IT company Sabiclub.com Corp. and listed ICT firm IPVG Corp. recently launched the iHooked Internet Café, the first of a chain of Internet and network gaming centers aimed at students and consumers.
iHooked’s design is based on Korea’s “PC bang,” a stylized Internet café popular in the country. It was developed and built together with Sabiclub Corp., a Korean IT company.
The first iHooked is located along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City in front of Ateneo de Manila University. It has over 60 top-of-the-line PCs, a spacious wireless Internet lounge, a bar, and a sitting room allowing costumers to order food from the bar.
Dong Hun Lee, president and CEO of Sabiclub.com, says they designed iHooked to look like a home’s living room area so that visitors will feel more comfortable using the facilities.
“iHooked is designed to let everyone — video game players, Internet users, friends and families — to feel at home,” Dong says.
IPVG CEO Enrique Gonzalez adds, “As strategic partner of Sabiclub, we work closely together on a number of fronts. Sabiclub is a channel into the Internet café business and the Korean market.”
The iHooked Internet Café is a spin-off from Sabiclub’s Station 168, another chain of Internet cafés built mainly for an international clientele.
Dong reveals that they plan to host online gaming tournaments, which will draw huge crowds of players and Internet users.
Dong says 20 more branches are in the pipeline. The next iHooked Café will be built near De La Salle University on Taft Avenue in Manila. Dong says they are in the process of reviewing other locations.
iHooked charges will initially be at P36 per hour, but the pricing could be adapted depending on the location of the new branches.