i-mode Business Strategy

Changingworlds goes do it for Wataniya's GoDo

Subscribe to i-Mode Strategy

Wataniya Telecom announced the launch of its 'GoDo' mobile portal with ChangingWorlds' ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform.

GoDo mobile internet service offers content including: ringtones, games, wallpapers, greeting cards and the latest news and entertainment services to Wataniya’s subscribers in Kuwait. ClixSmart provided Wataniya with a multi-portal management solution, which enabled Wataniya to easily administer Arabic and English language versions of the GoDo portal.

ClixSmart’s 'one-click' publishing capabilities minimise time-to-market, enabling Wataniya to rapidly launch new content services whilst its advanced content collection capabilities enable Wataniya's content partners to dynamically upload new services to the GoDo portal in real time.

Launched in December 1999, Wataniya Telecom is Kuwait's first privately owned operator "and has been a driving force in increasing the mobile communications market penetration in Kuwait" to over 93% of the population - one of the highest penetration rates in the region. With operations in Kuwait, Iraq, Tunisia, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, Wataniya is actively expanding its presence within the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region as well in Asia, and has over 6 million customers.

This kind of mobile penetration in these areas - MENA - is quite a phenomenon with typically the fixed to mobile ratios reversed from what we see in the West.  For example, I suspect that Kuwait has probably less than 30% fixed line penetration but 93% mobile, and the United Arab Emirates has 19% fixed and 91% mobile.

Is there an i-mode project or news that you think we should feature? Email tips@imodestrategy.com. Thanks!

Technorati Tags:
Kuwait mobile Changingworlds mobile internet Africa GoDo

Opera brings widgets to mobile browser

Subscribe to i-Mode Strategy

As Opera headed towards is major release of Opera 9, its next-generation desktop browser (to be launched before the end of June 2006) it previewed features from its mobile browser.

Opera first began encouraging people to build widgets within its software late last year with the introduction of its Opera Mobile Platform.

eWeek reported Opera company spokesman Thomas Ford saying that as with adding the ability for users to create RSS feeds directly in Opera, allowing people to build widgets is part of the evolution of the browser beyond simply allowing users to view Web sites.

"People go online to do specific things and widgets allow them to get to the information they want immediately, rather than calling up Web pages," Ford said.

Opera is hoping to make the widgets capable of working across many different types of devices, from PCs to mobiles and even consumer electronics, said Ford.

Opera Mobile Platform, for instance, allows developers to build widgets that can work on wireless devices running completely different operating systems, which could help push development across other types of machines.

Ford added, that widgets are essentially just small Web pages, and the use of such tools in the browser could stand as a solid example of the increasing use of so-called "Web 2.0" applications, or composite programs built from pieces of other applications.

"With all the talk of Web 2.0, the browser has to evolve from a static window through which you merely view the Web into a true applications platform, and hopefully we can help drive the change," he said.

Is there an i-mode project or news that you think we should feature? Email tips@imodestrategy.com. Thanks!

Technorati Tags:
Opera mobile platform mobile widgets Opera mobile portal

US: Yahoo! leads mobile portal services and brand

Subscribe to i-Mode Strategy

M:Metrics reported that Yahoo! leads in the "battle of portals" for the mobile domain - 6.7% of US mobile subscribers accessed Yahoo! branded services compared with 4.4% for second-place AOL in December 2005.

M:Metrics found that Yahoo! is the most popular mobile content brand.

During the quarter ended December 2005 12.8 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed Yahoo's services in an average month - 4 million more than second-place AOL.

MSN and Google follow, with about 7 million subscribers accessing their mobile offerings each month during the fourth quarter.

AOL owes its second-place position to its strength in mobile instant messaging (IM). About 89 percent of its mobile reach is comprised of users of AIM service.

Yahoo! users are more likely to access other services, such as news, maps and search in addition to Yahoo IM, which is used by 73 percent of those who used Yahoo! branded services.

"AOL owes its strong position in the mobile domain to its ability to provide seamless access to AIM buddy lists on handsets through an elegantly designed service and its strong relationships with mobile carriers," observed Mark Donovan, vice president, products and senior analyst at M:Metrics.

In mobile search as a single category Google remained in front of Yahoo!, who both dominated the other players.

The account of activities that US subscribers did on their phones shows clearly the rising trend of consumption of mobile content and applications in the US - which means big business:

Percent US Mobile Subscribers (and Change in December 2005)

1. Sent or Received Text Message 33.32% (up 4.6%)
2. Retrieved News and Information Via Browser 10.15% (up 0.1%)
3. Purchased Ringtone 9.66% (up 7.3%)
4. Used Photo Messaging 9.29% (up 9.4%)
5. Used Personal E-mail 7.35% (up 9.4%)
6. Used Mobile Instant Messenger 6.32% (up 10.5%)
7. Used Work E-mail 4.31% (up 12.8%)
8. Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver 3.92% (up 8.5%)
9. Downloaded Mobile Game 3.31% (up 6.5%)

Is there an i-mode project or news that you think we should feature? Email tips@imodestrategy.com. Thanks!

Technorati Tags:
mobile marketing mobile advertising mmetrics mobile portal

AOL making moves to mobile

Subscribe to i-Mode Business Strategy

Russell Beattie asks if "AOL is making all the right moves lately to become a serious competitor to MSN and Yahoo!", and a comment on his blog points out that AOL "has already had an AOL Mobile department for 6 years" and at some stage in the past even launched an AOL phone.

On AOL and mobile, Russ points out that:

• They launched their mobile search using InfoGin's transcoding technology. Web search, yellow pages (local) and product search all derived from their existing websites (aolsearch.com "enhanced" by Google, yp.aol.com, and instore.com). Using this same technology, look for AOL to quickly get a lot more mobile content up and running soon.

• They bought WildSeed and created a new division called AOL Wireless Group. I've never heard of WildSeed, but they (like many other companies like it) make phone personalization software. This is key to improving the dismal end-user experience that mobile users have to deal with right now. Look for custom mobile AIM clients in the future, or even an AOL Phone.

Red Herring reports that AOL:

Once known primarily as an Internet service provider, AOL is preparing to re-launch itself in mid-August as a provider of free online services like email and music, supported increasingly by online advertising revenue.  AOL plans a $50-million marketing plan to promote itself.

Perhaps AOL will become a serious player in mobile, and in integrating the mobile and web experience using many of their existing assets, and focusing back on the user experience and a bit of excitement (through Wildseed).  Does this mean an AOL MVNO?

Is there an i-mode project or news that you think we should feature? Email tips@imodestrategy.com. Thanks!

Technorati Tags:
AOL AOL mobile mobile search AOL wireless

T-Mobile Google portal still limits open web access

Subscribe to i-Mode Business Strategy

Anthony Plewes of Futurity Media wrote a good piece in Silicon.com on the opening of the mobile portals, although not too open, as he notes:

While T-Mobile's decision to move its focus away from T-Zones and to Google seems to concede defeat in the portal wars, the move will encourage more users onto mobile data. The internet is popular because it is an open environment. Leaving users free to access the content they want will only encourage more users to use more data services.

However, open access will only goes so far; one website Web'n'Walk subscribers will not be able to access is Skype. Although using the VoIP application on a mobile phone wouldn't actually be free, as users would need to pay the data transfer charge and local termination fees, subscribers would still benefit from cheaper international calls and would be able to bypass the artificially high roaming charges that mobile operators pocket.

Access to Skype would be doubly damaging for T-Mobile, as the Web'n'Walk launch offer includes unlimited downloads until the end of the year.

Is there an i-mode project or news that you think we should feature? Email tips@imodestrategy.com. Thanks!

Technorati Tags:
Google mobile mobile portal T-Mobile Opera mobile