Tencent to Launch Mobile App Open Platform
Beijing Times, 10/23/12
Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Chinese internet giant Tencent (0700.HK), announced at the Mobile Developers Conference China 2012 yesterday that Tencent will incorporate the mobile version of its SNS QZone, Weixin (WeChat) mobile messaging application, LBS, mobile payment, and mobile advertising systems into a new mobile open platform. Tencent will incorporate a new edition of Soso Maps' street view maps with mobile support into its LBS app. Once the LBS application incorporates the street view API, real-time location-based street view data will be available within the app itself.
Ma added that for the first several months, Tencent may institute a revenue sharing policy similar to the one in place for Tencent's PC open platform to attract and support small and medium-sized app developers to the new mobile platform. Tencent has pursued an open platform strategy for its PC apps for the past 18 months. As of June 2012, app developers had received over RMB 1 bln in revenue sharing and direct revenue from the open platform, with the top developer receiving as much as RMB 20 mln in monthly revenue share.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "Tencent's Q+ Open Platform Exceeds 10 Mln Users" MD 1/04/12 issue, "Tencent's Soso Maps Launches Open API" MD 7/05/11 issue, and "Soso Launches Street View Mapping Service" MD 12/27/11 issue.
Keywords: Mobile Developers Conference China Pony Ma wireless Tencent revenue share 0700.HK open platform mobile application