China Mobile sees major progress in mobile games
Mobile games continue to generate a great deal f attention in China. This week, China Mobile, one of the country’s largest telecommunications companies, announced that 25% of the applications downloaded from its Mobile Market app store were games. Moreover, these mobile games account for the vast majority of the revenue generated from all of the applications found on the company’s Mobile Market. This makes the mobile games sector the most lucrative sector in the mobile space, at least in China.
Majority of revenue in app market comes from games
According to China Mobile, mobile games represent 87.5% of total revenue earned by the Mobile Market. These games are rampantly popular among Chinese consumers, many of whom use them for entertainment purposes or, quite simply, to pass the time. China Mobile notes that the number of people willing to pay for mobile games is significantly higher than those willing to pay for games on other platforms. Up to 30% of mobile consumers, for instance, have paid or are willing to pay for mobile games of some kind, whereas 1-2% of consumers are willing to pay for PC games.
In-app purchases are becoming more common
China Mobile also notes that consumers are willing to have the fees tied to their mobile games included in their regular phone bill, with approximately 70% of mobile gamers favoring this practice. In-app purchases have also become the stable of the mobile games sector in China, with 90% of all games in the Mobile Market offering some form of in-app purchase. China Mobile expects that in-app purchases will eventually replace the pay-to-download model that has long dominated the applications market, leading most, if not all, mobile games to be free.
China sees economic growth in games
Mobile games have become a strong force in the Chinese economy. For several years, China’s game industry has been somewhat isolated, largely restricted to the borders of its native country. Despite this, the industry has become very affluent in the economy by providing consumers with countless hours of entertainment.
eBay overcoming Amazon in the field of mobile commerce in BRIC countires
eBay has beaten Amazon in the race to expand e-commerce in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries. Last week, eBay announced that it expects to see no less than 12% of its sales come from these countries by 2015. In order to achieve this goal, the retailer has been investing more heavily in e-commerce in these countries, with a strong focus on mobile commerce in particular. eBay anticipates that the global e-commerce market will be worth more than $300 billion by 2015, and the company is eager to beat out its only major competitor, Amazon, in order to establish dominance in the changing world of commerce.
eBay invests in Snapdeal
eBay has announced that it has completed Series C investment in Snapdeal, a leading online retailer based in India. Snapdeal boasts of more than 20 million users who regularly purchase products on a platform that is somewhat similar to eBay. Snapdeal has found some success in the field of mobile commerce, tapping into the growing population of India that has access to smartphones and tablets. The success the company has seen in the mobile commerce field has attracted the attention of eBay, which has invested $50 million into Snapdeal.
Snapdeal expects to see a strong sales year
By investing into Snapdeal, eBay is moving further into the Indian market. The company already has its own division devoted to the country, eBay India, but this only boasts of 5 million users, much less than those that make use of Snapdeal. Moreover, more consumers are beginning to favor mobile commerce over traditional forms of commerce. Snapdeal is more accommodating of purchases being made bring a mobile device than eBay India is, which leads more consumers to the former rather than the latter. With 20 million users and a strong focus on mobile commerce, Snapdeal is expected to generate more than $400 million in sales this year.
Amazon finds some progress in Brazil and elsewhere
Amazon has been working to establish a stronger presence in BRIC countries but has been met with several challenges along the way. While none of these challenges are expected to topple Amazon’s efforts, eBay was able to overcome the challenges it faced more quickly than its competitor. Nonetheless, Amazon is rapidly establishing a foothold in Brazil in much the same way that eBay is establishing its presence in India.
