November 29, 2024

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Tmax Group founder Park Dae-yeon delivers a speech at SuperWeek 2022 held on Tuesday in Seoul. (Tmax Group)

South Korean enterprise software developer Tmax Group on Tuesday unveiled plans to launch a tool through which enterprise clients can build business apps tailored to their own needs without writing code.

SuperApp Studio, an app-building tool that Tmax believes can become a Korean equivalent to Microsoft's Power App or Amazon's HoneyCode, will be designed to allow people without knowledge of programming languages to skirt technology barriers in the app development process without hiring app developers.

SuperApp Studio will also address the increasing maintenance cost that stems from information technology functionality gaps, enabling the new apps -- dubbed SuperApps -- to operate even in the metaverse environment.

Moreover, the SuperApps created through SuperApp Studio will follow a set of technology standards that will show the same performance in different operating systems, devices or app markets, according to the company.

Tmax Group representatives told press that the key behind the technology is Tmax's ability to use its own cloud technology to put together the compartmentalized database.

"We are envisioning apps developed by app users," Kong Sang-hui, chief executive officer of TmaxCloud, said in a press conference held as part of its SuperWeek event Tuesday.

"SuperApp will be a paradigm shift for the world where everyone is a prosumer and everyone is an end-user, with a tinge of cloud technology."

Tmax aims to launch the full-fledged version of app-building tools by next year, with parts of services setting sail later this year, as the group has spent around 500 billion won ($363.7 million) over the past 12 years to develop the platform, according to the group.

The announcement indicates a growing competition in the Korean market of app development platforms where app developers do not require knowledge in programming languages such as Java and C. IT solution provider LG CNS has launched the no-code development tool DevOn, while internet giant Naver came up with Clova Studio earlier this year.

Tmax Group, founded in 1997 by a system software engineer and a former professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Park Dae-yeon, operates a wide range of technology arms dedicated to office solutions, data set management, cloud, artificial intelligence and metaverse. Tmax Group shareholders sold its controlling stake in key software arm TmaxSoft to Korean private equity firm SkyLake Investment in January.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)