Chapter 138: Monetization Model

Dojin Industries.

Immediately after the negotiations with A-ple.

I was looking out at the scenery visible through the window.

The city outside was bustling with activity, but the conference room was filled with a quiet stillness.

At that moment, the door to the conference room opened, and Han Yu-ju and Hong Jin-man entered.

“CEO, A-ple has officially announced jOS 3.0.”

“So, they’re going back to a closed ecosystem?”

Han Yu-ju showed me the screen of her laptop.

Steve Nops was on stage, shouting the slogan of jOS 3.0.

[One device, one ecosystem]

[A premium smartphone and A-pad with jOS 3.0.]

Nops declared that starting with jOS 3.0, they would reintroduce the closed strategy that had been partially modified when moving from jOS 1.x to 2.x.

Additionally, A-ple’s App Store would implement stronger security and approval procedures to block all apps linked to Lunar and only allow apps exclusive to jOS.

“Impressive.”

Even after losing that much market share, they still found a way to survive.

“Some existing jOS users will resist, but loyal customers will support Nops’ decision.”

“Of course. A closed strategy would actually be more advantageous for maximizing A-ple’s premium image.”

Hong Jin-man added with a worried expression.

“But if A-ple tightens its App Store approval process, won’t our key apps like KTalk, Pang Pang, and Ani-pung get removed?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“They might want to, but they won’t be able to.”

“Because of the low-power cache interrupt parallel processing system patent, right?”

I nodded at Han Yu-ju’s words.

“It’s a patent they can’t do without if they want to develop their own AP.”

Nops had already agreed to include KTalk, Pang Pang, and one additional app on the A-Phone under the condition of using that patent.

At my words, Hong Jin-man laughed as if his worries were unfounded.

“In the end, no matter how much they talk about building a closed ecosystem, they’ll have to be partially dependent on us.”

“That’s right.”

I leaned back in my chair and continued speaking.

“Nops declared they would withdraw the framework and switch to a closed system, but the rules we set have already become the standard.”

So, no matter how much they struggle,

It would be difficult to completely break free from Lunar’s influence.

Han Yu-ju added with a bright smile.

“As you said, our Lunar ecosystem is expanding even more rapidly. Major app developers in Europe and Asia are also competitively adopting our SDK.”

“Even if A-ple pushes hard with jOS 3.0, it’ll be difficult to reverse the trend.”

I nodded, looking out the window.

“Now, the battle for mobile OS dominance is pretty much over.”

Han Yu-ju confirmed my words.

“As of yesterday, Lunar’s market share surpassed 65%. Conversely, jOS’s share, which was around 29% last week, dropped sharply to 25% after the announcement of the closed policy.”

Hong Jin-man shrugged and continued.

“Since A-ple has returned to a premium strategy, we can say we’ve dominated the mass market.”

“That’s right.”

Thinking it was time, I looked at Han Yu-ju and Hong Jin-man.

Then I asked a question.

“Does either of you know Dojin Soft’s current financial status?”

“…Yes?”

“Suddenly, financial status?”

Han Yu-ju and Hong Jin-man blinked simultaneously, but

Neither could answer my question.

“I knew it would be like this. What’s the point if you’re only good at coding? In the end, we need to make money, but you have no interest in that.”

I showed them Dojin Soft’s financial statements with a frustrated tone.

Han Yu-ju and Hong Jin-man looked surprised when they saw them.

“CEO, were we in the red?”

I nodded with a dry laugh at Hong Jin-man’s absurd response.

“Dojin Soft has produced huge hits like Lunar, KTalk, Pang Pang, and Ani-pung, but the problem is we still don’t have a proper monetization model.”

Hong Jin-man asked with a puzzled expression.

“Wait, just looking at KTalk, the downloads are 100 million… no, almost 200 million now. That wasn’t all turning into revenue?”

“Downloads and revenue are separate. Plus, unlike Microsoft, we’re not even charging an OS usage fee for Lunar.”

“…That’s true. Since we released the kernel and core APIs as open source.”

Moreover, KTalk, Pang Pang, and Ani-pung also had no ad model,

And there was no monetization model using user data.

Han Yu-ju asked,

“Then… how has Dojin Soft been operating until now?”

“We’ve been surviving on the sales revenue from lenses, camera modules, and the Quantum smartphone.”

I zoomed in on the screen to show a specific section.

Dojin Soft’s second-quarter operating loss was marked at -185 billion won because the development and maintenance costs for Lunar, and the server operation costs for KTalk, Pang Pang, and Ani-pung were enormous.

‘Even though Pang Pang’s revenue is increasing, it’s still far from covering the deficit.’

Hong Jin-man muttered, unable to close his mouth at the unexpected amount.

“The deficit… was this big?”

“Even though Lunar and KTalk were mega hits, they alone aren’t generating profit.”

Of course, until now, we had intentionally done that to increase market share.

But now, it was time to find a monetization model.

Han Yu-ju nodded in understanding.

“Since what we’ve created has dominated the market, it’s time to move on to the next chapter.”

“Right. That’s why I’m asking. What monetization model would be good?”

“First, how about starting an emoji service based on KTalk?”

I exclaimed at Han Yu-ju’s words, the first to raise her hand.

I thought she had no particular ideas in this area since she hadn’t shown interest before,

But she started with a fairly effective suggestion.

“Not a bad idea. Open an emoji store, and let individuals create and upload emojis, which users can purchase and use in messages.”

“In that process, we take a sales commission.”

“But will that really make money? Even if they sell, it’ll only be 1,000 to 2,000 won…”

Hong Jin-man was skeptical,

But that was because he didn’t know the market potential of the emoji store.

Even before the regression, the annual revenue of the KTalk emoji store exceeded 1 trillion won.

‘Of course, back then, KTalk was only commercialized in the domestic market, but now I’m targeting the whole world. The scale won’t be comparable.’

“We’ll judge later whether it makes money or not, but let’s push forward with the emoji store right away. And tell Heesoo to create a representative character that suits our company.”

“A representative character?”

“If we create emojis with it and distribute them for free, it’ll also help raise the company’s brand image.”

“Ah, that’s a good idea. Even people who don’t use paid emojis will use the free ones at least once.”

“Right. Then our company name and brand will become familiar.”

“I’ll get started right away.”

After the conversation about emojis Han Yu-ju mentioned ended,

This time, Hong Jin-man proposed another monetization model.

“How about creating a game platform?”

“The smartphone market opened, and the phone game market grew rapidly.”

Of course, our Ani-pung contributed significantly to that.

Since it allowed distributing games by linking in-game friend invitations and ranking sharing based on KTalk accounts.

“By allowing game distribution through the platform and taking a commission from developers, we can generate decent revenue.”

“That sounds good. The KTalk game platform will manage messenger-based social games, and the Lunar App Store will handle independent apps and games.”

In fact, aside from the emoji store Han Yu-ju mentioned and the game platform Hong Jin-man talked about, there were countless monetization models based on KTalk and Lunar.

Still, I asked them to focus not just on software development

But also to pay attention to finding monetization models.

“Besides these two models, discuss ideas with Dojin Soft employees and report the organized materials at next week’s meeting.”

“Understood.”

Dojin Group weekly meeting.

The materials Han Yu-ju prepared were displayed on the central screen of the conference room.

It was the organized material on Dojin Soft’s new monetization models as I had instructed.

“Currently, Dojin Soft’s core services are four.”

[Lunar], [KTalk], [Pang Pang], [Ani-pung]

Besides these, we manage the in-house ERP system and intranet, but

In terms of proportion, it’s not even 1%.

Executive Vice President Hong Chung-ki exclaimed when he saw the names of the four items.

“Each one has shaken the market.”

Not to mention Lunar and KTalk,

Ani-pung was such a successful product that many people bought smartphones just for it.

“But the problem is all those services are free.”

I replied to Hong Jin-man’s words.

“Still, since we decided to operate the emoji store and game platform, we’ll start generating some revenue now.”

“Actually, what you mentioned last time is being actively developed by our employees.”

Han Yu-ju said that within about a month, the emoji store and the game platform within KTalk could be launched.

“So, besides the two just mentioned, what additional monetization models are there?”

Han Yu-ju moved to the next slide.

The third monetization model was written there.

[Building a Lunar App Store advertising platform]

“Currently, the Lunar App Store only has basic app distribution functionality, but we plan to add an ‘advertising platform’ that generates revenue through in-app ads.”

Han Yu-ju displayed the revamped structure of the Lunar App Store on the screen.

Each app page featured recommended app ads, banner ads, and pop-up ads.

“And if app developers insert in-app ads, we’ll take a portion of the ad revenue as a commission.”

“What’s the ad revenue share ratio?”

“It’s a 7:3 split between the app developer and us.”

I nodded.

“Not bad.”

One might think 30% for us is small,

But since we’re getting 30% without doing anything, it’s by no means a small amount.

And developers also need to take home a certain level of revenue to stay motivated.

“But won’t users leave if ads are too excessive?”

Han Yu-ju immediately replied to Executive Vice President Hong Chung-ki’s concern.

“So, we plan to proceed with personalized ads.”

By providing personalized ads through user data analysis

And adjusting ad frequency based on user preferences.

“Personalized ads… That would definitely increase ad efficiency.”

This was actually something I had somewhat anticipated.

Ads were already being used as a monetization model on platforms like Neiver and Google.

As if reading my thoughts,

Han Yu-ju flipped through the materials again and explained the next monetization model to me.