POCKETSPACE (www.pocketspace.co.kr), themobile game specialist, has been developing mobilegames and providing service through mobile serviceproviders in Korea and abroad. It is remarkable thatthe company has been concentrating on "sports"only. It recorded the sales of KW2 billion in 2003.According to the company's president Kim Do-sik,POCKETSPACE ranked the middle among the top 30companies, which takes in about 80% share of thetotal annual sales of local 500 mobile gamecompanies. The company was established in Marchof 1999 as one of the front runners for the mobilegame companies. Though it was incorporated inMarch of 2000, it follows Com2us, the first mobilegame company considering the year of itsestablishment being 1999. Kim Do-sik, the president of POCKETSPACE, passesthrough "A man who was born for the games." Mycuriosity about him disappeared upon calling upon him for aninterview. More than 40 software items for the PS2 and theXBOX at a glance were densely piled up in his office. Taking acloser look at them, I realized that those software items were notlocal games, but original Japanese games. I was very much interestedin those games and when I expressed my envy to him, hesaid, with pride, that he had ten times as many game softwareitems at his home. He said he felt relieved to buy one when a newgame software came out. And, he continued, " Since I am not freethese days, I cannot enjoy playing games, and he pointed a stack.
Kim Do-sik, the president of POCKETSPACE, passesthrough "A man who was born for the games." Mycuriosity about him disappeared upon calling upon him for aninterview. More than 40 software items for the PS2 and theXBOX at a glance were densely piled up in his office. Taking acloser look at them, I realized that those software items were notlocal games, but original Japanese games. I was very much interestedin those games and when I expressed my envy to him, hesaid, with pride, that he had ten times as many game softwareitems at his home. He said he felt relieved to buy one when a newgame software came out. And, he continued, " Since I am not freethese days, I cannot enjoy playing games, and he pointed a stack of video game machines left in the corner of his office. He hasnever lost a game. I realized that he was a veteran game playeramong the industry's CEOs.Since childhood, playing such games was his hobby and hisspecialty. Kim Do-sik, born in 1973, started his business in 1999,when he was 28 years old. His business career is only that heworked for an internet related company as the team manager ofbusiness strategy for one year. He had no reason to delay startinghis own business because he believed he was destined to becomethe business man of games. The only reason he had to be with thecompany for one year is that he had to wait for Lee Joon-hee'semployment contract, the present head in charge of development.
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of video game machines left in the corner of his office. He hasnever lost a game. I realized that he was a veteran game playeramong the industry's CEOs.Since childhood, playing such games was his hobby and hisspecialty. Kim Do-sik, born in 1973, started his business in 1999,when he was 28 years old. His business career is only that heworked for an internet related company as the team manager ofbusiness strategy for one year. He had no reason to delay startinghis own business because he believed he was destined to becomethe business man of games. The only reason he had to be with thecompany for one year is that he had to wait for Lee Joon-hee'semployment contract, the present head in charge of developmentof the games at POCKETSPACE, to expire, because Kim himselfis not an engineer.
Venture businesses should give up their "shortsight" and concentrate on a sound target marketKim Do-sik first wanted to start an on-line game business.However, because it required a lot of investment money and manpower,he decided to do a mobile business to save money for it.Now, four years later, he thinks that it was right for him to havestarted a mobile business.He believes that because mobile handsets' performance isnoticeably developing day by day, mobile games will surpass allother games sooner or later. At present, on-line and video gamesexcel in quality and quantity. Yet, the boundary between wire andwireless will not always exist and mobile handsets' performancewill not fall behind those of video game machines or desktop PCsin the near future.
The mobile games, by which users can play games at any timeand at any place different from where the games are located atdesk or indoor, will surpass them soon. And so, Kim Do-sik saidthat he would definitely create a mobile game business after 5 or10 years.
Concerning the current market situation, in which 500 mobilegame companies take part, he said, "It is because of their "ShortSight," the local venture companies face their major problems."He experienced quite a few companies that forget their businessphilosophy to go astray due to their "Short Sight," by which theydecide easily to venture into other business. Therefore, he, fromthe beginning, has devoted himself to only "sports" among avariety of mobile games. He has prefixed "Pocket" to all hismobile games. It may remind one of the Japanese "PocketMonster," but it does not matter at all. And, he named "Pocket -"for his company to emphasize that the company is a specializedgame company for mobile handsets, which users can carry byputting the games into their pockets.
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The company's leading games include baseball, basketball,football, tennis, boxing, golf, etc. "Baseball" was very popular,with 600,000users in Korea. Regarding the question to why he sticks to thesports games despite it may lose female users, he said, "Because Ilike the sports, and I can do them well."He stressed, "The life span of mobile games is said to be rathershort, because the games follow ever changing fashion tastes andmeet a current social demand." So, he does not make licensedgames of famous movies or TV dramas. He made it a rule toshow off simple, but not boring, and high quality games. He always plays the new games himself upon their being developedbefore launching. If he concludes that some of them are not satisfactoryto him, he does not hesitate to abandon them. It is hisbusiness mind-set that if a game is entertaining to him, then itcould entertain others.It is a venture business to work with good people.Owing to it, the number of POCKETSPACE's new games isless than half of that of other's. But, the product's quality is wellaccepted well all over the world.POCKETSPACE's mobile games are serviced not onlythrough three local mobile service providers, but also through theKDDI of Japan. Its games are serviced not by a single sportsgame, but under the title of "Pocketsspace Zone" which combinesall sports. Besides, the company's games are serviced as anexample via J-Phone, T-Mobile and Verizon in Japan, the US andEurope.He is confident that though "sports" mobile games aredeveloped a lot by game companies abroad, none of them haveclosely competed with his firm yet.
Over four years of his steadyefforts of sticking to "sports" games have brought such a result.The company's slogan this year is "Global Market."POCKETSPACE is now setting up corporate companies inJapan, Germany and the US, and it has organized a businessteam, exclusively for the global market. And, POCKETSPACE ison course in developing mobile games for KDDI's platform, amain business partner for POCKETSPACE in the first half of thisyear, 2004. Later, it will develop such games again for the localKorean mobile service providers.
These days, Kim Do-sik often plays basketball with hisemployees in the gymnasium near the company after work.Sometimes, he plays football with his close friends. He has, also,taken part in the districtsociety of Bundang, a new town near Seoul, as a baseballplayer. He said, "POCKSPACE has never lost a game at thefootball matches with Web ENG Korea. " Regarding hisphilosophy on life, he replied, "Endless Change." Since CEOs ofventure companies usually have to face a lot of difficulties, it isessential that they should be capable of dealing with the difficulties.He feels satisfied in encountering users on the street whoare enjoying the mobile games of POCKETSPACE. He endedwith, "I hope I can devote my lifetime to my favorite field whileworking happily with my good employees."
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