Korean Software Titan ESTsoft Seeks U.S. Service Provider Partners
If you’re not familiar with the Korean computer market, ESTsoft’s name may not ring a bell. But its desktop application suites have led the company to market dominance in Asian markets, with a claimed 90 percent of all PCs in Korea running the company’s antivirus, file compression, image viewing and media player applications. And as of today, ESTsoft is making a play in the United States for the consumer desktop with its ALtools suite. Here’s why service providers should pay attention.
While ESTsoft isn’t going after enterprises anytime soon, a company spokesperson confirmed that such a move is in the cards. Its first goal, however, is to boost its brand recognition to the point where MSPs and ISPs alike see the value in a partnership to sell ESTsoft solutions to customers.
But ESTsoft is coming into the market from an interesting position: the company claims 25 million users (including many in the government and education markets) and several strategic partnerships on its home turf. And its international software offerings range from business utilities to video games.
It may be a year or more before we see the company even begin to make channel moves. But ESTsoft has made its fortune on a freemium approach, specializing in turning freeware users to premium customers – and that may give it a leg up in the channel when the time comes.
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