An information portal for dwellers of the same apartment building aiTia (www.aiTia.co.kr) that opened on March 29 and based on actual data of 27,000 apartments nationwide and 6.5 million households is the talk of the town. The site heralds the possibility of commercial transactions of a new form, based on trading between apartments in the same building. Apartment residents can transact all types of business via the portal, be it a slightly used article, a new article or someone simply looking for work. In other words, this site offers a closed market for dwellers of the same apartment building. Kim Young-sam, president of Comm & Biz Inc. who opened this site, says that the market so created demonstrates the three great points of reliability, immediateness, and cost reduction. Because seller and purchaser are living in a same apartment building they tend to trust each other and do business anytime through impromptu meetings. Moreover, in that market where there are neither distribution costs nor commissions, from now on, the thousand won fee to effect a transaction will make trading very much easier, the company president said.

Park Sam-kyu, KCAB president

He explained that a market such as aiTia where consumers are clustered together in one place has not existed to date in an on-line form. The president further says, iTia wants to create a new market by means of the Internet explaining that off-line consumers can even gain access to such a market. He is confident that an apartment could be an excellent market, and that starting from aiTia, Comm & Biz Inc might revive aspects of Korean community culture, including fine traditions such as a farmer co-operative group or Hyangyo. iTia will not only be about trading slightly used articles but also services such as making food, extracurricular work and taking care children. All these things can be transacted through the site Kim said. Kim who single-handedly brought about an alumni reunion boom with Love Schoolin late 2000, points out that Korean apartment culture is a peculiar one, which can be found in another countries. There are about 4,000 large-sized apartment complexes over 500 households nationwide, but on line, apartment buildings have not been looked on before for business purposes. Mr. Kim approached the apartment building as a market rather than a community. Inside each household, it will be full to the brim with unused things, he explains. In that regard, he states that an apartment becomes a good market because residents can easily do business in the vestibule or in a playground. The company president underscored that an added advantage of the site is that in addition to resource reutilization, it can do much to help revive the economy, too. In a word, aiTia is a site that apartment residents can make themselves, he stresses. aiTia membership subscription is simple. Through a real name authentification, an applicant can become a member of the site after they input their ID and password as well as their apartment building number/an administrative area code/and the number of their apartment. Comm & Biz Inc services break down into three kinds and include a space for children, called ur home a transaction market between residents of the same apartment building and apartment community space. Regarding his philosophy as to which direction the Internet business will likely go, Kim said that when the government gains the will to nurture diversity, Korea could be an Internet venture power. In particular, Kim expresses great hopes for the future of the aiTia site, adding that it is no match for the Love Schoolsite of the past.