom has earmarked up to 1 trillion won ($896m) to build a mobile apps platform that can challenge Google and Apple.
The company said it intends to turn the planned “service platform” into one of its core businesses, focusing on the US, China and southeast Asia.
It said it would begin by transform its existing T Map, T Store and text messaging services into platforms, exposing the APIs and base technologies to developers for the first time in a bid to promote openness.
In an interview with FT.com, Jung said that the ultimate goal was to “eventually compete against Google, Apple and Nokia in the operating system area” through the creation of a mobile OS co-developed by multiple operators, he said.
The OS would be based on Linux, and follow a similar model to the open-source Android, the Korea Timessaid.
The move is also seen as a way to finally break out of the stagnating domestic market and expand internationally – the company said it will seek to establish the business both domestically and in China, Southeast Asia and the US.
The operator has also set up a “collaborative innovation center” to provide support for application start-ups, offering developers up to 50 million won in start-up capital to create apps for the platform.
“SK Telecom has developed over 5 million content applications since it opened [internet service] Nate in 2001. Yet due to the lack of scalability, they could not be expanded in the domestic market, let alone the global arena,” SK Telecom CEO Jung Man-Won said.
It will focus on seven areas – LBS, commerce, messaging, content distribution, social networking, B2B and common platforms such as mobile advertising and wireless personal area networks.
SK Telecom's previous attempts to expand internationally have failed. Its US mobile business, Helio, racked up a stream of losses before it was sold off in 2008, and the company withdrew from the Chinese market last year.
MORE ARTICLES ON: Android, Apple, iPhone, Nokia, SK Telecom, Smartphones