Thinkware`s CEO, Kim Jin-Byum

When Mr. Kim Jin-Byum, CEO of Thinkware Co. has a meeting with his important clients, he arranges an opportunity for a ride in his car. Kim thinks that his car equipped with his company’s Vehicle Navigation System is an ideal place to brief his company’s technology and product excellence.

In practice, most people who ride in his car are impressed by accurate and handy direction finding guide which appears on the PDA screen by his company’s Navigation System.

A glimpse of speed monitoring camera guide, traffic situation check, various information functions to his clients is quite handy in cases of tough business negotiation.

Soon there will be a product with voice-activated functions. It could be handy if actual-size traffic signs appear on the direction finding screens.

There are many ideas for new product development in Mr. Kim`s mind. However, due to real world limitation many ideas can`t be actualized yet. Most common medium of vehicle navigator is a PDA and his ideas are beyond its ability.

“Our new product, the ‘I-navi Ace’ utilizes a special PDA to partly solve this dilemma,” describes Kim.

The ‘I-navi’ PDA Navigation System by Thinkware takes up over 80% of PDA navigation market share. The ‘I-navi’ was designed by Kim, who majored Electronic Science in the Seoul National University. He designed the product based on Global positioning System (GPS) utilized traffic information software, when he left the Daewoo Communications Research Institute in 1997.

The Maptopia (www.maptopia.com), an internet map and regional information service and portable electronic map service are key businesses of Thinkware Co.

Thinkware Company`s telematics software is also used by Pine Digital’s ‘Tango’, Nestech`s ‘Carmen Eye’, SK telecom`s ‘Friend finder’, ‘Traffic Information Services’ and others.

Last year, Kim`s company showed off its technology skills by being the first Korean company to export telematics software to Autohellas Corp. in Greece.

“Positioning based cable and wireless navigation market will grow greatly in the future. We will put our utmost effort in the R&D and continue to surprise the world with new and shocking products,” promised Kim.

Tae-Han Kim freewill@donga.com