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Betting big on entertaining small

By Long Li Yann, ZDNet Asia on November 14, 2005

Summary

Mobile entertainment can be a lucrative market, as long as there is a clear regulatory framework and smart marketing tactics in place, say industry players.

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Once a chunky piece of hardware that could only make calls, the mobile phone now allows users to take print-quality pictures, play games and make payments. It is clear that mobile entertainment is here to stay, and can herald the beginning of a highly lucrative market.
"Games, gambling and girls are the '3 Gs' which will propel mobile data usage over the coming years."
-- Nick Ingelbrecht
Gartner

According to Gartner, sales of mobile phones will reach a billion a year by 2009, where one in three of all phones will be sold in Asian countries. Estimates from research house Informa Telecoms and Media also state that the global market for mobile entertainment could reach US$42.8 billion by 2010.

Nick Ingelbrecht, Gartner's principal analyst, estimates that by 2009, the revenues for the mobile entertainment market in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) could reach almost US$8 billion, making up between 30 and 35 percent of the worldwide figures. This would reflect an increase from the estimated US$3.4 billion revenues to be generated by the end of 2005, he said.

"Games, gambling and girls are the '3 Gs' which will propel mobile data usage over the coming years," Ingelbrecht wrote, in an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia. "Clearly, demand will be driven by the priorities and values of people who use data services, so you have to look at some fairly basic underlying motivators among consumers."

For example, using Maslow's hierarchy of needs, some of these basic motivators cou greed, sex, and possibly the fear of losing, Ingelbrecht explained. Maslow's hierarchy is a hypothesis in psychology which theorizes that humans seek to satisfy a host of basic needs prioritized in a pyramid.

With the mobile entertainment market poised to yield such promising returns, it is not surprising that many industry players have jumped onto the bandwagon. One such entrant is multimedia software maker, Macromedia.

While the company has typically been associated with its desktop applications such as Studio, Macromedia is also moving steadily into the mobile device area with the June 2004 introduction of Flash Lite, a version of its Flash player which was developed specifically for mobile phones.

Already, Macromedia this year has inked contracts with handset makers Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung Electronics to embed Flash Lite into their handsets, according to a company media statement. Users can now look forward to handsets with Flash-based user interface and games from these makers, Macromedia said.

In addition, the company says it is currently working with major operators across the region to develop subscription-based channels of news content, based on its FlashCast technology.

Dan Brogiel, Asia-Pacific vice president of Macromedia's mobile and devices business, said during a press briefing last week: "This is definitely a huge market for us. The idea that Nokia is the largest handset maker in the world, with a 30 percent market share, is not lost on Macromedia."

Betting on mobile
Mobile gambling has recently emerged from behind the shadows of its more illustrious peers, such as games and adult content. With the proliferation of online gambling Web

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