Russian Mobile Content News
Newsletter, March 01, 2007

Mail.Ru Agent mobile messenger released
Internet holding Mail.ru launched a Java version of the Mail.Ru Agent messenger for mobile phones. The application allows to communicate with users of PC based Mail.Ru Agent and with mobile version users. The messenger runs on Java 2 Micro Edition enabled mobile terminals. Sensor screen and stylus functions for smartphones are supported. The mobile Mail.Ru Agent for Java 1.0 has a beta (testing) status.

Mobile Internet search queries in December 2006
WapStart.ru published statistics of mobile Internet search query key words in December 2006 in Russia. WAP users' interests have been in porn, free stuff, software, gays and Maxim pop-singer. Among the 'free stuff' queries the leaders are games (chess, Tetris, Poker, Race) and music, followed by mobile phone themes, pictures and video. Opera, Opera Mini, Jimm and anti-virus programs are among the most popular software retrievals. WAP users started to be interested in 'real' Internet search systems: the 'yandex' and 'rambler' queries has appeared (Yandex is Russia's leading Internet search service and portal; Rambler is another very popular Russian online portal with top 100 rating functions). No 'google' key words have been found in December 2006.

WapStart developed promo WAP site for Golden Telecom
wap.golden25.ru promo site is a rebranding programme part of Golden Telecom, a Russian private telco holding (NASDAQ: "GLDN"). The company is used to be a B2B telephone, Internet and data channel service provider. In 2006 GT has received a long-distance call licence and turned to the consumer market. The WAP site users can find a free to download GT branded mobile game Golden25 with a description of the game rules, a contest rules, prizes to be given (a notebook, camera, mobile phone) and gamers' rating.

Svyaznoi subscribes customers to Gigafone
A mobile phone distributor and content provider Svyaznoi signed a cooperation agreement with the GDM Group providing a mobile advertisement service Gigafone. The Svyaznoi mobile shops are starting to offer subscription to the Gigafone service. Gigafone is a special application working on Symbian and Windows Mobile and displaying an ad banner on mobile phone screen when the user receives a call or SMS. For every banner exposure the user gets some small amount of money (up to $0.1) to her/his mobile phone account. The money could be used to pay for any mobile services or even cashed out from operator's account. According to the GFK market research company, in 2006 the smartphone annuall sales growth has reached 39% in Moscow and 68% in St. Petersburg. Daniil Pokolodny, Svyaznoi's business development department head, said that smartphone sales in the Svyaznoi retail network had increased by 91% in 2006.

MTS and i-Free launched business WAP portal
Mobile Telesystems (MTS, NYSE: MBT), a leading cellular operator in Russia and the former USSR, announces the launch of a new service -- the Business WAP portal, designed in partnership with the largest Russian content provider i-Free. The Business WAP portal (wap.mtsbiz.ru) is comprised of several information modules covering Economic News, Company News, Stock Exchange News, Analysis and Ratings, and Business Press. "We wanted to make our new resource as easy as possible to use, as well as ultimately informative," said Kirill Gorynia, i-Free General Director. "Our new WAP portal will be helpful to anyone who is interested in any area of economics and business, not just entrepreneurs," noted Pavel Roitberg, Product and Service Development Director at MTS. "The resource gives users standby access to the latest updates on many different aspects of business." A new module, Books on Business, is coming to the portal soon.

IP rights breaker Delit.ru ties with RBC media holding
Gala Records might question the Russian media holding RBC (RTS: RBCI) in connection with infringement of copyright. The court, based on the record company suit, has returned guilty the online store Delit in infringement of copyright. According to the Vedomosti newspaper, Delit was a subsidiary of RBC in the summer of 2006. JSC 'RBC Information Systems' owns homonymous news agency, online portal, magazine, newspaper, TV channel and Armada IT company. 1H06 revenue - $73.7 mln, net profit - $22.5 mln. In nine months of 2006 RBC's media service revenue share was 61% (including RBC TV) and IT service share was 38.9%. On February 08 the Moscow Arbitrage has satisfied a claim of Gala Records (represents EMI Music in Russia) against Delit. The Delit music online store is selling mp3 files pricing $0.1 per record which is in 10 times cheaper than at iTunes.com. The court has applied a fine of 60,000 rubles ($2,280) despite the injured party claimed 800,000 rubles ($30,418).

Nokia Live Art mobile film festival started
The Nokia Live Art mobile film festival was launched with a support of the Cinema Without Frontiers, the oldest art- house company in Russia. The festival is another Nokia initiative in mobile video development. Ten young movie directors are participating in the festival contest under a slogan "Live cinema. Live communications." Each contender has received Nokia N93 multimedia computer as the only shooting tool. On March 15 the jury (well-known Russian film directors) will choose the festival winner.

Stanislav Borisov left Nikita Mobile to start HappyWebMakers
Stanislav Borisov, COO of the Moscow based mobile content provider Nikita Mobile, has left the company. Stas and some of his friends and colleagues who also worked at Nikita Mobile are starting a new company, HappyWebMakers. In a letter distributed among colleagues they said: "We will build a bridge between customers and brands using the well-known to us virtual world tools: PR, marketing, community management, branding, algorithms of statistical data processing and much more." The start-up will work in the Internet business field. I know Stas for four years. He was one of the best managers in the Russian mobile content market and a very good showman. He was also holding a key position at the Russian Mobile Content & Service Provider Association. I had no chance to talk to Stas these days to get some more insight. Nikita Mobile is used to be a one of the strongest Russian VAS players.

Kaspersky Lab and PlayMobile offer Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile
Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, and a content publisher PlayMobile (Next Media Group) announce the release of Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile 6.0, a product that protects mobile phones using Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems against mobile malware. The product protects smartphones from malicious programs and unsolicited SMS/MMS messages. Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile uses a combination of real-time antivirus protection and on-demand scanning to protect against threats, and also provides protection from unwanted SMS/MMS messages by blacklisting undesirable phone numbers. Real-time antivirus protection monitors wireless connections and scans EMS/MMS messages, as well any data received from a PC during synchronization. Its settings allow the user to view the phone's antivirus status as well as the event log, which records all actions performed by the program.

Content providers might be fined for erotic picture ads
The St. Petersburg Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Agency started to introduce order (?) in the mobile content advertisement market. On February 15 the Department's committee has considered a case of transgression by mobile content providers i-Free and INFON. The providers advertised animated pictures for mobile phones in the Vokrug Smekha magazine and in the Panorama Peterburg newspaper. The Agency specialists have decided that the advertisement modules had "obscene and offensive images." So, the committee has made a resolve to declare the advertisement as improper and has ordered to stop infringement. Besides, the committee is going to consider to make answerable the content providers. According to the law such an infringement is a subject of fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($19,000). i-Free and INFON are the largest Russian mobile content providers. The both companies have head offices in St. Petersburg and were among the very beginners of the Russian VAS market (in 2001-2002). i-Free/INFON combined market share is over 30%.

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