Africa, Asia lead 'mobile money' boom

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AFP - Africa and Asia are leading a global boom in the use of "mobile money" as millions turn to their mobile phones instead of coughing up cash or handing over credit cards.

In 2012, more than 30 million people were actively using mobiles to make payments, according to an industry study released Wednesday at the world's biggest mobile fair held from February 25-28 in Barcelona, Spain.

The study by the mobile operators' industry association, GSMA, found there were more mobile money accounts than traditional bank accounts in Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda.

In a single month, June 2012, more than 30 million people worldwide undertook 224.2 million transactions totalling $4.6 billion (3.5 billion euros), said the report, based on a worldwide survey.

The pace of activity exceeded the 196.3 million transactions performed by PayPal customers on average each month in the third quarter of 2012, it said.

Providers offered 150 mobile money services for people without banks, 41 of which were launched in 2012.

There were 56.9 million registered mobile money customers in sub-Saharan Africa, the study said. In June 2012, there were twice as many mobile money users as Facebook users in the region.

Mobile money's success is based on the fact that the number of mobile phone owners far exceeds the number of people with bank accounts. Sending money can be as simple as sending an SMS text message.

In Indonesia, mobile phone penetration is 106 percent, meaning there is more than one phone for each person in the population, while only 20 percent of the population holds a bank account.

According to Fundamo, an offshoot of global payments giant Visa, some 1.7 billion people worldwide have a mobile device but no bank account and are "economically active".

Originally dominated by banks, newcomers including mobile operators have been lured to the market, notably Safaricom's M-PESA service, which launched in Kenya in 2007 and now claims 15 million users.

The M-PESA service has a network of 50,000 agents including shopkeepers, allowing a city worker for example send to money home to a remote village or to put money aside in savings without opening a bank account.

In September 2012, 19.3 million people in Kenya were signed up to mobile money services, with nearly two billion euros deposited, according to the Kenyan telecommunications regulator CCK.

"The mobile money transfer service has become a key payments and transaction tool, mainly due to its easy use of applications, convenience and low cost value propositions," CCK said.

M-PESA, also present in Afghanistan, South Africa, India and Tanzania, now faces competition in Kenya from rivals including Orange Money provided by France Telecom offshoot Telkom Kenya, Paga, Airtel Money owned by Airtel Kenya and yuMobile offered by Essar Telekom.

Aletha Ling, chief operating officer at Fundamo, said the sector's future growth would depend on the players reaching a certain scale and on the various standards being able to work together.

With its "Visa Mobile Manage Service", Fundamo lets banks or telecommunication operators offer mobile money to customers without having to develop their own technology, she said.

"We think it's going to be an acceleration point," Ling said, noting that the company had recently signed deals with one bank in India and two others in Rwanda.

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Source: on 5 March 2013 

Asia Pacific: “Asia will be a US$7 billion mobile ad market”

A mobile market that will worth US$7 billion is the next 3 years! Wow, such a big amount here! In other words, it's indeed potential and the trend is going towards mobiles. So what are you waiting for?

What are the mobile advertising trends you notice in the APAC region?

There’s no denying the fact that mobile advertising will flourish in 2012 and the coming years, particularly in the APAC region. Asia is already the largest mobile ad region in terms of mobile advertising spend. In fact, industry analysts predict that Asia will be a US$7 billion mobile advertising market by 2015. Smartphone penetration in Asia is expected to surpass feature phones in 2012. With this trend, there will be more emphasis on efficient buying methods to fill available mobile advertising inventory. More and more people are using their mobile devices to access the web as smartphone proliferation reaches every corner of the world. Not only are people connected, but their attention is increasingly tied to their mobile screen. On average, consumers spend two hours on their mobile devices every day – and this number is constantly increasing! We have positioned ourselves in a place to capture the abundant mobile advertising opportunities across the APAC region.

What are going to be the key drivers to push growth in mobile advertising this year?

2012 will be the year that many publishers and advertisers will realize that the potential benefits of a mobile advertising campaign outweigh the risks and will increasingly integrate mobile advertising into their marketing mix. There will be an incredible focus on relevance and the nature of the viewing experience for the consumer. Big Data is becoming much more important.

How are the brands in this region planning for mobile advertising?

Traditional marketers from APAC brands are present in mobile advertising in varying degrees and most have included mobile display advertising as a fundamental mix to their overall marketing plans. The active APAC brands on mobile are either building a business on mobile or are driving tangible business results through companies with an APAC reach, like Amobee. APAC mobile solutions are starting to include various ad formats.

What are the latest solutions that Amobee is working on to target the growing mobile marketing segment in the region?



Amobee has comprehensive mobile advertising platforms, Amobee PULSE for Advertisers and Amobee PULSE for Publishers, which address the needs of large publishers, advertisers and operators. We continuously add innovative technology and solutions to ensure that we have the most advanced and competitive offering for our customers globally. Amobee PULSE platforms deliver all forms of mobile advertising, from text to rich media, across all devices – at global and regional levels. We run mobile ad campaigns for some of the biggest and best APAC brands, delivering unparalleled results. We’re already working with Asian-based companies and expect to make additional partner announcements in the near future.

Of all the markets in the APAC region, which is the most mature in terms of mobile marketing and why?



APAC as a whole is a very large market and each country is at a different stage of readiness and access, with each market spending differently on mobile advertising. A key example is Japan, as it is the largest mobile ad market globally at US$1.5B. The Philippines is the top mobile messaging market globally and marketers within this market have become incredibly savvy in the usage of mobile advertising. That said, it is very important to maintain a deep understanding of the marketing landscape and it is required to know the region at a country level to fully capitalize and prioritize opportunities across this exciting region.

This fiscal year, what are Amobee’s growth plans in the region? Where do you expect the major revenues to come from in terms of market, and type of solutions?

We are currently running campaigns across the globe, but we’re also aggressively pursuing new business opportunities in all key Asian markets including Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Australia and New Zealand. Our platform, Amobee PULSE for Publishers is now in high demand by the operators and large publishers across the region and we will continue to give them the tools to grow their businesses. In the case of SingTel and their affiliates, we will be helping to connect advertisers to the 430 million subscribers they have access to, effectively unlocking their valuable latent assets in the form of data. On the advertiser side, we will continue to support the big global brands and mobile companies with Amobee PULSE for Advertisers, helping to grow their businesses and customer experiences across APAC.

Source: By PriyankaB on 9th April 2012.

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Asia - Asian Mobile Ad Market on Growth Path

With the increasing rate of mobile phones adoption and penetration, it shows a positive relationship with the rate of mobile advertising. Because since everyone is holding the phone most of the time, why would marketers want to miss the golden opportunity of their ads being seen?

As the usage of smartphones, and advanced phones increase exponentially in the Asian markets, the growth scope for mobile advertisements is also on the rise. According to a recent Mobile Insights Report – Asia Regional Summary, released by InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, the Asian mobile ad market grew by 25% to over 69.5 billion quarterly ad impressions in Q3 2011. The period taken is July to September 2011.

Talking about the market statistics Atul Satija, Vice President and Managing Director – Asia Pacific at InMobi, says “Asia continues to be an important growth market for InMobi. With increasing penetration of Android devices and cheaper data plans being seen across the region, we see significant growth of deeply immersive brand advertising on the mobile platform over the next year. What will also be interesting to see is a stronger application development ecosystem led by local app economies that are already emerging in Taiwan and Singapore, and will soon become prominent in markets like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, among others.”

According to InMobi India is currently the number one mobile ad market with a high 47% market share. It is followed by Indonesia with 18.8% share, and Vietnam at 6.6% share. Surprisingly Japan and China which have a very high mobile phone usage are low in ranking in terms of mobile ad popularity. Japan has only 6.4% market, and China has 3.2% market.

The study further shows that the ad growth is driven more by smartphones than advanced phones. In terms of mobile OS, Android gained market share while other OSes experienced a decline, iPhone OS (-2.7%), Nokia OS (-2.2%) and Symbian OS (-1.1%). Android impressions grew by 7.5 share points in Q3 2011.

Satija also points out that with increased smartphone adoption; app impressions are expected to continue growing exponentially in the region. While Nokia impressions declined slightly this quarter, its devices still make up almost half the mobile ad impressions in Asia. The other vendors who make the top five list include Samsung with 20.6%, Sony Ericsson with 8.1%, Apple with 6.3% and HTC with 3%. Although Apple’s total share declined slightly, the iPhone 4 delivered the most impressions in the region with a 3.3% market share.

Source: By Staff Writer on 29th November 2011.

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Asia Pacific - Mobile Advertising Space Worth US$32B Dominated By Japan, Asia Pacific And United States

With the increasing numbers of mobile phone subscribers, marketers have foreseen that mobile advertising is the efficient and effective medium to increase / accelerate the growth of revenue streams. So when is your turn?

The mobile advertising market is expected to be valued at US$32 billion by the end of 2017. A number of factors are driving growth including the increased number of consumers with mobile phones, the availability of high Internet bandwidth and the increased penetration of smartphone usage. Mobile advertising is expected to expand strongly in Latin American and Asian markets.

Interestingly, active mobile subscriptions far exceed the volume of Internet users and it is for this reason that advertisers are seeing this space as having the greatest potential in the future for revenue. Consumer decision making in the real-time environment can be influenced by companies in the advertising space, which places mobile advertising as an important tool with budgets for the ad format set to witness rapid growth.

Japan, Asia-Pacific and the United States represent the largest mobile advertising markets with Asia already reporting continuous growth in mobile advertising space expenditure by companies. The rising penetration of 3G networks in several Asian countries such as China, Indonesia and India, all highly populated regions, is expected to enhance the mobile advertising potential for growth.

Messaging represents the largest market sector in the global mobile advertising industry although it is the Search market sector which is forecast to see the greatest revenue growth up to 2017. SMS is highly used in the less developed and developing countries in Asia and it is this format which is where mobile advertising is expected to bridge the gap between the traditional campaigns and mobile advertising technology.

Currently the mobile advertising industry is highly fragmented with intense competition existing between the operating systems used and handset manufacturers. The market is set to consolidate as leading players focus on location tracking capabilities with mobile phones and social networks.

Source: by Press Office on 23rd November 2011.

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Asia Pacific - Global Mobile Connections to Reach Six Billion Milestone, With Asia Pacific Accounting for Half, Reports GSMA

Hey guys, look at the potential mobile market in Asia Pacific! Want to tap into the market to reap the benefits brought by mobile phones? Come, let's go on with us!

HONG KONG, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Asia Congress -- The GSMA today announced that global mobile connections will reach six billion by the end of November 2011 and that the Asia Pacific region, a major driving force behind the global mobile sector, accounts for half of these connections. According to the GSMA Asia Pacific Mobile Observatory 2011 report(1), mobile penetration in Asia Pacific will reach a landmark three billion connections in Q1 2012 – nearly two years earlier than projected in the region's 2009 Mobile Observatory. By 2015, it is expected that the region will reach 4.1 billion connections, growing at twice the rate of Europe and North America, and will account for 40 per cent of mobile data traffic worldwide.

Tom Phillips, Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer, GSMA commented: "Asia Pacific is one of the world's fastest-growing mobile markets, through an impressive combination of investment and innovation. China alone currently has 940 million total mobile connections, exceeding the total number of connections in Europe and the US combined."

The extensive growth in penetration of mobile services in Asia Pacific - from just 12 per cent in 2002 to 78 per cent in 2011 - is largely due to mobile operators in the region's major markets investing an average of 16.3 per cent of their revenues into capital expenditure, significantly higher than their counterparts in other parts of the world. Other key factors include:

-- Investment in Mobile Broadband infrastructure, as many operators across the region are already driving HSPA+/LTE rollouts;

-- Cost-effective pre-paid services (84 per cent of Asia Pacific connections versus 66 per in Europe and 15 per cent in USA/Canada);

-- Introduction of low-cost handsets and reduction in mobile usage prices;

-- Innovative business models including infrastructure sharing and unique distribution strategies, making the expansion of network coverage to rural areas economically viable for operators and consumers; and

-- Limited fixed-line infrastructure, driving many consumers to adopt mobile communications.

Social and Economic Contribution of the Mobile Industry to Asia Pacific

Mobile connectivity has rendered significant social and economic benefits for the Asia Pacific region. The mobile market across the AP17(2) countries currently generates an estimated US$485 billion, or 2.7 per cent of total GDP, with mobile operators alone contributing over US$310 billion in 2010. The industry is also a significant contributor to employment in the region, with approximately 11.4 million people either directly or indirectly employed through the mobile ecosystem.

However, as impressive as Asia Pacific's mobile connectivity growth has been, its largest countries by population, China and India, have penetration rates at just over 60 per cent, which means that approximately one billion people in these two countries alone are still without a mobile connection. Meanwhile, other markets such as Pakistan and Bangladesh still have mobile penetration rates below 60 per cent.

Mobile Broadband Readiness Index (MBRI)

According to the Observatory's inaugural Mobile Broadband Readiness Index (MBRI)(3), the 17 largest markets in Asia Pacific are actively cultivating a mobile ecosystem that is conducive to further growth. In 2010, Japan was at the top of the index, driven by its early HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE rollouts and its pro-innovation environment. Hong Kong and Vietnam also featured strongly demonstrating their commitment to fostering a prosperous Mobile Broadband landscape.

However, although the results of this Index indicate markets' 'preparedness' for increased growth, they also demonstrate how key barriers such as insufficient spectrum, ineffective regulatory policy and taxation inhibit connectivity and major socioeconomic benefits delivered through Mobile Broadband services.

The GSMA Observatory finds that there is scope for far greater progress to 'connect the unconnected' across the Asia Pacific region and is calling for the following measures:

-- Optimise spectrum allocation and licensing

The Observatory has found that the majority of Asia Pacific countries still lack sufficient spectrum, which is preventing a full range of voice and data services being made available for consumers across the region. To ensure the delivery of mobile services at the lowest possible cost and to allow consumers to use the widest selection of devices, the mobile industry needs allocation of internationally harmonised frequency bands and implementation of internationally harmonised band plans.

-- Drive effective taxation

The GSMA is also calling for mobile industry taxes in Asia Pacific to be reduced in order to drive mobile penetration, and, ultimately, increase the total tax intake for governments. For example, the Bangladesh mobile sector is one of the most heavily taxed amongst developing nations, where no less than six different taxes are in place, resulting in the lowest mobile penetration rate among the AP17 countries (49 per cent).

-- Rebalance regulatory frameworks

The GSMA is also an advocate of rebalancing regulatory frameworks to address new players in the growing mobile ecosystem. Overall, the market power of mobile data service providers, device manufacturers and operating system providers in the mobile sector is growing rapidly, as are their revenues from mobile services.

"This situation needs to be redressed, both to ensure that major players in the mobile sector do not remain below the regulatory radar, and to bring transparency to the sector, which in turn will help stimulate investment and growth," continued Phillips. "A more balanced regulatory framework and strategic public and private partnerships would have a significant impact in decreasing the costs of handsets, increasing the availability of cost-effective pre-paid services and propelling both domestic and foreign investment. The sum of these factors would support Asia Pacific reaching 100 per cent mobile penetration and enable the full extent of the economic and social benefits of Mobile Broadband services to be realised."

Source: by PR Newswire on 16th November 2011.

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Asia Pacific - Mobile devices transforming media landscape :eMarketer,SMG report

New York :eMarketer, in collaboration with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), has released its annual Global Media Intelligence report, which provides data, insights and analysis for brands to use as they plan media budgets and strategy for 2012.

The “2011 Global Media Intelligence” (GMI) report covers six major regions worldwide—Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, North America, and Western Europe—and provides snapshots of 36 countries identified as core markets.

"I'm excited to have eMarketer's latest ‘Global Media Intelligence’ report again this year,” said Linda Dorman, VP of Global Strategy at Experian. “It's another example of the excellent global data and perspective eMarketer provides our company every day."

The report includes data on demographics, broadband and mobile penetration, media usage, and consumer behavior in each region, as well as insights on digital and total media advertising spending trends through 2015.

In several major markets—including the US and UK—the specter of a double-dip recession is casting a dark shadow over businesses and consumers. Regardless, global ad spending will still approach $500 billion this year, eMarketer estimates, and digital advertising will remain a star performer following a 2010 in which growth in online ad spending outpaced all other platforms in most mature markets.

eMarketer estimates North America will continue to draw the greatest share of online advertising spending of any region, with over 40% of the worldwide total. Western Europe’s share of online spending will decline as emerging markets in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe up spending.

Asia-Pacific is expected to increase its share of total ad spending worldwide over the next few years, and overtake North America as the worldwide leader in the next five years.

Mobile devices are transforming the media landscape in every corner of the world. For instance, within four years, mobile phone penetration in Asia-Pacific will climb from an estimated 55.4% to nearly 73%, and the region will boast an eye-popping 2.9 billion mobile phone users.

“We’re thrilled to work with eMarketer again to provide global digital insights to our clients, and help them more effectively plan and allocate dollars through digital channels around the world,” said Kate Sirkin, Executive Vice President of Research at Starcom MediaVest Group.

SMG helped identify and gather data for local and core global markets included in the report.

After seeing record interest among marketers for the “2010 Global Media Intelligence” report published last year, eMarketer hopes the new report will help marketers more effectively plan their marketing mixes and allocate budget toward digital channels during the coming year.

“The ‘2010 Global Media Intelligence’ report was one of the most popular reports we’ve ever produced,” said eMarketer President Lisa Church. “We’re very pleased to be able to deliver the report again this year with even more relevant insights on digital markets around the world.”

“We expect massive interest again among our client base, especially as most are currently in the process of finalizing their media strategies for 2012,” added Church.

Source: http://www.medianewsline.com/news/132/ARTICLE/8352/2011-10-17.html by Sandhya Manohar on 17th October 2011.

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Asia Pacific - Mobile Shines Amid Rising Digital Ad Spending

The FINANCIAL -- For many advertisers and marketers, 2010 brought a welcome return to growth after the global recession. 2011 was widely expected to continue this positive trend, but in several major markets— including the US and UK—the specter of a double-dip recession is casting a dark shadow over businesses and consumers.

Such turbulence typically puts the brakes on advertising spending to some degree. But global ad spending will still approach $500 billion this year, eMarketer estimates, and digital advertising will remain a star performer following a 2010 in which growth in online ad spending outpaced all other platforms in most mature markets.

eMarketer estimates North America will continue to draw the greatest share of online advertising spending of any region, with over 40% of the worldwide total. Western Europe’s share of online spending will decline as emerging markets in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe up spending.

Meanwhile, mobile devices are transforming the media landscape in every corner of the world—especially in regions where they represent the default form of access to the internet. But mobile usage patterns still vary significantly, even within single regions.

In Asia-Pacific, for example, at least 83% of individuals in South Korea and Japan will use a mobile phone this year, eMarketer estimates, while India will register just 52% penetration. But markets with lower mobile usage are catching up fast. Within four years, mobile phone penetration in Asia-Pacific will climb from an estimated 55.4% to nearly 73%, and the region will boast an eye-popping 2.9 billion mobile phone users.

Marketers should also be alert to regional differences in the gender balance in mobile audiences. Similarly, the link between affluence and smartphone or mobile web adoption seen in many Western nations is not always a foregone conclusion in other regions.

Mobile ad spending in the US will reach $1.23 billion this year, eMarketer estimates, and will surpass spending in Japan, the current largest single-country market, by the end of 2012. While spending levels in emerging markets like the BRIC nations are lower, growth is strong. eMarketer expects mobile ad spending in China alone to top $1 billion by 2014.

Source: http://finchannel.com/Main_News/Tech/96562_Mobile_Shines_Amid_Rising_Digital_Ad_Spending/ on 13th October 2011.

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Asia Pacific - APAC mobile connections to rapidly grow: Ovum

Asia-Pacific (AP) mobile connections will reach 4.2 billion in 2016 a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4 per cent over the next five years, research firm Ovum said.

In a new report, the independent telecoms analyst states that mobile connection growth will largely be driven by the “mega emerging markets” of China, India and Indonesia due to their market size and relatively low mobile penetration levels. In fact these three markets will have 3 billion connections between them in 2016, accounting for 72% of connections in AP and 38% of the global total, Ovum researchers said.

However, mobile revenue growth in AP will reach a CAGR of just 2.4% between 2011 and 2016. This is despite the rise of mobile data revenues for telecoms operators, which Ovum expects to reach US$145 billion in 2016 due to the sheer volume of connections and the presence of a number of developed data markets, Ovum said.

Emeka Obiodu, Ovum senior analyst and author of the report, said, “The global mobile market will experience sustained growth in connections across all regions, but Asia, Africa and the US will be the main drivers and between them will add billions of connections by 2016″.

“However, the significant growth in subscribers and the market’s insatiable demand for data services will not be enough to reverse the trend of overall slowing revenue growth in the market as the downward spiral in voice revenues continues to take its toll,” Obiodu added.

According to Obiodu, the developed markets of Asia-Pacific have similar connection growth rates to Western Europe. “With the exception of Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, all of the developed markets in AP have a lower connection CAGRs than their emerging market counterparts,” Obiodu said.

Obiodu also added, “This is unsurprising as these markets are made up of countries that have a non-existent prepaid market (South Korea and Japan) or that will have a penetration rate of over 130% in 2016. In addition, all of these markets have low population growth rates. In these markets, some of the main drivers of connection growth (pent-up demand, population growth, and multiple SIM ownership) are absent, while connection growth is stifled by market maturity”.

Although voice will continue to play the major role in service revenues, accounting for 60% of total mobile revenues in 2016, Ovum predicts that voice revenues will begin to decline in 2014 and will fall from $195.2 billion in 2011 to $193.7 billion in 2016 in AP.

“From 2014, voice revenues in AP will begin to decline as operators struggle to derive new revenues from customers and the significance of the market’s shift towards data becomes even more apparent. In 2016, non-voice revenues will no longer be a supplement to voice revenues. Instead, they will begin to replace them”, concluded Obiodu.

Source: http://www.computernewsme.com/2011/09/apac-mobile-connections-to-rapidly-grow-ovum/ by IDG Reporter on 27th September 2011.

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Asia Pacific - What will define the next phase of mobile advertising?

Global mobile ad network InMobi recently published an interesting report on global trends in the mobile advertising space. In the report, the company predicts that emerging economies will define the next phase of mobile advertising.

According to InMobi, at present, fifteen emerging market economies (namely China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Poland and Ukraine) account for more mobile subscriptions than the rest of the world combined. This trend is expected to continue in the next fifteen years. In 2010, these countries are estimated to have generated about 30% of mobile data services revenue globally and are expected to account for about 36% of mobile data services revenue by 2014.

Not surprisingly, the high growth rate is mainly attributed to the increasing availability of low cost, feature rich mobile phones in emerging economies. Consumers in these markets are increasingly looking to these phones as their source of internet connectivity.

According to Informa Telecoms and Media, a business information/research service, in the future, much of the growth in mobile advertising in these regions would come mainly because of the lack of channel options in emerging markets.

In more developed markets, traditional media channels such as TV, radio and print have near 100% consumer penetration. As such, in these markets, switching to mobile as an advertising channel is typically slower given the deep penetration in other forms of media.

In emerging regions however, Informa Telecoms and Media notes that there are fewer advertising channels overall with significantly less penetration than in developed markets. In these markets, mobile phones typically offer advertisers more reach than traditional media channels.

Emerging markets will be highly important to the mobile advertising space in the coming years. Smart entrepreneurs looking to reach consumers in emerging economies would do well to make mobile a major part of their advertising strategy.

Source: http://nl.thenextweb.com/2011/05/22/what-will-define-the-next-phase-of-mobile-advertising/ by Nmachi Jidenma.

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Asia Pacific - AP mobile messaging revenue to hit US$39b in 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: Mobile messaging services revenues in Asia-Pacific (AP) will increase 7% year-on-year to US$39 billion in 2011, according to Australia-based Ovum.

It said that the number of mobile text, picture and video messages sent in the AP region would increase by 14% from 3 trillion last year to 3.5 trillion this year.

The AP region accounts for almost 50% of the estimated 7.5 trillion global traffic in 2011, it said.

In a report entitled "The Future of Mobile Messaging" released Thursday, Sept 15, Ovum said the growth was driven by countries such as China, which contributed significantly to messaging revenue and traffic for Asia Pacific.

China was also billed as the star performer with an 11% increase in revenue from 2010 to 2011.

Ovum said the compounded annual growth rate for the Asia Pacific region from 2011 to 2016 was forecast to be 4.76%, the second highest growing region after South and Central America.

However, Ovum cautioned that this trend would eventually slow down as alternative messaging solutions from internet service providers, handset vendors and social networks seek to capture the market.

“The Asia Pacific market will be relatively insulated from the impending global market.

“Growth rates will slow down in terms of revenue and messaging traffiv growth but it will not result in a decline for the period forecasted,” it said.

Ovum analyst and author of the report, Neha Dharia, said that while over the next four years the mobile messaging would continue to grow it was fast approaching an inflection point.

“Consumers will increasingly choose to send messages via the growing list of internet based messaging services that have entered the market, rather than the traditional text message,” said Dharia.

Dharia added RIM's BlackBerry Messenger, Apple's iMessage and Nokia's Ovi messaging have all been successful in creating messaging services to rival the SMS.

“The trend is intensifying due to the growing presence of smartphones, low-cost data plans, and the prevalence of third-party messaging service providers on the mobile phone.

“To continue to drive revenues from messaging, mobile operators will need to be innovative in their approach to both the services they offer and their business models” she said.

Ovum also suggested mobile operators to expand their messaging portfolio and add their own internet based messaging option to regain lost market share.

However, they must be careful not to replicate those already in the market place, it said.

“Simply replicating a popular third-party service won’t result in success for an operator-branded service.

Operators must offer over and above a basic service, by leveraging exclusive information they hold on consumers, such as frequently called contacts,” said Dharia.

Source: http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/technology/193016-ap-mobile-messaging-revenue-to-hit-us39b-in-2011-.html by Syarinah Hyzah Zakaria of theedgemalaysia.com on 15th September 2011.

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Asia Pacific - 836mil handphones to be shipped in Asia-Pacific by 2016

Asia-Pacific mobile-phone shipments will hit 836 million units in 2016, driven by growth in emerging markets and the proliferation of broadband-enabled handsets, market researcher Ovum has predicted.

The region’s mobile-handset market is set for steady growth of 2.8 per cent over the next five years, with shipments increasing by more than 128 million from 2011 to 2016, the firm said in a new forecast.

Globally, Ovum forecasts growth of 2.5 per cent in the period, with shipments growing by more than 230 million to 1.77 billion by 2016.

“Much of the growth in [Asia-Pacific] will be fuelled by mobile connections in the emerging markets, where the number of mobile phone users continues to steadily increase,” Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach said in the forecast.

“Within the region, the big three markets of China, India and Indonesia will continue to be the growth engines for global mobile connections and handset shipments.

The arrival of cheaper smart phones into these markets is boosting smart phone penetration and data ARPU [average revenue per user] for operators, while feature phones continue to remain attractive in rural communities in China, India and Indonesia.”

However, operators switching to 3G and 4G mobile broadband networks will also play a key role, according to Ovum, which forecasts that shipments of broadband-enabled handsets in Asia-Pacific will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16.7 per cent to reach 372 million units in 2016.

“Increasing consumer appetite for smart phones is a major factor in driving the growth in the market for mobile broadband-enabled handsets. However, smart phones are not the only story and there will still be growth in non-smart broadband phones, particularly in the emerging markets,” Leach said.

Source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Science%2Band%2BTech/Story/A1Story20110825-296166.html by The Nation/Asia News Network on 25th August 2011.

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Asia Pacific - Asia-Pacific leads the World in Mobile Penetration

There is no doubt that the Technology and Mobile market is growing rapidly in Asian countries. But, a recent study done by Google and Ipsos found that Asia-Pacific leads the world in mobile usage and penetration, surpassing even the U.S. market.

The report titled Smartphone Research on Mobile Internet and Market Trends, studied 30 markets globally and 11 markets in Asia-Pacific. The region as a whole was found to have the highest mobile phone penetration in the world and mobile users were more willing to use their mobile phones to shop and play.

Here are some of the interesting findings of the study:

- All 11 of the Asia-Pacific markets studied had higher overall phone penetration than the US.

- 4 of the 11 Asia-Pacific markets surveyed had a higher smartphone penetration than the US (31 per cent). These markets included Singapore (62 per cent), Australia (37 per cent), Hong Kong (35 per cent) and urban China (35 per cent).

- Consumers in Asia-Pacific (except Australia and Malaysia) found their smartphone more interesting than TV surpassing those in the US.

- Japanese, Korean and Singaporean consumers use their smartphones more intensely than their US counterparts. They email more, search more and share more videos. However, other markets in Asia are still lagging behind the US in terms of their smartphones usage to search, social network and share videos. This may, however, change in the future as more and more mobile users shift to high-end smartphones.

- Mobile users in Southeast Asia are the most avid online shoppers. Those in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia are more likely to have made a purchase on their phone than US users.

- Mobile users in these developing countries were also found to use more apps than those in developed countries across the world. The study reveals that 39 per cent of US and UK consumers, and 45 of Japanese consumers, intend to use more apps in the future, whereas over 60 per cent of Malaysian, Thai and Indian consumers, and 59 per cent of Indonesian consumers, intend to do so.

This study comes as good news for mobile companies in Asia and speaks about the countless opportunities that western companies have in this region. With more and more internet users shifting to mobile platforms, mobile advertising is also expected to grow and advance over years.

Source: http://www.buzzom.com/2011/09/asia-pacific-leads-the-world-in-mobile-penetration/ by Swati on 4th September 2011.

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