China Mobile Reading Business Goes Commercial
Tencent Tech, 5/05/10
China Mobile's (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) mobile reading business officially began commercial operation today. China Mobile signed strategic cooperation agreements with the China Writers Association, China Publishing Group, China Redactological Society, and the National Library of China.
Gao Nianshu, general manager of China Mobile's data division, said that the company's mobile reader client application supports 403 models of handset, including 93 TD-SCDMA terminals. According to Gao, China Mobile's mobile reading service does not charge fees for data transfer, but rather operates by sharing sales revenue with content providers, with content providers taking 40%, and China Mobile taking 60%. Gao said that China Mobile's mobile reading service began trial commercial operation in October 2009, and that in four months of trial operation, the service saw visits from 30 mln users. At present, China Mobile's Zhejiang mobile reading base hosts 60,000 books.
China Mobile has jointly released 7 models of TD-SCDMA e-readers from 6 vendors, including 2 from Hanvon (002362.SZ), and one each from Huawei, Datang Mobile, Datang Telecom (600198.SH), BenQ, and Founder Foread. China Mobile's e-readers can download literature content via either its TD-SCDMA or EDGE networks.
Editor's Note: Sohu IT reported that China Mobile held a ceremony for the service's launch today, attended by officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), China Writers Association, China Mobile, and over 30 publishing houses.
It was previously reported that the service officially launched in January; see "China Mobile's Literature Business Makes Commercial Launch," MD 1/22/10 issue.
Netease Tech also reported that, according to a China Mobile employee, the operator's mobile literature service can optionally be paid for on a per-book basis, at a cost of between RMB 3-5 per book; on a per-chapter basis, at a standard rate of RMB 0.04 per thousand characters; or at a monthly rate of approximately RMB 5.
Keywords: e-book revenue share business model mobile application Gao Nianshu China Mobile mobile literature wireless CHL 0941.HK mobile reader tariffs
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