Operator mobile content revenues to rise to $52bn in 2013 - but only if they move towards a smart pipe business model, says research

25 November, 2008 09:43
Operator mobile content revenues to rise to $52bn in 2013 - but only if they move towards a smart pipe business model, says research
A new study from Juniper Research has found that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) will need to fundamentally change their mobile content business models by emphasizing ‘shared value creation' in order to avoid becoming ‘dumb pipes' in the future. Only if they can transform their businesses into ‘smart pipe' service providers, can they significantly increase their income from mobile content - estimated at $23bn in 2008, rising to $52bn by 2013 according to Juniper.
The global mobile content market will be worth $167bn by 2013, shared among players such as MNOs, Content Providers and third parties such as content aggregators and billing companies.
Currently MNOs take a significant percentage of the revenues generated by Content Providers when they use their networks. This has resulted in high prices for end-users and consumers being deterred from accessing mobile content on a wider scale. This unattractive situation has become a disincentive for MNOs and Content Providers alike, with some Content Providers attempting to bypass the MNOs or exit the sector altogether. Clearly, the situation needs to change. But it will be down to the MNOs to make the first moves, says the report.
The new report examines the three main scenarios facing the operators and the sector as a whole - the ‘Dumb Pipe', ‘Smart Pipe', and ‘On-Portal' routes. Modelling the market in such a way is said to have enabled Juniper to create a detailed forecasting and modeling tool to examine how a future market may develop under different conditions.
According to report author Andrew Kitson, "One single scenario will not win out since different business and revenue models have to co-exist in the mobile content market. Players will adopt multiple approaches that best fit their markets. Crucially, if MNOs are to benefit financially, they need to move away from their Dumb Pipe roots to the Smart Pipe model, though they will clash with the content providers which already dominate the Smart Pipe. A compromise needs to be found."
If MNOs can change their ARPU-driven mindsets to focus on value creation and support for their partners, they can swiftly make the change.
Other findings include
Under the Smart Pipe model, MNOs will not see their share of the overall mobile content market rise appreciably, but revenue will rise in value by 125% over the 2008-2013 period.
Under the On-Portal scenario, content providers will see their share of the market rise from 54% in 2008 to 68% by 2013, providing they can secure more attractive terms from MNOs.
Third parties - especially aggregators and billing service providers - will come under pressure from larger players (such as MNOs) seeking to achieve horizontal integration and economies of scale.
The report provides coverage and forecasts from a global perspective as well as from a regional viewpoint by looking at how the market will grow or wane under the On-Portal, Dumb Pipe, and Smart Pipe scenarios around the world.

Blackberry Storm on Verizon network - carriers paired with devices

Verizon - Blackberry Storm
T-mobile - G1
AT&T - iPhone
Sprint Nextel -Samsung Instinct

Chunghwa Telecom gets iPhone 3G Dec 2008

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), on November 14, announced it has obtained exclusive sales rights for the iPhone 3G in the Taiwan market, with launch tentatively slated for December 2008.

Eventually, iPhone 3G will landed in Taiwan. In most of the cases, only the No. 2 operator accept Apple offer of iPhone, because the revenue model and threat of becoming pipe provider.

Now, the No. 1st Taiwanese operator is taking agressive approach. ...to become pipe provider...

China market: Smartphone sales expand over 12% on year in September

11 November 2008
Volume sales of smartphones in the China market grew 12.2% on year to 2.53 million units in September 2008. Nokia, Motorola and Dopod China were the top-three branded vendors, according to data from China-based CCID Consulting.
Nokia ranked the top vendor taking up a 70% share of the smartphone segment in China in September, followed by Motorola with 18.9%, Dopod with 5.2%, Samsung Electronics with 2.6%, and Sony Ericsson with 1%, CCID said.
The sixth ranked smartphone vendor was China-based Coolpad with a 0.8% share, whereas other domestic branded vendors were unable to make significant gains in the segment, CCID added.

Taiwan market: Chunghwa Telecom's January-October net profit attains almost 95% of 2008 goal

11 November 2008
Chuunghwa Telecom (CHT) has reported a net profit of NT$41.31 billion for January-October 2008, which accounts for 94.7% of the NT$43.60 billion projected for this year.
CHT had about 990,000 FTTx (fiber to the home/building) subscribers and 550,000 8Mbps ADSL subscribers as of the end of October 2008, the company indicated.
Taiwan Mobile (TWM) and Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET), the other two of the top three operators of mobile communication services in Taiwan, have reported consolidated sales of NT$58.18 billion and NT$52.61 billion respectively for the first 10 months of 2008.

手機作業平台勢力版圖大挪移, 4大平台搶當2哥 Symbian地盤嚴重縮水

2008/11/10
全球手機作業系統之爭愈演愈烈，不僅蘋果(Apple)及RIM自家作業系統市佔率大幅躍進，由宏達電領軍的微軟(Microsoft)Windows Mobile亦力爭上游，加上Linux陣營寄望Android手機熱賣以拉抬市佔率，4大平台紛放眼2哥地位，使得龍頭Symbian難置身事外，地盤已明顯遭到侵蝕，近期市佔率大幅滑落逾20個百分點。
由諾基亞(Nokia)所領軍Symbian近期表現灰頭土臉，不僅諾基亞市佔率跌破40%，日系手機廠商出貨同樣低吟，使得Symbian市佔率大幅衰退，一口氣從2007年第3季68.1%，滑落到2008年第3季僅46.6%，亦是5大作業系統唯一出貨衰退者。不過，由於Symbian全力轉型為免費授權開放平台，若能開創嶄新商業模式，其市佔率應可力守不墜。
蘋果與RIM堪稱第3季全球智慧型手機市場最大贏家，出貨量年增率各達523%及83.5%，同時亦帶領自家作業系統市佔率持續提升，分別較2007年同期大增13.7及4.6個百分點；儘管蘋果首度從RIM手中搶下2哥地位，但RIM在第4季推出Bold、Storm等多款旗艦新機，加上蘋果調降第4季iPhone 3G出貨預估，RIM很有可能再搶回2哥地位。
在蘋果與RIM夾擊下，微軟Windows Mobile在智慧型手機平台首度落居第4，所幸在宏達電與三星電子(Samsung Electronics)帶動下，其出貨量仍成長42.9%，市佔率提升到13.6%，宏達電亦僅以些微差距落後摩托羅拉(Motorola)，成為全球智慧型手機5哥，由於其同時擁抱Windows Mobile及Android平台，市佔率很可能在第4季再上一層樓。
值得一提的是，微軟Windows Mobile近期雖獲得樂金電子(LG Electronics)力挺，但由於下一代Windows Mobile 7確定延後到2010年才推出，2009年將先推出Windows Mobile 6.5墊檔，已引發不少合作夥伴憂心，畢竟Windows Mobile 6.5與現有Windows Mobile 6.1突破不大，僅在上網功能進行局部改善，而強調全新觸控與手動操作介面的Windows Mobile 7卻久候不至，可能削弱Windows Mobile手機競爭力。
2008年第3季蘋果、RIM、微軟及Linux在手機作業系統市佔均有所提升，其中，蘋果、RIM及微軟差距不到4個百分點，分別為17.3%、15.2%及13.6%(Canalys最新統計)，Linux則以5.1%排名第5，儘管這4個平台仍難撼動Symbian龍頭地位，但已明顯瓜分Symbian既有地盤。

HTC revenues hit new high in October on launch of new models

Nov 7, 2008
High Tech Computer (HTC) saw its revenues grow 22.4% on year to hit a record high of NT$16.04 billion (US$489 million) in October buoyed by the launch of new models, including T-Mobile G1 phones, according to company data.

Taiwan-based OpenMoko launches Android-based handset

In addition to High Tech Computer (HTC) and Asustek Computer, Taiwan-based OpenMoko has also launched an Android-based handset recently, according to the company.

Compal Communications October revenues at 13-month high

Nov 5, 14:17
Taiwan-based ODM handset maker Compal Communications saw its revenues grow 22.6% on year to NT$4.25 billion (US$129.2 million) in October, the highest