Who said SNS sites weren't BIG business...$$$

As people have seen the coming and going of different SNS internet and mobile phone communities across the globe, one particular SNS site with its origins in Japan definitely rebuffs those who believe that mobile phone SNS companies dont have a strong business model leg to stand on....

Japan's second largest social network GREE, launched in 2004, recently listed its IPO shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market for start-ups. GREE caused a stir on the IPO market with shares rising from $37 to $56 on the first trading day and instantly made GREE the No. 4 player among Japan's listed web companies, only trailing Yahoo Japan, Rakuten and DeNA (Mobage-town creator)....not bad for a day's work!

GREE began operations on the fixed Internet before Japanese users started to move over to competitor Mixi. Today, GREE Mobile has 7 million registered users. And 99% of its 8 billion monthly page views are generated through mobile phones. These 8 billion monthly page views are essentially generated by a mix of social networking and a gaming platform where users are represented through avatars and can buy virtual items on the site, such as food used in GREE's virtual pet games and clothes for avatars.

Well, the team at GREE are definitely onto something.....and the market of keitai consumers and investors certainly agree with them.

Australian Chris

Emerging markets - the next mobile revolution!

As companies continue to buckle down to weather the recession cold, mobile phone companies are striving to stay afloat amid competition and recession fears by targeting the emerging markets and by offering innovative services at competitive prices. They are currently focusing all their energies on the emerging markets in the developing countries, as seen by NTT DoCoMo's move into India. These newer markets comprising of Latin America, Greater China, Middle East and Africa, are expected to account for around 70 percent of the mobile handset sales in the future. Definitely a large piece of the pie....

The mobile phone industry is no doubt treading the path of recession but newer markets are opening up and developing to upkeep sales figures. The telecom industry is still in an early stage in many countries, which are becoming fertile for mobile mania. As companies are cutting costs and harnessing newer technologies to stay profitable, they are also forced to follow aggressive pricing strategies to beat the competition. While mature markets are becoming saturated, smartphones are slowing picking up. Studies have revealed that mobile phones are a necessity and users are willing to cut costs on their landline phones or cable rather than give up their mobile phones. Emerging markets, on the other and, are still price sensitive and are a bigger market for the low and mid-range phones. Mobile phone companies are thus able to withstand because of their sheer geographical range, across the whole world.

As a financial advisor would say,"You should really diversify your portfolio...."

Australian Chris