
In the future, KakaoTalk, a national messenger, will be available on Android operating system (OS)-based tablet devices including Galaxy Tab. In the meantime, KakaoTalk became KakaoTalk on Apple’s tablet device, iPad, but there were quite a few complaints from users that it was not available on Galaxy Tab.
According to related industries on the 18th, Kakao is currently preparing a version of KakaoTalk corresponding to some Android operating system-based tablet products. It is known that development has already progressed considerably inside Kakao, and only the release time needs to be decided. Until now, KakaoTalk users could only use KakaoTalk with their smartphones on the Android operating system (OS). I was able to install the KakaoTalk app on my tablet, but when I log in, my smartphone KakaoTalk account is logged out, so I couldn’t use it properly. Tablet devices using the Android operating system including the Galaxy Tab were not supported. For this reason, Android operating system-based tablet users had to use KakaoTalk as a bypass method. When KakaoTalk Android tablet version is released, such inconvenience is expected to be resolved. However, it is known that this version does not support all Android operating system-based tablet devices. Galaxy Tab, the representative Android operating system-based tablet, will be supported.
Kakao originally developed Kakao Talk as a smartphone app. Not only Android but also Apple’s iOS operating system supported only smartphone apps. However, in line with the spread of tablets, it has released a dedicated version that supports the iPad since 2018. It’s been eight years since KakaoTalk’s iOS version was released in March 2010.
On the other hand, it is said that the Android version at the time had difficulties in development. An official in the information technology (IT) industry said, “If you use the Android operating system, it is not easy to distinguish between a smartphone and a tablet, whereas the iPhone and iPad are explicitly separated.” It could happen, so there would have been a difference in the order of application.” In addition, it seems that the release of KakaoTalk, the Android OS tablet version, is delayed because extensive work is required to set up a separate development team depending on the device and OS. This is because once released, all updates and maintenance must be performed the same as the rest of the version.
A Kakao official said, “It is in the stage of preparing for support through internal review of Android operating system-based tablets,” he said. “However, it is difficult to confirm supported tablet products and release time.”
[오대석 기자]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]