Strategies for Creating End-User Demand for Mobile Data Services

SUMMARY

This exciting new market study analyzes operator best practice in designing and marketing non-voice mobile data services. By studying best-of-breed mobile data services in Asia, Europe and North America we have identified key strategies you can use to derive maximum revenues from non-voice services.

Key features of this new market study:

• Learn from 'best-of-breed' mobile data service strategies
• Examine mobile operator best practice for a range of non-voice services
• Understand how leading operators are driving service adoption
• Read case studies of leading MNOs
• See how class winning portals are maximizing downloads
• Understand what drives consumer demand for mobile data services
• Study leading applications to understand the route to success

About this market study

As mobile operators worldwide face increasing pressure on profitability so revenues from data services become increasingly important. Voice revenues continue to fall and growth has slowed in mature markets, and the long awaited launch of 3G services has failed to save ARPU figures from their slow decline. Over the last three or four years mobile network operator have been focusing much of their attention on driving the all-important 'data-as-a-percentage-of-revenue' metric. In highly competitive markets voice revenues are being squeezed harder than ever, churn is a constant problem and most operators are pushing non-voice service revenues as the saviour of ARPU. This report looks in-depth at a range of non-voice services to understand the strategies employed by those mobile operators leading the field in each major non-voice service category.This new study looks at 'best-of-breed' non-voice services around the globe and identifies areas of best practice in driving higher usage from mobile data services.

We have looked at the following services:

• Mobile portals
• Mobile music downloads
• Mobile video downloads (and uploads)
• Ringback tones
• Mobile commerce
• Mobile games
• Mobile video calling
• SMS
• MMS
• also a special section looking at 'Web 2.0'

This study looks into market leading examples in each service category. We analyze the strategies employed in each case to uncover the underlying best practice driving service adoption and winning market share. This report looks at market conditions across a range of country markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas, with industry leading examples taken from Japan, the UK, the US, South Korea, China, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Norway and France. Reading this report you will learn about the strategies operators have employed to become industry leaders, how services have been best adapted to suit local market conditions and how applications and services have been marketed to best effect.

This report has been written to act as a 'best practice guide' to the mobile data services industry, helping you to identify best-of-breed services in each service category and understand which mobile operators lead the field, and what they do differently that helps them stay out in front, ahead of the competition. This report is full of recommendations for mobile operators, applications developers and handset vendors, helping you to formulate winning strategies for your mobile service or application.

Leading operators covered in this report include:

• O2 UK
• KDDI
• Telenor Norway
• Verizon Wireless
• Vodafone UK
• NTT DoCoMo
• SFR France
• Sprint Nextel
• China Mobile
• SK Telecom
• 3 UK
• Maxis
• KTF Korea
• Smart Communications
• Netcom Norway
• LG Telecom
• and Globe Telecom.

Further case studies also include:

• Telsis
• Textamerica
• Flikr
• Bubble Motion
• and MySpace

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

MOBILE DATA SERVICES - AN OVERVIEW

• Non-messaging Mobile Services
• Messaging Services

SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES - NON-MESSAGING MOBILE DATA SERVICES

• Mobile Portals
• Mobile Full-track Music Downloads
• Mobile Video Downloads/Uploads
• Ringback Tones
• Mobile Commerce
• Mobile Games
• Mobile Video Calling

SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES - MESSAGING SERVICES

• SMS
• Successful SMS-based Services
• MMS

WEB 2.0 - AN INTRODUCTION

• Mobile and Web 2.0

CONCLUSION

GLOSSARY

LIST OF FIGURES

• Fig 1: Western Europe Mobile Portal Market (In Millions, 2005-2010)
• Fig 2: Worldwide Mobile Music Full-track download market (In Millions, 2004-2009)
• Fig 3: Worldwide M-Commerce Revenues Billions, 2005-2009)
• Fig 4: Mobile Games Annual Revenues (In Billions, 2006-2011)
• Fig 5: Worldwide SMS Traffic Volumes (In Billions, 2004-2010)
• Fig 6: Worldwide SMS Revenue (In USD Billions, 2004-2010)
• Fig 7: Worldwide MMS Traffic Volumes (In Billions, 2004-2010)
• Fig 8: Worldwide MMS Revenue (In USD Billions, 2004-2010)
• Fig 9: Number of Subscribers to i-mode Services in Japan
• Fig 10: The three-pronged strategy of NTT DoCoMo for i-mode
• Fig 11: Growth Trends: Verizon Wireless data customers
• Fig 12: China Mobile - CRBT Subscribers and Penetration (2003-June 2006)
• Fig 13: Percentage of Customers Using Wallet Services at Various Venues
• Fig 14: Smart: SMS Traffic Volumes (In Billions, 2000-June 2006)
• Fig 15: Smart: SMS-related Services Revenue as a % of Total Data Revenue
• Fig 16: SMS Volume (2001-2004)
• Fig 17: NetCom: SMS Traffic Volumes (In Millions, 2002-June 2006)
• Fig 18: Verizon Wireless: MMS Traffic Volumes (In Millions, 2004-2006)
• Fig 19: MMS Sent on SFR's Network (2002-June 2006)

LIST OF TABLES

• Table 1: Total Regional SMS Traffic (In Billions, 2004-2010)
• Table 2: Total Regional MMS Traffic (In Billions, 2004-2010)
• Table 3: Selection Criteria for Portals
• Table 4: The History of Services Launched by imode in the Past
• Table 5: The History of Licensee Agreements with MNOs
• Table 6: Selection Criteria for Mobile Music Downloads
• Table 7: Selection Criteria for Mobile Music Downloads
• Table 8: Selection Criteria for Ringback Tones
• Table 9: Advantages of Using G-Cash: Deposit or Withdrawal Process/Tax or Bill Payment
• Table 10: Advantages of Using G-Cash: Remittance Process from Bank A to Bank B
• Table 11: Selection Criteria for Mobile Games Service
• Table 12: Top 14 SMS MNOs (2005)
• Table 13: Top 14 SMS MNOs (4Q 2005)
• Table 14: Smart: SMS-based Applications
• Table 15: Selection Criteria for MMS

SERVICES PROFILED IN THIS REPORT FROM NETWORK OPERATORS INCLUDING:

• NTT DoCoMo
• O2 UK
• Verizon Wireless
• Vodafone UK
• KDDI Japan
• SK Telecom
• 3 UK
• Sprint Nextel
• China Mobile
• KTF
• LG Telecom
• Globe Telecom
• Telenor Norway
• SFR France
• NetCom Norway
• Maxis Malaysia
• Smart Communications

OTHER COMPANIES MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT INCLUDE:

• Airtel
• Anschutz Entertainment Group
• AOL
• Bubble Motion
• Cingular Wireless
• EMI Group
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Google
• Kodak
• LogicaCMG
• Microsoft
• Motorola
• MTV China
• MySpace
• Nokia
• Qualcomm
• SAP
• Symbian
• Sony BMG
• Telecom Personal
• Telsis
• Textamerica
• Universal Music Group
• Warner Bros Music
• WDIG, Disney Group
• WiderThan
• Yahoo!
• Yospace
• YouTube