062107: Yahoo!-Globe deal tests waters of mobile Internet

June 21, 2007
Updated 12:29:53 (Mla time)
Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE -- The landmark deal between Internet services giant Yahoo! and Philippine mobile telecommunications provider Globe Telecom announced here at CommunicAsia 2007 will be a test bed for both firms in coming up with new types of services not seen in either the desktop Internet or the mobile space, according to executives from both companies.

In a group interview with Filipino reporters, Yahoo! Connected Life Asia for Mobile and Broadband General Manager David Ko and his counterpart, Globe Telecom Chief Operating Advisor Lee Han Kheng agreed that the partnership would bring benefits to both partners and also third-party mobile content/service providers to deliver novel services that enhance users’ mobile experiences.

Ko, who earlier announced the launch of Yahoo! Go Mobile version 2.0, said that the main drive for partnering with Globe was the shift from using mobile phones just for voice calls and text messaging, to making the Internet a source of information and service for the highly mobile user.

Go Mobile 2.0 is an enhanced phone-based client that has several features such as interconnected Yahoo! Messenger, downloading or uploading of photos, a mini search engine called oneSearch, among other things.

Ko said that the number of mobile phones in Asia has exceeded the number of PCs, making the mobile phone a viable media to deliver services. So far, he claims that Yahoo! has a user base of about 200 million in Asia alone out of the 500 million total global users of Yahoo! services.

He noted that there would be more than 4 billion mobile phone users worldwide by 2010 compared to just 2 billion for PCs.

Globe Telecom is also confident that its partnership with Yahoo! will create hybrid services developed by third-party content providers, then placed under Yahoo!’s mobile portal.

Lee said they are currently working on new models that would improve the delivery of general phone-based services into Internet services. This could involve changes in partnership models with third party-developers.

“Discussions are ongoing and will be revealed eventually. We’re also investing a lot on ensuring that our mobile Internet services will be as friendly to users as possible,” Lee said.

But the real challenge for Globe is to convince the mostly SMS user base to access the Internet for services. With the partnership in hand, Lee said the focus now for the mobile provider is to “train” the user to move from SMS to mobile Internet.

“Everything is still being worked out but I expect the cost to be easy on Filipino users especially if they are able to fully utilize their phones for new services,” Lee said.

So far, Globe has 17 million mobile phone subscribers, with 250,000 of them having phones that are capable of Internet access. However, he did not reveal the number of subscribers who actually use their phones for mobile Internet.

But to what extent the partnership would go is still up to Yahoo! and Globe Telecom, and they promised plans to be introduced eventually.

Meanwhile, Ko said that monetization of mobile Internet services would follow later and would still depend on the market’s level of acceptance. More likely, Yahoo! will continue its display advertisement scheme through their partnership with Globe Telecom.

“We’ve been approached several times by our Internet advertisers to extend their presence in the mobile space. It’s a natural extension. The display advertisement business on the mobile space is largely untapped. Still, we’ll be focused on ensuring the highest standard for user experience,” Ko said.

 

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