Just recently Korean social networking site, Cyworld opened offices here in the U.S. to take on MySpace, but now it looks like MySpace will soon have a strong foothold in Asia: Softbank reportedly just inked a deal with MySpace to launch a joint venture called MySpace Japan. So far, it's just speculation, but News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch said "That's certainly a possibility," when asked about the rumored 50-50 MySpace joint venture with Softbank. The service will only be available through PCs initially, but the companies plan to roll out mobile access to the site soon thereafter. Users will be able to blog from their handsets and post pictures, too. Helio, which is a JV between EarthLink and SK Telecom, had an exclusive contract with MySpace in the U.S., but that exclusivity recently expired. Let the mobile social networking wars begin!
For more on Cyworld:
- see this article from the AP