Saturday, September 27, 2003
Posted by Roberto
11:20 AM
0 comments
SMS, THE CASH COW FOR CHINESE WEB PORTALS
SMS traffic in China:
2001 :: 6 billion
2002 :: More than 80 billion
Why is SMS so hot?
- It is cheap: in China an SMS message costs about 80% less than one minute of voice transmission. About one European cent per SMS message.
- It can be used on basic wireless handsets which account for more than 90% of the Chinese market.
- In China more people own mobile phones than personal computers.
In 2001 there was an average of 13.31 computers for every 100 urban households. In major cities such as Beijing, more than 75% of the population owned a mobile phone in 2002. In Shanghai the rate was 55%. - It allows Web portals (Sohu.com, NetEase.com, Sina.com) to move news flashes, sports updates, anonymous dating services and chat rooms to the SMS platform for mobile phones, allowing them to bill users for the content.
In 2001 there was an average of 13.31 computers for every 100 urban households. In major cities such as Beijing, more than 75% of the population owned a mobile phone in 2002. In Shanghai the rate was 55%.
Sohu facts:
Sohu.com Q4 2002: Revenues: 10.6 million. SMS-related accounted for 5.1 million.
Sohu.com Q2 2003: Revenues: 19.4 million. SMS-related revenues rose to 11.5 million.
Today, the revenue-sharing agreement with China Mobile still gives the lion's share of revenues, 85%, to the content providers.
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