Redefining Global 3.0 service from the IWILab Inc. [April 1, 2009, Seoul, South Korea] BICON MEDIA Corp. (www.mybicon.com) today announced that the mobile 2.0 service has merged with IWILAB Inc. ( "http://www.wisia.com" www.wisia.com), resulting in the premier Web and Mobile Internet Service Provider. Consequently IWI (Innovation With Internet) Lab Inc. plans to offer a series of Global 3.0 Internet services later in this year.  In addition to the great management team at IWILAB Inc., lead by the CEO, Brian Kim, former founder of NHN, #1 portal, now Jay Lee, founder of BICON, MIT Media Lab grad, joined the IWILab as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). With the upside potential for the combined company, the most innovative and trendy internet service will be introduced by redefining the converged service platform between Web and Mobile. 

BICON is the first consumer-facing Mobile Widget service in Korea, launched its user-generated mobile widget feature over the #1 wireless Carrier, SK Telecom’s mobile IDLE screen service last May, follow by other Korean carriers WAP services. In less than a year, the service has attracted the users who created more than 15,000 mobile widgets up to date and partnered with Microsoft, ZDNet Korea. The company’s ASP has also delivered various Web2.0 services from WZDfactory, OnOffmix, KoreanBlog, Facebook, Friendster,etc. globally. As an Internet service incubator, IWI (Innovation With Internet) Lab Inc. has also launched two Web2.0 beta services: one is WISIA, an interactive polling community – the wisdom of crowds, and the other is a social bookmarking – Buru in the border of US and Korea. Especially WISIA chart service become #1 Web2.0 service in Korea, which encourage people to pick the best items over 150,000 charts that are created and interacted by the users. 

“For the past years, it is still questionable that how the most Web 2.0 services become a self-sufficient from user-generated or collaborative Web transactions. Meanwhile, next business intelligence has been driven by Mobile sector, so called open application marketplace.” said Jay Lee, the new CSO of IWI Lab. “Every one of constituencies will confront on the newly formed business model. Questions are still remained, however, such as the accessibility with an identical value of the converged user experiences, and a scalable and operational efficiency on top the open marketplace, he added. One of the most exciting benefits of this merger is the ability to drive the truly Global 3.0 service with the converged platforms between Web and Mobile. With the timely merger, IWILab Inc. will be able to offer Global user new converged services, including various a la carte Web and Mobile applications that are associated with social community and open mobile application Marketplace.

Hosted by Kmobile and sponsored by BICON Media Corp. The latest Korean widget service provider, including BICON, SKT (#1), KTF (#1 and #2 Korean wireless Carieers), to the ISP portal Daum Communications, Samsung Mobile (#2 Global handset manufacturer) , and Web2.0 widget community site, wzd.com, presented their own views and services. The new service trend, mobile widget, is taken by mainstream and become a hot issue in the next generation service of ISP and Mobile. Over 200 registered audiences reflected their interests on Mobile Widget space, that ties to the next mobile marketing channel.

The First International Mobile Content Awards, nominating excellent Mobile Content from across the world, selects the winner after two sets of proper evaluation processes to maintain fairness and objectivity by Panel of Judges comprised of global experts in Mobile Content business. The winner is announced at the awards ceremony on September 26, 2008. Held in conjunction with Conference- digital content & CT forum, exhibition, events linked to Culture Content Industry, the Mobile Content 2008 creates the perfect environment to see the all content business, get the idea of new creation and meet the right people in content business face-to-face Mobile Content 2008 means heart of content business.

BICON (Cross Media Widget) becomes one of 16 finalist of Mobile Content Award 2008. The Mobile Content 2008 is held to lead progress in the mobile content industry and facilitate networking through conferences with the aim of exchanging information on mobile content, core of the new media generation, as well as awards to honor outstanding mobile content production in Game, Music & Video, Infortainment & Community, etc. Conference seeking for global trend and development course in Mobile Content and New Media field will promote active interchange among Mobile Content companies and provide substantial business market. The program is crafted around focused theme days to provide comprehensive and concentrated insight and strategy into the most important business and trends influencing mobile content industry.

In addition to Facebook, BICON apps is also available to use on Friendster, which records 36M Unique monthly visitors on June 2008. Especially the Friendster’s Mobile service in South East Asia gets popular to combine mobile SMS messaging through its mobile social networking service. BICON’s Frienster application allows mobile users to check the lastest of their web favorites as well as update thier friends’ notification and send an unlimited messaging through data network communcation without additional cost. Another words, the BICON’s micro-casting feature provides the mobile user to send unlimited SMS messaging to anyone who has taken the user’s bicon on their mobile dashboard. Managing my best 16 Friendster’s friends or keeping track of my best 16 Web feeds… these new trends will attract the 70M Frienster users globally.

Mobile Coverage: In addition to its JAVA enabled client software that is able to download to mobile phone through its website, BICON also launched m.mybicon.com which allows Global mobile users can now stay connected anytime, at anywhere, at any phone models. Especially the Korean mobile users can access the site via just typing 4416+mobile Internet key (Nate, MagicN, EZi), regardless of carriers and phone models. The extended mobile coverage truly opens up its user-basis connectivity.

As an affiliated personal ad network to the open widget service, take-click.com is a unique Mobile CPC ad platform that delivers timely ad campaign to the target mobile users 24-7. Once advertisers perform ad campaign with their brand icon as a form of sponsored bicon, the users can pick and choose the bicons thereby allowing them to be in control of what they want to see and to consume on their mobiles— higher probability of mobile click to converts that leads into significantly improved performance in target marketing. The world’s first TNC ad reporting system also keeps track of analyzing how many times the ad bicon is taken to a mobile phone and who click-and-link to the marketers’ designated web or mobile sites. Including mobile game publishers and consumer shopping sites, 20 ad campaigns running on TNC now, have found a great ad ROI compared to existing mobile marketing channels such as SMS/MMS/WAP banner. With 11,000 ad campaigns, BICON Company’s IP protected TNC will generate 17.7M dollars in 2010 Korean market only, in addition to its Mobile CPC solution sales revenue to existing mobile and online ad networks.

As an Open Widget Portal, mybicon.com is a brand new venture that aims to foster the  (Mobile Web 2.0) open widget service globally. Look forward to your great feedbacks and your valuable insights to build a better bicon community. 

Founded in June 2007, BICON Company is a Silicon Valley basis Cross Media Widget provider. BICON known as weB+ICON, distributes and synchronizes one’s favorite Web feeds with mobile widget, so that the users easily personalize and access to their favorites on-the-fly.

With the advanced mobile Web market from S.Korea, the Delaware Incorporation has its subsidiary entity, BICON Media corporation in Seoul to develop its engineering excellence. Combining the passion of people, the openess of the Mobile Web network, and the optential of widget technologies, BICON’s next generation Cross Media Widget service is available through Social Network Service like Facebook, Friendster, in addition to BICON’s website, covering 90% of handsets exist today.