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Japanese mobile social networking hits the UK
By Andrew Charlesworth
31 July 2007 09:30AM
A mobile social networking service from Japan has been launched in the UK.
Mobikade, popular among Japan's urban youth, enables friends to provide each other with a constant stream of where-I-am and what-I'm-doing pseudo-news via a website accessible from their mobiles.
Every action earns participants points, which can be used to send text messages to friends, or they can be saved and entered in a monthly prize draw. Users can also download games, mostly puzzles like Sudoku.
The service faces a number of hurdles before it is successful in the UK, however. "A direct consumer play could be a problem," Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum's consumer practice, told vnunet.com
"The brand is unknown in the UK, so they might do better allying with a known mobile or online brand."
A safer bet for success would be mobile features added to an existing popular social networking service, added Zoller.
Furthermore, in Japan, where conventional PC adoption is lower, accessing the web from a mobile is more established than it is in the UK.
UK mobile operators have struggled for years to increase the data proportion of their revenues, which are still only a tiny percentage compared to voice traffic.
In Japan, Sogo Shosha ITOCHU and Excite Japan, the companies behind Mobikade, fund the service principally from advertising.
CONTINUES
IT News Australia
MOBIKADE
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Posted: 2007-08-03 11:20:14
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