PavingWays

Today I read an interesting post on http://www.mobileburn.com. China Mobile has outranked Vodafone as the world’s largest mobile phone operator. It is really surprising, because Vodafone serves the worldwide market and China Mobile only the Chinese market. Latest figures indicate that China Mobile serves 200 million customers - Vodafone “only” 186.8 million.

This just shows us how big the Chinese market is and how many opportunities it offers. Analysts are predicting that China Mobile will expand their business overseas in the next few years.

Source:
http://www.mobileburn.com

According to Telephia MapQuest Mobile (21.9 %) was the top revenue-generating downloadable mobile application in the first quarter of 2006. In second position came The Weather Channel (5.7 %) and in third the Verizon Superpages 2.0 (5.3 %). Two music applications, Music Choice and Sirius Music, rounded out the top five with revenue shares of 5 % and 4.8 %.

“Local maps/directions and up-to-date weather are well-suited to delivery via mobile phones because they are information needs characterized by immediacy, location-specificity, and time- sensitivity,” said Kanishka Agarwal, Vice President of New Products, Telephia. “Downloadable mobile applications present a significant opportunity for higher ARPU [Average Revenue Per User], with more than 3.3 million mobile consumers downloading these applications during the first quarter of the year.”

(Data does not include revenue for mobile TV and mobile game applications which is reported separately)

Another interesting fact is, that maps/directions applications drive repeat purchase revenue, while entertainment applications claim highest revenue share for first-time purchases:

Maps/Directions and Weather applications are leading in repeat purchases. In contrary, nearly 30 % of first-time purchase revenues were driven by the Entertainment category, with streaming music mobile applications, Music Choice and Sirius Music, securing the highest new purchase revenue share at nearly 9 % and 8 %.

Sources:
http://www.cellular-news.com
http://www.telephia.com

Nintendo has finally announced the launch of the Opera web browser for the DS on October 6, 2006. In Japan the browser powered by Opera is already available (since July 24, 2006).

Taking advantage of the DS’ built-in Wi-Fi capabilities the browser allows the user to access the full internet, incl. webmail, online shops or secure bank websites. The browser will be sold as an optional DS card. Users simply insert the card into the Wi-Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens. Users will also be able to apply an optional filter (provided by Astaro) that will block inappropriate content for underage surfers. The recommended retail price is around £30 / 40 Euros.

Take a look at the video review: http://www.gizmodo.com
or check out “Tips & Tricks” how to use the DS browser: http://www.opera.com

Sources:
http://www.nintendo-europe.com
http://www.opera.com

The number of mobile phone subscriptions in Germany has increased: For the first time there are more mobile phones than residents. 82.8 million mobile phones are currently registered. Most Germans have 2 or even 3 mobile phones. And the trend continues: in Italy there are also more mobile phones than people: 120 phones per 100 Italians.

It would be interesting to know what kind of mobile phones people are using and how WAP 2.0 devices are distributed amongst the whole 83 million in Germany.

Source: http://www.rtl2.de