Thursday

Thursday, April 22, 2004
Mobilemode plans more games for the mobile customer

MICHAEL LOGAN

Wireless content provider Mobilemode is expanding its stable of mobile handset games, including one based on the United States television series Baywatch, but simple ring-tones are expected to dominate sales for another year. It is not a trend chief executive Jarno Salmivuori would like to see endure.

"It feels that people haven't learned yet that there's more you can do with a mobile phone," he said.

It is the paradox of the Hong Kong wireless-services market. Consumers here are considered technology sophisticates, quickly adopting new products and buying new handsets as often as every six months.

But when it comes to data services, Hong Kong's uptake has trailed the rest of the world.

"Hong Kong people are hardware savvy but not software savvy," said Arthur Chang, chief executive of game developer Green Tomato.

Part of the reason Hong Kong lags in data services is because the city has never really developed an SMS [short-message service] culture.

On the mainland, a huge price disparity between voice and SMS services has fostered an environment in which subscribers frequently use their handsets to send text messages. This has led to market acceptance of other SMS-based services.

"To them, it is so natural to use SMS," Mr Chang said.

But in Hong Kong, voice calls are cheap, meaning a similar SMS and data services culture has yet to develop.

Content providers also say the huge cut of fees demanded by mobile operators has stifled innovation. On the mainland, China Mobile and China Unicom usually take a 15 per cent share of data revenue.

According to Andrew James Low, of Onda Concepts, Hong Kong operators take about 40 per cent of fees, even though it is the developers who undertake the most risk by producing content which many not find an audience. "They're the ones who put in the most investment," he said.

Mr Salmivuori remains upbeat on the Hong Kong market, saying Java games will grow in popularity this year. As evidence, he points to Europe, which sets the trend for the industry.

"What happens in Europe will happen here in the next six to 12 months," he said.

Mobilemode is also working with advertising agencies to bring ads to third-generation phones, using a "permission marketing" model common to the internet. For example, users who agree to watch a 15-second advertisement could receive a free or discounted service.

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