Device Arena

The report predicts strong growth in usage levels of both single-user games such as slot machines, and of multiplayer gambling tournaments, fuelled by a raft of drivers including: market deregulation, greater 3G coverage and adoption, and – crucially - a greater availability of simple, intuitive mobile gambling products.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “Many online casinos are now moving into the mobile environment, while bookmakers such as Ladbrokes and Coral have partnered with leading applications providers to launch own brand mobile casinos. Furthermore, the recent success of casino products from mobile-focused companies such as Probability demonstrates the latent demand for these kinds of services.”

However, the report cautions against over-optimism, observing that, recent deregulation notwithstanding, in many markets, including the US, remote casinos are prohibited.

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The increasing popularity of casual gaming, combined with a steadily increasing variety of gaming-friendly handsets offering high quality 3D graphics aimed at core gamers, will help to push end-user generated revenues from mobile games to nearly $10bn by 2009, according to a new report by Juniper Research.

In total, more than 460m mobile users are expected to download games by 2009, representing more than a double increase on the current number. Much of this growth is expected in emerging markets such as the Indian sub-continent, where the number of users will rise from 10m in 2007 to nearly 40m in 2009.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “Game downloads have already overtaken those of ringtones in a number of Western European markets, while mobile handsets are now the de facto games console in many developing countries.”

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The worldwide mobile phone market grew at a healthy pace during the third quarter of 2007 with vendors shipping a total of 289.1 million units, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Worldwide shipments were up 9.0% from the previous quarter and 13.8% from the same quarter a year ago. Growth was driven by a combination of high-volume shipments of affordable handsets into emerging markets and high-end, feature-packed devices into mature markets. The leading vendors improved both revenues and profits, in some cases building on double-digit operating profit margins as they balance their product portfolios.

“On a worldwide scale, the mobile phone market continued to post positive results in the third quarter, even as vendors struggle to balance revenue and profitability,” said Ramon Llamas, research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. “On the one hand, emerging markets have required vendors to provide low-cost handsets, which boost volume but reduce revenue and sometimes profit per device. On the other hand, mature markets have an appetite for higher-end handsets that can generate more revenues and profit. The leading vendors have been successful at balancing features and price for the distinct markets in a highly competitive space.”

“While growth in the overall mobile device industry has slowed over the past few quarters, the converged mobile device segment continues to grow several times faster than traditional phones, and accelerated to more than 50% year-on-year growth in the third quarter,” added Ryan Reith, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Tracker. “A wide selection of devices, combined with declining initial price points have made this segment of the market an immense growth opportunity for manufacturers. At the same time, this space is attractive for the operators because these devices are often bundled with a data plan, which in turn means increased revenue per user.”

Nokia posted its second consecutive quarter of 100+ million units, and shipped more units than the next three vendors combined. This accomplishment emphasizes Nokia’s size, but was also notable since the company was handicapped by component shortages. Despite a depressed average shipment price resulting from a high volume of entry level 1110 and 1116 models, Nokia was able to realize operating margin improvement across all of its device categories due to scalability, lowered cost structures, distribution, and brand recognition. Entry level devices made up the bulk of Nokia’s shipments, but its converged mobile devices and feature phones helped drive revenues and profits.

Samsung marked its second consecutive appearance in the number two spot worldwide, this time extending its lead over Motorola to 5.4 million units for the quarter. On a year-to-date basis, Samsung still trailed behind Motorola, but cut that gap to only 3.3 million units. The company realized double-digit operating profit margin by shipping more high-end devices including its popular Ultra Edition handsets.

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Nokia Research Center (NRC) and Reuters are working together on a mobile journalism project that could transform the way journalists file news reports when on the move. The new mobile application is the first project to be showcased from a long term research collaboration that has been established between NRC and Reuters. It centres around a lightweight toolkit that provides everything journalists need to file and publish stories from even the most remote regions of the world.

Through an ongoing trial that started this summer, select Reuters journalists around the world made use of the mobile journalism application in their everyday work to edit, combine and file text, images, sound and live and recorded video streams, producing and publishing multi-media stories of broadcast quality without needing to return to the studio or office.

“This is a very easy-to-use application that takes account of the demands placed on journalists in the field,” said Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist of Reuters Media. “By running on handheld devices, rather than on bulkier laptop computers, the mobile journalism application enables us to create complete stories and file them for distribution, without leaving the scene. This saves us time and benefits our audience by ensuring that they receive high quality news that is absolutely up-to-date.”

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According to “Mobile Market View”, a new mobile consumer study conducted by The Kelsey Group with research partner ConStat, 44.7 percent of U.S. mobile phone users surveyed say a mobile phone with better Internet capability will be a key factor in their next mobile phone purchase decision. According to the survey, only 26 percent of mobile phone service subscribers currently opt for an Internet access plan.

“The combination of unlimited data plans and next-generation Internet-enabled mobile devices, like Apple’s iPhone, suggests mobile Web access will grow to become ubiquitous,” said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media, The Kelsey Group. “Growing mobile Internet usage and increased satisfaction with mobile Internet applications are among the converging factors that we believe point to a breakthrough year ahead for mobile ad adoption.“

The Kelsey Group said last month that it estimates U.S. mobile search advertising revenues to rise from $33.2 million in 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2012, which would be a compound annual growth rate of 112 percent.

According to the study maps and local search are the most used mobile Internet applications. In the past six months, 9 percent of respondents used their mobile phones to perform Internet searches for products and services in their local area. In the same period 10 percent downloaded or looked at maps and 10 percent said they had downloaded search or mapping applications in addition to those that came with their mobile phones.

Among the 500 mobile users surveyed in the Mobile Market View study, maps and local commercial search are preferred Internet applications. In the past six months, 9.8 percent of respondents used their mobile phones to conduct Internet searches for products and services in their local area. During the same period, 10.7 percent downloaded or looked at maps, while 10.9 percent indicated they had downloaded search or mapping applications (for use on the Internet) to supplement those that came with their mobile phones.

The Kelsey group

More than half of all mobile phones sold worldwide in the second quarter of 2007 were made in China, according to new research.

Shipments from the world’s most populous nation are up more than 20 percent on last year, say researchers from Taiwan-based Market Intelligence Center (MIC).

China’s mobile phone industry is driven by the country’s vast electronics manufacturing sector and huge home market for mobile phones, the analysts claim.

Shipments rose 23.1 percent year on year in the second quarter to exceed 132 million units, and are predicted to exceed 147 million units in the third quarter and approach 166 million units in the fourth quarter.

GSM phones dominate the local industry’s output as China’s government has still not licensed any 3G networks.

“Owing to Nokia’s strong global shipment performance, and robust demand in China’s domestic market, the Chinese mobile phone industry’s GSM shipment volume reached 114.9 million units, ” said MIC industry analyst Wu Shan-Tung. “The shipment figure did not live up to expectations, however, due to sluggish shipments from Motorola and its production partner Compal Communications.“

As a result, GSM’s share of the Chinese mobile phone industry’s output fell to 87 percent in the second quarter, down from 91.5 percent one year earlier.

Cheaper CDMA phones for emerging markets also boosted demand from China’s low cost factories.

“Nokia continued to outsource more of its CDMA mobile phones, and Qualcomm launched the value-line QSC-series CDMA chipsets, which significantly increased the price competitiveness of CDMA mobile phones in emerging markets, such as India, the Middle East and Africa,” added Wu.

vnunet.com

For the third year in a row, Nokia and TeliaSonera, in association with Gallup, have conducted a survey to investigate the use of mobile e-mail and interest in the service. The survey indicated that 37 percent of business users in the Nordic region use mobile e-mail when they are away from the office. More time for family and friends, and better customer service, were stated to be important advantages. Nine out of ten said, for example, that mobile e-mail allows them to provide faster and better service to customers.

This year’s survey also focused more closely on the managing director (MD) category. As many as 44 percent of the male business executives in the survey responded that they are already using mobile e-mail today for communications when they are away from the office (34 percent of female MDs). A lot indicates that usage by female MDs will soon be more widespread - this is because 60 percent who do not use mobile e-mail today believe they will start using the service within a year. Six out of ten business executives stated that more time for family and friends was one of the most important advantages of mobile e-mail.

“From the survey we can clearly see that mobile e-post has made its breakthrough on a broad front. The fact that almost four out of ten respondents are already using mobile e-mail today, when they are away from the office, is an impressive figure. It is also interesting to note that as many as 46 percent of the women managing directors in the survey use mobile e-mail today to check their messages on their phone several times a day. That tells us a lot about the importance of the service,” says Heidi Lax, Enterprise Solutions Director for the Nordic region at Nokia.

Nokia and TeliaSonera have both worked actively for many years to make it as easy as possible for customers to start using mobile e-mail. Over the past few years, the two companies have also seen a dramatic increase in the number of users. When Nokia and TeliaSonera surveyed business users in Norway, Sweden and Denmark two years ago, 14 percent of the respondents stated that they used mobile e-mail. Today, only two years later, the corresponding figure for the Nordic region is 37 percent.

“This is incredibly strong growth and we are seeing how more and more people are discovering the potential of mobile e-mail. We are also seeing that many mobile e-mail users believe they can work in a more flexible manner and have more time over for family and friends, which is a pleasing trend to see,” says Indra Åsander, head of Mobile Content Services at TeliaSonera.

Good manners important for mobile mailers
Despite the strong interest in mobile e-mail, and the fact that so many people send and receive e-mail on their mobile phones today, it is obvious that there are many occasions when it is not considered acceptable to use the service. For example, 74 percent of the survey respondents said it is not acceptable to use mobile e-mail when you are playing with your children. On the other hand, three out of ten in the survey said that it is alright to use mobile e-mail when they are in a meeting with their boss.

Mobile TV is still in its infancy in China and the technology needs to overcome four hurdles to attain steady growth, namely, the creation of a national standard, creation of a solid profit model, overcome low-quality user experience and bottlenecks in receiving devices, according to China-based research firm CCID Consulting.

More on DIGITIMES

The Kelsey Group, the leading provider of strategic research and analysis, data and competitive metrics on Yellow Pages, electronic directories and local media, forecasts U.S. mobile search advertising revenues to grow from $33.2 million in 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 112 percent.

“Advertisers in the U.S. are the most aggressive in terms of messaging to potential U.S. consumers,” said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media, The Kelsey Group. “Given the relatively high spend levels, we believe advertisers will continue to look into innovative solutions, including mobile, that demonstrate a clear ROI on ad spend.”

The Kelsey Group’s mobile search advertising forecast, which is available to the firm’s continuous advisory services clients, comprises three distinct revenue and usage segments: