Social networking: killer app for ULC handsets?

摘要

Come up with an application that's compelling enough, and even relatively poor consumers will be willing to pay extra for it. When it comes to ultralow-cost (ULC) mobile phones of the type popular in developing countries, social networking just might be this killer app. The demand is clearly there. Informa Telcoms reports that 2.3 percent of mobile users, or 50 million people, use their phones for social networking. And not all are in Western nations. MyGam-ma, one of the more than 30 mobile social-networking startups, says that most of its 2.5 million users are in developing countries in Asia and Africa. According to ABI Research, 80 percent of new mobile-phone subscribers in the next five years will come from emerging markets. Right now, those markets are the domain of ULC phones that deliver voice, text messaging and little else. A fresh crop of low-cost phones, however, is bringing a wealth of new features to the low-end market. The latest low-cost phones from Nokia (the No. 1 vendor in both India and China) reflect the trend. The phones, which range in price from roughly $78 to $140, feature FM recorders, cameras and music players. The rapid adoption of such features may seem surprising at first. Millions of people in emerging markets already spend a sizable chunk of their annual incomes on phones. How can those consumers justify a further outlay for fancy new capabilities? Part of the answer is that for many people, a ULC handset is much more than a cell phone: It is often their only digital device. When you can't afford a separate PC, digital camera and MP3 player, packing low-cost versions of those functions into your phone makes a lot of sense.