KakaoTalk Introduces Localized Kpop Emoticons Through Carrier Billing

The text messaging war is definitely on in Indonesia. In recent weeks, representatives from WeChat, KakaoTalk, and Line have made their ways to Jakarta and held a number of events to get to know the market better as well as get in touch with their partners directly to expand and strengthen their partnerships. On Monday Kakao issued a press release announcing new emoticons for KakaoTalk users on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry. These emoticons are official digital merchandise from high profile Kpop acts Girls Generation, KARA, SHINee, Rainbow, and Yoo Seung Ho.

Thanks to Kpop, Indonesians are becoming hungry for many popular as well as traditional Korean culture and it is certainly a major drawcard for any Korean service looking to increase its exposure across the archipelago. Kakao clearly isn't oblivious of this fact and partnering with Korean music labels will only improve its appeal to KPop fans in the country.

The sticker sets each cost Rp 3,300 and available to purchase only by KakaoTalk users on Android but they can also purchase them as gifts for their friends who are using other mobile platforms. Since KakaoTalk has carrier billing agreement with Telkomsel, KakaoTalk users on the network can take advantage of this, if they don't have Google Wallet set up for Google Play, to purchase the stickers. The company did say that it is working on expanding the billing agreement with other carriers in the country.

Indonesia is the second country after Japan in which KakaoTalk has launched its Kpop emoticon sets and as an unnamed spokesperson said in the press release, "Indonesia is one of the most rapidly growing markets for us, reaching the record-high message volume on 17th January 2013 when there was a flood disaster in Jakarta. We hope the emoticon addition helps further enrich Indonesian users’ experience with KakaoTalk".

Kakao is also holding a series of online events for five days beginning today until Friday, 8 February and each day there will be 20 people selected at random to win the sticker of the day. Details of the event can be found on the press release.