Korea's fourth license reload

According to The Korea Herald (May 29), the Korean government is considering reviving the project of a fourth MNO license as part of a plan to stimulate the market.

Is there a need for another 4G network? Korea is well covered with LTE to LTE-A, beefed-up locally through pervasive femtocells and WiFi. And the three incumbents don't want to sit on their laurels: Korea Telecom promised 5G trials for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and SK Telecom announced a partnership with Google on augmented reality ("T-AR for Project Tango").

Is there a need for more competition? It depends on the profile of the new player, and the impacts on a M-VNO ecosystem that, at long last, is biting into a pie still dominated by SK Telecom, Korea Telecom, and LG U+.

According to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), M-VNOs were claiming a 8.8% market share as of April 21 (up from 2.9% in June 2012), thanks to prices on average 57% cheaper than the MNOs.

But it's not as if you had one fourth player with a 8.8% market share, big enough to contest the leaders on more profitable segments. Today, Korea has 27 M-VNOs, most struggling to make their first profit, and likely to never see it. Significantly, their number of subscribers started to explode when they targeted more discount-seeking audiences (the youth, Chinese migrant workers...).

A perennial candidate for the 4th spot is actually a consortium of M-VNOs: KMI (Korea Mobile Internet) revived their candidacy in October 2013, and defending the existing M-VNO ecosystem could be a stronger argument today. In December 2011, the Korea Communications Commission not only rejected KMI's bid, but also that of IST (Internet Space Time lost the backing of Hyundai Group at a critical moment). Note that the KCC also canceled the auction for the WiBro spectrum. I explained a few months earlier ("A Kbiz MNO ? SMEs vs Korea Inc") how the attempt by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses (Kbiz) to enter the market looked more like a lobbying stunt to push WiBro.

A much bigger fish could also seek the fourth license, with more brand power. Typically, CJ Group is already a major player in telecom, IPTV, or multimedia contents. It has the money to invest on new networks (Daum Kakao or Naver would need serious backing), the customer bases to leverage, and the contents to fill the pipes..., but don't bet on price wars with fellow chaebol on the juiciest segments. 
 
A true new entrant from overseas? Global MNOs know how difficult it would be in a country where foreign majors are seldom allowed to take or maintain leading positions (see retail for example: Carrefour and Wal-Mart already gone, Tesco on the back seat). But joining a consortium, or creating one remains a rare opportunity for international platforms to push their solutions in an otherwise locked Korean market. And nowadays, the dominant platforms do not necessarily belong to telecom operators...

Anyway, expect more lobbying ahead of the government's guidelines, expected by the end of June.

• See also "Daum Kakao, Google Campus... Korean platforms on steroids", other posts related to innovation in Korea.

mot-bile 2015

* "Consortium to bid for 4th mobile carrier in S. Korea" (Yonhap News - 2013/10/08)

Daum Kakao, Google Campus... Korean platforms on steroids

Yesterday, Daum and Kakao Corp announced that they would merge on October 1st, and Google that its first Google Campus in Asia would be located in Seoul.

The Daum Kakao merger looks rather defensive: before everything, it creates a stronger competitor to NHN, the leader operating among others the main rivals to Daum and Kakao Talk: Naver and LINE.

NHN and Daum are rare exceptions as successful newcomers in a country where start-ups struggle to survive in an ecosystem dominated by chaebols: as soon as a new gem shows some potential, the big fishes try to eat it, or to destroy it with me-toos leveraging on in-house countless entry points, or to control it by becoming its sole 'partner'. 

NHN and Daum could storm the web at the turn of the millennium, when mobile operators where busy building proprietary environments, and other chaebol focusing as usual on hardware. They built competitive platforms that even resisted Google, who only managed to gain strongholds in Korea thanks to Android. Typically, even if Naver maintains its leadership in web searches, Google could 'crowd-boost' Google Maps or Google Translate, with the help of smartphone manufacturers who were too happy to have a platform rivaling Apple to care about the hidden costs.

As we've said before, Samsung and LG helped Google BtoB (OEM) succeed where Google BtoC (portal) failed, and all they can do now is send a Tizen to nibble at the heavyweight champion's ears. 

There's a finite space for major value aggregators in Korea, and as Samsung's latest attempt to build a sustainable platform beyond hardware, Tizen probably accelerated the need for rivals to stretch their reach.

Big G needed to beef up its Asian ecosystem and Korea seems the perfect choice: Android rules, start-ups need competitive platforms to survive chaebol bullies, and Mountain View has the opportunity to weaken some of its most serious competitors on their own turf. Bonus: by supporting Korea's SME and creative ecosystem, you gain the favors of local authorities and regulators.

Anyway, good news for Korea's attractiveness... but yet higher entry barriers for potential major newcomers.




ADDENDUM 20140828: let's guess which 'independent' whistleblower suggested Korean watchdog to investigate Kakao Corp in the wake of the merger ("Kakao under probe for allegedly abusing market power: sources")




mot-bile 2014

joyn or die? forget about KakaoTalk and Anipang?

Remember last year, when KakaoTalk celebrated its 10 millionth user (see "Kakao Talk of the day")?

Well, 1000 days after launch, the Korean player claims 70 M users in 13 languages, with daily averages of 27 M users, 43 mn per user, and 4.2 billion messages. Even if Skype remains far ahead with its 280 M users (and the support of Microsoft* - whatever that's worth nowadays), Kakao Inc. has already become a global phenomenon  - maybe level 5 on Gangnam Style scale - , and remains as ambitious as ever.

The way Anipang on KakaoTalk turned into an instant hit in the competitive game apps arena** probably scared the heck out of pure players (messaging services, VoIP...), not to mention much bigger netcos, starting at home with Daum and Naver, two giants on the Korean market who've - so far - failed to reach international recognition. Note that Kakao Inc. founder KIM Beom-soo is not an outsider: he created Hangame Communications, Inc., and headed NHN after the merger with Naver.

Even top players are paying attention. Sundaytoyz (Anipang's developer) is not Rovio, and Kakao is not Facebook, but I bet many people in Menlo Park start wondering what kind of value the Kakao platform will aggregate after games. And if Big G can leverage its superiority in searches to boost Google Voice (and counter Apple's Siri), the brand itself is not exactly a success.

Of course, the most nervous of all coopetitors are the MNOs, who see their customers use KakaoTalk for their calls and messages, and their own networks, even LTE-enabled, glogged with that booming data traffic. No wonder all 3 Korean cellcos decided to implement joyn, the GSMA's "Rich Communication Services" platform.

To start with, the "joyn" logo is the perfect anti-KakaoTalk: a double black on yellow speech bubble to counter a single yellow on black speech bubble. And RCS brings what operators who cooperate do best: interoperability. As the GSMA puts it in its sales pitch, the solution "delivers an experience beyond voice and SMS by providing them with instant messaging or chat, live video and file sharing across any device, on any network, with all the enabled contacts in their address book".

That's what cellcos will sell to their endusers - something young, sexy, colorful:

But first, the GSMA must convince its own customers, the MNOs, to implement the solution. Everybody must be on board for the promise to be delivered.

So further down the same page, the sales pitch sounds much more defensive and frigthening:

"Don't lose out to OTT  – stay competitive and innovate with APIs

Your consumers are hungry for access to the entertainment and interaction offered by RCS-based apps. Agile and innovative, Over The Top (OTT) providers are exploiting the massive penetration of Smartphones by developing appealing rich communication apps available at little or no cost to the consumer.

Research conducted by one operator discovered a direct link between the penetration rate of cross-platform messaging services and the reduction of outgoing SMS traffic. Without RCS, the decline of voice messaging is likely to be next, as consumers increasingly engage with alternative IP based voice solutions.

Once consumers start using an OTT app service, that offering becomes, for them, the lead brand for communications services. Operators remain more competitive by responding more rapidly to consumers’ expectations and behaviour, and by using RCS to enhance the value of their network and bring richer calls to their consumers."

And those most dramatic final words: "Act now before it’s too late - Implement RCS today!"

Stop pulling your hair out, try this air lotion and stop the airtime loss. We don't guarantee return of love.

And be quick: the end is nigh.


mot-bile 2012

* see "Skype keeps moving, Google googling"
** over 20 M downloads, only on Android (iOS to follow soon)

Daum TV + or -

From its brand new Space.1 (spacedotone) headquarters in Jeju-do, South Korea, Daum Communications announced Daum TV and Daum TV+.

Daum TV is an Android base OS for smart TVs, Daum TV+ a set-top-box running on Daum TV. But since Daum doesn't provide any access, it cannot deliver as many goods as its rivals (and certainly won't fight with them for content rights), but that's an entry point for Daum Cloud services. A not-quite VNO planting a device at the heart of households.

The gizmo, a small black cube, will sell at E-Mart for KRW 199,000 (USD 174.9) and that's quite a bet. Daum already saw Google storm through the Korean market via Android smartphones, they don't want to miss the TV wars. But here, Daum is also up against Google and Apple, who can leverage on a global reach. Even Samsung is pushing Android instead of its own Bada...

To sum it up, this black cube is supposed to be a category killer, with the biggest players around as targets (operators, MSOs, manufacturers, OS...), but not much of an army of services or contents to support it.

Good luck.

mot-bile 2012

Cloud Portability

You is everywhere. Ubiquitous, yet with different levels of thickness depending on platforms and contexts. A change of temperature, and parts of your cloud precipitate into big drops for everyone to look and feel.

You is the marrow of the backbone. The bread earner for a Google or a Facebook, maybe a former unwilling employee of a Yahoo! or a MySpace.

You is stuck in a net, hooked, dependent. You has the mother of all monkeys on you's back. You can't kick the habit. You can't see a future without the virtual past you amassed over the years.

You probably doesn't remember Tripod, the killer app of yore. Picture this: a customized homepage, featuring whatever you fancy about you...

You, online.

Tripod joined Lycos (yeah, go-get-it Lycos, a star of the silent internet times - limited colors, dial-up, only background track the faxlike connection), and followed its master to Germany (Bertelsmann), Spain (Telefonica), and Korea (Daum). Now both brands belong to Ybrant Digital (India). Tripod fetches domain names for the digital marketing group. Unlike most internet ventures, Tripod took some time to deserve its brand: is still walking around, but with a cane. At least, they're making a few bucks with the brand. Yahoo! totally euthanized Geocities.

I'm not digressing. Lycos was the first netco to make a decent living. And the most disruptive moment I remember about Tripod is when they announced the portability of homepages. Competition remained one click away, but you could switch with all your belongings.

Social network portability is much more complex. Friendships and synapses reach beyond simple pages or links. But we'll have to get there some day.

And who knows, 20 years from now, some South Sudanese venture shall sell capacity under the brand Facebook.

mot-bile 2012

Skype keeps moving, Google googling

Microsoft purchased VoIP 1.0 leader Skype. Not for the technology but for the address books and the entry point to interhuman communications, something Redmond still has trouble getting into.

Google Music sounds like Google Book redux. No agreements yet, but a statement, and an invitation to store your stuff on Big G's cloud. You know, Google, not the major media company but the tech nerds with the big servers that never crash (take that Jeff - see "Melting clouds"). And as YouTube turns 6, Google promotes user generated quality content (YouTube Next, YouTube Creator Institute, YouTube NextUp...). So beyond storage, the idea will soon be to source new talents and to give everyone the opportunity to broadcast oneself.

The main news here is not the service but the branding: it's not "Google Music" but "Music Beta by Google", which allows a future brand to fill the blank (ie a future purchase), but furthermore echoes Google's pervasiveness on Android. In Korea, for instance, a country where it was lagging far behind Naver or Daum, the company managed to accumulate an impressive content far beyond mobile searches, through its no-logo apps and in particular in the LBS fields (maps, places...).

The debate shouldn't be only about collecting personal data but about dominant position in collaborative contents.

mot-bile 2011

Kakao Talk of the day

Kakao recently claimed its 10 millionth KakaoTalk user - or is it app download ? -, including 10% overseas (mostly in the US, thanks to the Korean diaspora, but the service is also available in English and Japanese). Now the Bundang based venture wants to go global.

Good luck : VoIP is a highly competitive field where "incumbent" Skype almost looks like the obsolete PTT running on grand dad PCs. In Korea, Kakao faces giant netco Daum's MyPeople, a more comprehensive social networking tool, or pure players like NeoMecca (OlivePhone app)... not to mention Google Talk, present on all Android smartphones.

Note that rivals Daum and Naver are considering suing Google for its dominant position as Android's favored search engine.

Indeed, the Google brand is indeed reigning on every Android smartphone's main screen, and more discreetely but pervasively present across the app menu : "Talk" for Google Talk, "Maps" for Google Map, "Places" for Google Places, "Latitude" for Google Latitude, "Finance" for Google Finance. Also there : Gmail, YouTube...

What puzzles me most is the way local MNOs deserted the battlefield : where a Vodafone would have branded the UI, KT / Show remains in the background. You know you have an iPhone or an Android device, but the operator appears simply as the hardware salesperson, and a not so proud carrier.

As we saw earlier, Korean MNOs have very poorly prepared for the smartphone revolution, but even now, it almost looks as if they want to dump their own app stores.

mot-bile 2011

As Daum goes (a bit) mAd, SK Telecom jumps to L Commerce and Mobile Virtual Banking Operator

I've been expecting a lot from Korea's leading portals Naver and Daum*, but so far, they've not exactly revolutionized mobile internet. For instance, they've only recently set a timid foot into mobile advertising**.

To their credit, it's hard to get a slice of the wireless pie consistent with their impressive web portal market share, even after the implementation of USIM cards, which undermined Korean MNO's lock on handsets, and even after the rise of smartphone apps, which also weakened their positions on the value chain.

According to KoreanClick, #1 NHN / Naver controls 63% of the portal market (31 M Unique Visitors for Naver.com in April 2010) and #2 Daum 21% (28.9 M UV), but #3 Nate (10% MS, 24.7 M UV) can leverage on key enablers provided by owner SK Telecom : the leading cellco, already a quadplay giant, has always put a lot of importance on Location Based Services and financial enablers.

That focus has become even more evident with the creation of the Hana Bank - SKT JV (see "SK Telecom's Wild Hana Card"), confirmed by the first services earlier this year***. The recently rebranded Hana SK Card targets 400 to 500,000 cardholders by EOY 2010.

SKT has also been redefining the "mobile wallet" concept over the past few weeks : leveraging on Visa PayWave radio frequency technology, the "T Smart Pay" (always that "T" umbrella brand of SKT's) concept allows the consumer to monitor up to 8 credit cards, 30 mileage / point cards, and 50 coupons with the same '13.56MHz RF SIM' card (always that "technerdy" trend of SKT's), to the risk of storing all your most critical information on one single device. Each time you present it for a contactless payment, you're proposed the choice between all registered cards.

Of course, Hana SK Card holders can also enjoy a simplified UI :



Here, SKT almost acts like a Mobile Virtual Banking Operator roaming on tens of rival networks and helping the consumer make the most of each buck, picking the best provider depending on the store, account status, promotion... Needless to say that this entry point will be massively exploited for contextual offers : ever since NATE Coupons, SK Telecom has been a major innovator in couponing and in July, SKT will launch 'L-commerce', a new set of Location Based Services bound to confirm the return of its mojo.

About ten years ago, I was impressed by how deep this player ventured into new trades like media or banking. Since then, SK Telecom didn't fully succeed overseas as a classic mobile operator, and at one moment lost some appeal as the marketing king at home, but lately, it seems to be experiencing a revival. Even telematics are back in fashion (SKT MIV / Mobile in Vehicle).

Note that on the more traditional battlefield, SK confirmed 8 more Android handsets by EOY (see "SK Telecom pushes Android"), and KT remains the most likely guess for the iPad exclusivity : Apple's latest gizmo is being approved for import, and TriGem, Samsung, and LG will suffer from a minimized delay before their own tablets****.

mot-bile 2010


* see "KT claims 500,000 iPhones"
** "Daum rolls out mobile advertising network" (JoongAng Daily 20100511)
*** see "Wal-Mart's Vudu Trance - home entertainment and apps"
**** see "Samsung S Pad in a Flash"

KT claims 500,000 iPhones

We've seen earlier how Korea, a laggard in smartphones, woke up with the help of iPhone* and the arrival of Android**. Now "smartphone" and "apps" pop up anywhere anytime, relegating "ubiquitous" or "well-being" to corny conversations. Among recent developments :

. KT announced today that it sold its 500,000th iPhone four months after launch, and that it's now batting a steady 4,000 new ones every day. Good score, but Samsung's Omnia 2 (Windows Mobile) will remain ahead (600,000th handset sold yesterday). Yet, Apple reaches beyond the smartphone, and KT estimated its market for apps, contents and software at KRW 470 bn, plus KRW 230 bn for accessories (KRW 700 bn means about USD 600 M these days). Unsurprisingly, early bird iPhone caught heavy mobile internet users : 44 times more than other KT customers (includes the majority of non users).

. Last month, Samsung made the headlines by snatching Android trademark for hardware in Korea, preventing rivals from branding any Android gizmo beyond the OS. LG's "Andro-1", an horizontal slider with keyboard sold exclusively by KT, definitely sounds borderline. Andro-1 itself is borderline : even if it came after Motorola's MotoROI (2.0) and the Samsung SHW-M100S (2.1), it runs on Android 1.5...

. In a country plagued with voice / email phishing scams, or even North Korean e-blitzkriegs, the brutal success of smartphones was bound to cause a considerable number of attacks much scarier than Rick Astley***. Competition among crimefigthers is quickly going wireless, and local expert AhnLab released new versions of its star antivirus : V3 Mobile for Android and V3 Mobile+ for iPhone. But operators don't want netcos to claim their own territories and the next day, mobile leader SK Telecom decided to offer McAfee antivirus to all its Android subs. Besides, even if for the moment the bulk of smartphone users are over 18, adult content is also becoming an issue...

Local internet powerhouses Naver and Daum don't want to be followers - Daum even planned to equip all its staff with iPhones ahead of the launch. Both are seizing opportunities and multiplying applications, and the coopetition between Korean netcos and MNOs will really become interesting.

mot-bile 2010

* "iPhone rocks Seoul and sacred cows"
** "SK Telecom pushes Android" followed by "Wal-Mart's Vudu Trance - home entertainment and apps"
*** see "iPhone worm raises its ugly head : Rick Astley"

Google.co.kr stopped the diet

This is google.co.kr in English :




The same URL, Korean version ? Ta-daaa :



OK... looks like a weak North Korean attempt to compete with the flashy and animated homepages of local rivals Daum or Naver, but that's a giant leap for Googlekind. Images beyond the logo - heck, actual photos ! - an embryo of menu, some bits of news... Plus 2 small PNGs to catch your eye :
- (top) the little house on the prair-e to reach your iGoogle page
- (bottom) a "+" which becomes a "-" when you click it : Big G then unfolds its own menu of services without refreshing the whole page

Time is money. Google used to prove it by skimming all fat tissues from its most essential URL, but now they're following the adage in a different meaning : let's not waste time catching up with leaders, even if it means bending sacrosanct rules.

But if low carb homepages are history in Korea (and probably Japan and China, where Big G's market shares are also below "normal"), "don't be evil" is still standing.

For the moment.


mot-bile 2009

---
ADDENDUM 20091211

According to Joseon Ilbo, Rankey estimated that the new Google homepage, launched on Friday the 4th, gained 83% Saturday (reaching 921,000 visitors), plus 29% Sunday, plus 9% Monday. No comparisons were given with the previous week.

IPTV in Korea

A 100 Mbps connection, a brand new Homevita home networking service including a complimentary Samsung Q1 Ultra (slick, black, DMB enabled, lovely keyboard). And all I can get is VOD channels. The closest thing to live TV I get is through classic web browsing or through CCTV (most exciting Reality TV program : who paid me a visit the last few days ?).

Forget about real time broadcasting : the Ministry of Information and Communication is in favor of it but the Korea Broadcasting Commission lobbied against it. The freshest news, sports or series you can get must be at least 24h old. And provided your IPTV service reached an agreement with the broadcaster, you must pay for them (like KRW 500 apiece - never mind those corny loyalty program points).

24 hour old ! Ancient by the standards of a (supposedly) information / knowledge society where 90% of households are already enjoying pay TV, where internet / mobile banking is commonplace, where interactivity starts when you wake up and stops when you fall asleep.

In spite of this key regulatory hurdle (the only reason why France is still a leader in commercial IPTV), and the competition of so many technos (including DMB*) IPTV is on its way to 3 M subs by EOY 2008.

And Daum still wants to become the 4th player this summer ; a TVNO on its competitors' backs with powerful partners : Microsoft (platform and Xbox 360 access), Celrun (set top boxes), and NHN / Naver (Korea's second portal and already a key VOD and TV aggregator - see Naver VOD or Naver TV news for example)

The competitors ? The usual suspects :
- SK Telecom : the mobile leader is wolfing pionneer and leader Hanaro Telecom down. HanaTV targets 1.8M subs EOY (800k EOQ1 2008) with a break-even point at 2M.
- Korea Telecom (on the way to merging with KTF) : Mega TV has the cutest logo and the best network (optic fiber all the way through its Megapass broadband subsidiary).
- LG Telecom : #3 as always for the TTM as well as the market share. myLGTV has the weakest VOD catalog but that's better than nothing.

These 3 players just reached the 10M 3G subs plateau : 5.28M for KTF (+440K for Show in April), 4.68M for SKT (+470K for T Live) and 190K for LGT's Rev. A service.

* KBS, a top broacaster, is also national and regional T-DMB license holder (with KTF) - about U-KBS (VOD, KBS Star, KBS Heart, KBS Music, KBS Data, KBS-Mozen TPEG telematics... - yet another "Ubiquitus" service), see kbs.co.kr/dmb.

Smells like tin can spirit

Bell Labs' prez, Jeong Kim, announced in Seoul that thanks to nanotechnologies, mobile devices will sense changes in facial expressions and even smell people or things. You'd better not eat garlic before videophoning your girlfriend. And watch out next time your company offers you a Blackberry : it might beep your boss each time you lie or recover from booze or pot smoking or all of the above. What a Xmas gift !
"Merry Christmas" is the name of the software developped by Sookmyung Women's University for a PR firm : it crawls across the cyberspace and displays a rather graphical way both the positive and negative opinions on people or issues. US firms are already using such tools to roam the blogosphere, when their employees don't do it directly. And when I say "do it", I mean either roaming (funny how people keep visiting from Redmond, WA or Cupertino, CA) or building the blogosphere (e-pinion minions). Not always in the open.
Speaking of which... Korea's MIC seems to confirm the implementation of its "real-name system" plan by the end of this year. Before posting any comment on the web, Koreans will have to enter their personal ID. Not that of their service provider but the official one they use in their everyday life. The public seems to want that reform, and not only for the big internet players (who often have already implemented it) but for the whole web. Yet, major portals like Daum or Naver fear users will switch to foreign based providers.
So now both your mobile and your cyberalter egos will expose your true self. Not much will change for me : I decided to use my real name on my personal spaces as well as on public fora as a challenge. Every lapse, every mistake, every stupid joke will remain somewhere : I'm sick of the forgiveness of word processors and other polishing softwares, allzusoftwares.

Google Mob... (pay $.99 for the unshortened version)

An Everest of paper at Wall Street, Google are supposed to be using actual greenbacks anytime soon. Google Earth recently provided a pleasant gliding experience, Google Desktop 2 a nasty private investigation into Billy Boy's files (Outlook Toolbar, Sidebar, Quick Find), and Google Talk another gun pointed on MSN as Microserves face their gazillionth antitrust attack this side of the Han River*. But many expect the Mountain View, CA squad to put some flesh on Google Mobile or Google Wireless Services. Others mentioned browsers or a yahooish shift towards mediaship... Whatever. Tremors are shaking the Valley and I guess the sismic attacks on Google (these mobsters just suck all innovative people away from competitors) may find their epicenter not far away from Redmond, WA (yet I'm affraid The Big One will be for the man named Gates but who still didn't believe in portals in year 1995).
To be frank, I'm much more excited by the last arrows coming from Amazon : Amazon Shorts could contribute to shaking the old publishing tree as efficiently as the internet did with the music industry**.
I know, short stories are so old media but shorts are of season : short message services still sell, mobile comics and wireless mangas are all the rage and who would dare go on the beach without exposing a 64M-color-3G short movie ? You look great indeed, but you're splashing everybody and if this sea turns out to be a pound you're gonna drown in a pool of bubbles. Look at Wireless TV & Studios Inc. claiming "As MTV developed the language of cable. We have developed the lingo of Wireless TV", and believe it or not we have Nitrous Ltd on board ! Not all people screaming "I'm the king of the world" on the top of both their lungs and the Titanic did make it to the Oscars.

* Among the plaintiffs, RealMedia hopes not to end up as the next Netscape and Daum doesn't get any support from MSN's main competitor in Korea, NateOn (fear of any collateral damage for a dominant player in the mobile arena ?)
** selling short stories $.49 apiece is certainly not a revolution (just like Apple didn't invent anything with iTunes nor with iPod) - it's the players that matter. And the thing is right now you can't publish short stories unless you've published a novel first. Explain this to movie director wannabes.

madult content : follow the .$$$

What domain extension could follow .xxx but .mobi ? At the crossroad, Informa proposes new estimates for the global market for adult content on mobile devices : US$2.3 billion and 114M regular users by 2010. Informa plays it safe thanks to the following warning : "However, this figure is only expected to be realized if mobile carriers and content providers work with regulators to determine solid controls and age verification procedures".
If we say these regular users will represent 40% of all users and 90% of the pie, we're talking a $8 ARPU for all users and a $18 mark for hardcore madults. As far as age verification is concerned, some operators could follow Daum : parents open accounts for their kids and other people cannot send anything to their mailbox without answering a few questions. A great firewall against spammers but Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication went even further.
Spammers' e-mail and fixed line phone accounts will be stopped and convicted spammers and felons will be prevented from opening new ones. That is provided e-mail services adopt new rules and ask for the subscribers' real names... I'm sure shareholders will love to see the fall in subscriptions.
Mobile operators are not concerned yet but there was already an opt-in solution : no e-mail marketing is allowed without the victim being consentant. Great protection indeed : I receive an average 100 spam m-mails a day and according to Cetizen, 95% of mobile subs are still enjoying m-spam.

Flux your muscles, watch your wallet - music for a song ?

Viacom's MTV selected Japan and KDDI for their first subscription based music video service over 3G (Vids over 3G EVDO, then). I don't care if it raps, rocks or rolls but this rather sounds like classical music to my ears.
The other side of the East / West Sea, Korea's Daum are about to offer music for free to all their customers. Well, you can LISTEN to up to 3 songs a day within Musiccity's 400,000 song library, but the service usually costs W3,000 per month. All you have to do is being one of Daum's 35+ million subs. Obviously, the former leading portal seems allergic to MelOn, a key factor of success of SKT's Nate nowadays, along with Cyworld, the leader in homepages, a serious competitor to the Bank of Korea thanks to their quasi-currency loyalty program, and one of Musiccity's big customers. Because Musiccity is into "background music" and this kind of music seems likely to be heard far beyond its original mobile devices (elevators) : even if you can't podcast it, you can have people hear it wherever you post things (personal pages, blogs, e-mail ?). You don't even have to buy the latest 2.5 Gb-mp3-7-megapixel-4WD-phone to enjoy it*.
And what do the music majors think of this ? The Korea Music Copyright Association just gave their blessing, considering Daum already pays W125 / month / user.
Well. Once again, Korea's leading major is now a 60% SKT subsidiary.
A smarter combo ? Amp'd offers more than background music : back-uped content. I like the "safe haven" approach (for each download on your mobile phone - including mobisodes shot at Amp'd's brand new studios or your own content-, the US 3G EVDO MVNO will provide a simultaneous remote download), but I wonder if Amp'd can deliver before the big league players tune in, especially when they also envision ambitious multiplayer experiences with InfoSpace. Anyway : more hype announcements for Motorola and Kyocera, the suppliers supposed to release nice new handsets for Amp'd this fall. Remember lads : the word "fall" is zweideutig, and Moto have also been supposed to deliver ipod phones soon for a while... Verizon could hold the best spot for a takeover, being Amp'd's host through Verizon Wireless, but also a major US LLO.
Whatever the outcome, at the age of many-stop-storing and collaborative purchasing, at the age of Snocap and Mercora, you need a considerable reach by yourself and through your partners, but also more and more through not so loyal endusers.

Stephane

* You'd better invest on iRiver's latest player for your kid (ReingCom are now targeting the babies - I guess they'd better diversify beyond portable multimedia players). Anyway, any device will be more fun than Movida's : even in Puerto Rico you can't make people believe a Nokia 2270 will mobile-ize their life ("Moviliza tu vida" / "Get moving with Movida"). Talking about a revolution and an innovation... heard about Virgin Mobile's "disruptive" new service with BT Livetime ? TV over radio and an exciting EPG (Electronic Program Guide). That's DAB and SMS alerts... Radio Definitely Killed The Video Stars.

MelOn with a slice of pie

As expected (Hardware behind, hard work ahead - 20050504), SK Telecom are moving at high speed towards content : after taking a couple of months ago a slice (21.7%) of IHQ, a producer of TV shows and soaps, the Korean leader in mobility (and instant messaging as well, NateOn extending its edge over MSN Messenger) just purchased 60% of Korea's leading music major (YBM Seoul Records) to boost its MelOn mobile music portal. Their deep pockets should help them cope better than Daum with Lycos. The new and improved SKT should also pray for the Korean wave (Hallyu) to last longer than the fad for Bae Yong Joon.

Spamy sauce

If Monty Python made spam famous, Korea made it infamous for breaking all records on the internet variety - even on the go (last year, "mobile spam" outscored "classic spam" by a 2 to 1 ratio). Lycos, now owned by Korea's leading portal and e-mail service provider (Daum), released a new spam killer : a screensaver designed to overwhelm the spammer's servers by distributed denial of service while you're away from your computer (over 30,000 users so far). The concept is called "make love not spam", but could be dubbed "spam the spammers". Stephane MOT