Chinese mobile internet on the verge
With over 400 million mobile phone users and over 100 million
Internet users, the development of China’s mobile Internet is something
to watch in the next few years. Pacific Epoch has two interviews with competing WAP portals 3gnet.cn (7.5 million users) and 3GPP’s Pp.cn (3 million registered users).
excerpts:
(3GPP) There is not huge knowledge of and interest in value added services
among handset users in China right now, especially services such as
mobile shopping and online mobile gaming. We are waiting for handset
users to change their perception of a handset’s function.
The WAP market only began to see rapid growth in 2005. There is likely
to be explosive growth in this market in 2006 and 2007, which is a good
sign for the players in this industry.
Our main goal for the moment is to develop our Pp.cn portal into a
strong WAP brand among mobile phone users. We are aiming to become the
number one player in China’s WAP market. We have dropped some of our
less important businesses, and in the future will focus on our mobile
community and WAP portals.
(3G.net.cn)
[We are] positioned as both a WAP and
Internet portal company focused on entertainment for young people.
…We are preparing for 3G during this transitional stage and our users
will be able to use full-3G services when 3G is launched.
GPRS fees are a major problem, but the situation is being improved as
many regional mobile carriers launch GPRS packages. Mobile carriers
know that 3G is coming soon. In order to build a substantial user base
for 3G, carriers have been willing to lower fees for services such as
GPRS.
We were one of the first company to offer online mobile games and other
services such as real time updates of NBA games. We offer real-time
text updates of games on our site. Our NBA game updates sometimes
attract 30,000 to 40,000 concurrent users, which is an amazing number
even when compared with live Internet broadcasts. We will also have a
host that offers commentary on each game. Our online community Dream
Work and Avatar service 3G Show are also popular.
Pacific Epoch interview with WAP portal 3G.net.cn
Pacific Epoch interview with WAP company 3GPP