Archive for November 28th, 2008

Rise In Popularity Of Mobile Web And Mobile Advertising In Pakistan

Published by Babar Bhatti on November 28, 2008 under Business, Competitive Trends, Digital Convergence, EDGE, Emerging Markets Telecom, Entrepreneurship, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Phones, Mobile Web, Smart Phones

In an earlier post I presented some stats about the growth of mobile Internet based on the advertisements viewed from mobile phones in Pakistan. Additional data from last few months confirms that mobile web and mobile advertising audience in Pakistan are maturing and growing. This is impressive, given the difficult economic conditions and high taxation policies in Pakistan.

The analytics data from mKhoj, a mobile advertising company, shows that the number of impressions (views of advertisement) from Pakistan took an 80% jump in September and in the previous month, the impressions showed 300% growth. Pakistanis have always been big time fans of mobile games, ring tones and other fun downloads, a trend consistent with the mobile users worldwide. Now the public is moving from WAP suites to surfing the web and portals on mobiles. The unlimited data plans and EDGE service are contributors to this trend.

As I wrote a while ago, as long as the marketers follow an ethics guideline and provide relevant ads, the mobile advertising will take off and become mainstream.

Here is a summary of the trends which point to growth of mobile advertising:

  • 91 million user base
  • Near 100,000 mobile data users (estimate)
  • Good EDGE services (in terms of options and coverage) by mobile operators
  • More wireless broadband services – such as Zong USB Internet
  • Growth of smart phones as a percentage of overall handsets
  • Preference to browse web on the phone
  • Acceptance of mobile ads – as shown by ad impressions
  • Emergence of local mobile ad players such as mKhoj

Services We May See On Zong Some Day

Published by Babar Bhatti on November 28, 2008 under China, Competitive Trends, Emerging Markets Telecom, Games, Location Based Services, Mobile Applications, Telecommunications, Zong

Here’s a look at what China Mobile has been working on and sharing with its investor community. Who knows, some of these products could be offered through Zong in Pakistan as well. Regarding music, Zong has music channel and sms song search services but not as extensive as the one shown below. Mobile news delivery through MMS (Mobile Paper) is another interesting service.

There’s more stuff. Gaming, payments and location based services are also part of plan for China Mobile. Just what you should expect from the largest mobile operator in the world.

Source: China Mobile financial results presentation, first half 2008.