Russian Mobile Content News
Newsletter, January 2007

Mobilnye Otvety enters European market
In October 2006 a Russian content provider Mobilnye Otvety set up a Hamburg subsidiary, Contentberry GmbH. Service launch was planned on January 2007. The portfolio includes a variety of infotainment services based on IVR, SMS, MMS, WAP and UMTS technologies to be available to European cellular users. In 2007 Contentberry is supposed to launch its B2C services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Mobilnye Otvety has HQ in a Russian city of Voronezh, operating in Russia & Ukraine (Motvet-Ukraina subsidiary).

INFON run "World poker championship on mobile phones"
In November 2006 a content provider INFON launched "the World championship on poker on mobile phones" in the territory of Russia and Ukraine. The championship results have been brought in January. The championship geography has captured 10 countries over the world, including Russia and Ukraine. INFON (JSC Mobicon) was founded in January 2001. By now the company has offices in St. Petersburg (HQ), Moscow, Kiev and Almaty, employing more than 120 personnel. INFON's key business directions are mobile content distribution, integration of SMS services in advertising, media and socially significant projects. INFON is experienced in SMS services for TV canals.

InCore: one million users of Pri:)Call service (RBT)
Content provider InCore announced results of launching a ringbacktone service Pri:)Call in new regions of Russia in December 2006. A number of active subscribers has reached one million people. InCore is a Moscow based mobile service provider and aggregator. The company run projects in RBT (Ring Back Tone), STK (SimToolkit) and CPA (Content Provider Aggregation).

Next Media & Rossia TV channel launched Vesti mobile news
A voice mobile portal Vesti is a joint project between Next Media Entertainment and Rossia TV channel launched on January 22. Vesti is a news programme of the Rossia TV channel available on all TV sets in Russia. Within the project the partners will provide not only IVR Vesti version, but also a diverse entertainment content.

i-Free launched "Mobile Directory 09030"
Content provider i-Free launched a new voice service: "Mobile Directory 09030". The service users can receive a vide reference information on different subjects and get other supplementary services. The product helps to book air & train tickets, order flowers & gifts, theater tickets, rent a car, book a hotel room or a restaurant table, find a tour trip. The service is of use in case of emergency (to call for the police, ambulance, veterinary, etc.) and available 24/7 all over Russia. i-Free is the largest Russian mobile content provider, operating also in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, India, Mexico and Brazil.

Interactive quiz to warmed up interest to Nikolay Valuev's fight
Gloves of the Russian boxer Nikolay Valuev, show up in REN TV air and $1000 were received by winner of an interactive quiz on knowledge of the boxing, organized by content provider SMS Media Solutions. The quiz has been lead on Jan 20 during a live broadcast of the boxing duel for the world championship in superheavy weight (Nikolay Valuev vs American Jamil McLeyn). SMS Media Solutions is a leading Russian interactive media service provider, with a portfolio of over 300 projects for TV, radio, press, advertising agencies and advertisers. The company has provided SMS voting for Russia, Belarus and Armenia in a number of international projects.

Next Media settles Wolfhound in mobile phones
Central Partnership company and Shamrock Games (Next Media Group) presented a new branded mobile gave - Wolfhound. The Java game is based on the Wolfhound film produced by Central Partnership. The production company announced a tender on mobile game development in the summer of 2006. 12 companies were competing for the stake. A winner concept was presented by Shamrock Games, a well-known Russian game developer. Next Media has developed a complete mobile content package based on the film: Java game, slide show of key film episodes, Java applets devoted to main film characters, pictures and video clips.

Kievstar offers WAP traffic revenue sharing
The Ukrainian operator Kievstar has decided to stimulate generating WAP traffic and offered sharing WAP revenues to content providers. As far as I know, that's the first case when the former USSR cellular operator is ready to share WAP money with partners, and, I think, it's a very positive move for the entire market. Kievstar has the the largest cellular subscriber base in Ukraine. Roman Savvin, Kievstar's head of the mobile content & m-Commerce dept., has announced the company's new content strategy at the MobileMonday Kiev event, which took place on January 22. Kievstar offers 50/50% WAP traffic revenue share with those aggregators (content providers or site owners) who promote WAP sites by themselves. If Kievstar provides advertising support to a WAP project, then the operator takes away 60% of the revenues, and 40% gives to the content provider.

VAS market in Ukraine grown to $450 mln in 2006
According to Alexey Danilin, iKS-Consulting's senior expert, the mobile Value Added Service (VAS) market in Ukraine has grown on 40% up to $450 million in 2006. The VAS share in total revenues of cellular operator services in 2006 has slightly grown from 13% up to 14% and Ukraine has caught up with Russia (by that parameter), but considerably concedes to the European market, where that index varies from 20 to 28%. The main growth driver has become a data transmission segment, which increased for 64% up to $85 mln. Under Alexey Danilin's statement, 80% of the segment is generated by WAP traffic, incomes from which are practically completely monopolized by operators.

BrandMobile's SMS promo for fast-food ROSTIK'S-KFC
Mobile marketing agency BrandMobile run an SMS action "Take a taste!" for customers of the fast-food ROSTIK'S-KFC outlets on January 18th - February 18th in Moscow and in the Moscow region. The action gave an opportunity to regular visitors to receive gifts, and supposed to attract new customers to the chain. The action script also meant to get participants acquainted with some popular dishes of the menu.

i-Free launched IVR "Service of Acquaintances 0863"
"Service of Acquaintances 0863" is a voice portal launched by content provider i-Free for communication, dating and entertainment. In addition to traditional options, it gives to the users some new unique opportunities. The subscribers can create own virtual "houses" on the voice portal, where they can check voice mail and develop full-fledged diaries. The diary has an option to be accessible by other users of the service. The subscribers can also: to listen to various announcements of acquaintance, to place their own announcements, to get to know their horoscope for a week, to leave voice messages for Jamango mobile community users.

------------------------------------------------------------
ADVERTISEMENT
Central European Mobile Media Conference will be held on 16-17 May 2007 in Prague.
Key topics to be addressed at the event include:
* Central European Mobile Media Industry Overview;
* Mobile marketing and advertising, mobile search. Mobile community services;
* Mobile TV/radio. Print Media going Mobile.
Delegates will have the opportunity to exchange ideas, share experiences, hear about new and exciting opportunities and learn how to overcome challenges within Mobile Media. By booking your place before 1 March 2007 you can save EUR 240. Register online at: www.euromobilemedia.eu/mmconference_register_here.html
Full details of the conference program can be found online at www.euromobilemedia.eu
------------------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to this newsletter, please, send e-mail to: michael (at) adminltd.com