WORLDWIDE MOBILE PHONE MARKET CONTINUES TO EXHIBIT STRONG GROWTH AS COMPETITION HEATS UP, ACCORDING TO IDC

July 30th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

After an expected seasonal drop during the first quarter of the year, the worldwide market for mobile phones returned to growth in the second quarter of 2004 on the strength of renewed consumer demand for mid-range handsets featuring color screens and cameras. According to IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone QView, worldwide mobile phone shipments in 2Q04 increased 2.5% over the first quarter and rose 36.7% year-over-year to 163.7 million units.

LG and Samsung both continued to execute strategies of rapid technological innovation, form factor flexibility, and brand excitement throughout the first half of the year. In contrast, the product strategy for vendors such as Nokia and Siemens remained fairly conservative, failing to match the aggressiveness of its counterparts. More …

India: Movies, games, playing now on a mobile phone near you

July 20th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

Gaming companies, Internet portals and content providers are rushing to cash in on the explosive growth of mobile phones in India, predicting that content rather than cost will be the new battle ground.

“The price war in the mobile industry is now all over and there is a new type of war they (operators) will fight now,” said Vishal Gondal, chief executive officer of Indiagames.

“That war is going to be on content over the mobile phones,” Gondal told AFP. “In the future the major revenue areas for mobile operators are ringtones, wallpapers, downloads, games and movies.” More …

Japanese Mobile Spending Surges

July 13th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | 1 Comment »

People spent nearly 400 billion yen over their mobile phones in the country last year, up a third from 2002. Spending on physical goods looks to have increased 70 percent. More …

Korean mobile game market is the world second largest after Japan

July 13th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

Korea emerged as the world second largest mobile game market worth $122 million in 2003 after Japan, $211 million. According to a white paper, “The rise of Korean games,” released by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, the world mobile game market is expected to be up 53% from $920 million in 2003 to $1.4 billion this year, $2.06 billion in 2005 and $2.86 billion in 2006. More …

You can also find the full report here …

Q2 2004 Mobile video game sales strong in India

July 13th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

According to Hutch India, currently an average of 60,000 MMSs are exchanged daily on the national network (up 20 times from an average of 3,000 MMSs exchanged since February last year when the service was launched). An average of 120,000 mobile games are downloaded every month by Hutch users, a 50-fold increase from an average of 2,200 mobile games downloads since last year. (See box

India: Now, gamers go mobile

June 29th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | 1 Comment »

Remember the days when we would flock to gaming arcades to play Cruize Control? Today, one doesn’t have to sit in mini-cars to play the game, but just pick up the cell phone and vroom.

At Rs 50 per download, subscribers are turning game savvy leading to mobile operators willingly associating with game developers to split the moolah.

“The average revenue per user has been declining and for the operators, games are a good way of generating substantial revenues,” says Rajiv Hiranandani, country head, Mobile2win.com. More …

IN-FUSIO’S SECOND MOBILE GAMES REFERENCE SURVEY REVEALS SHIFT IN PLAYER TRENDS AND HABITS

May 31st, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Research & Stats | No Comments »

IN-FUSIO, a leading mobile games service provider and publisher in Europe, US, and China, today announced the findings of its second in-depth reference study into the behavioural habits and trends of mobile games consumers in Java and ExEn technology. The survey reveals that the mobile games market is dynamic, in constant change and that significant trends and opportunities are emerging.

Summary of key findings:
– 60% of those questioned would like to be a member of a mobile game community
– Female gamers are loyal regular consumers of mobile games but aren’t sufficiently catered for
– 36% of players are now older than 24
– 87% knew a mobile game was included when purchasing their phone up massively from 67% in 2002; 33% of those said it was a key criteria for choosing a phone
– Overall ‘adventure’ games top ‘most wanted’ chart (47%)
– Average game session stable at 20 minutes
– 58% of mobile games are played at home

More …