Abstract

Full Browsers Becoming a Trend in High-end Products

Full browsers in smartphones, PDA phones, and high-end feature phones that are mainly found in Japan, have gradually become a standard item. With the development of network browser technology, Web2.0-concept AJAX, RSS, and other technologies are also becoming trends. Value-line mobile phones have a significant share of the global market, especially in emerging markets. In ultra low-cost phones, there are restrictions related to hardware specs such as CPUs, memory capacity, panel size, adoption of browser functionalities are limited. For this reason, in the short term, WAP browsers will continue to be the mainstream for mid-range and value-line mobile phones. It is likely that the number of pre-installed WAP browsers will peak by 2007, as emerging markets gradually reach saturation. As consumer replacement demand will become the market driver, the share of mid-range and high-end mobile phone shipments will increase, and the share of full browsers in use will also increase as part of this trend. In mature markets where mobile phone penetration is relatively high, consumers will download Java-based full browsers to improve the user experience on feature phones that browse webpages.

Major Handset Vendors Mainly Using Third-party Browsers

As the integrated functions of mobile phones increase, consumers are demanding more and more services. As a result, mobile phone companies need to dedicate more R&D resources for integration. Related costs will rise substantially, especially for integration of software platforms and testing. Mobile phone vendors have no choice but to reduce time spent on R&D in order to improve time-to-market in response to market needs for small-volume production of a wide range of different models. For this reason, it is likely that most mobile phone vendors will continue to use third-party browsers or software platform solutions to implement mobile Internet access functions. While mobile phone leader Nokia has sufficient resources and technology to internally develop browsers and integrate them into software platforms, mobile operators around the world still need customized browsers for their value-added services. Given this trend, third-party browser applications will still have a certain advantage.

Relationships between Browser Suppliers and Mobile Operators Becoming Ever Closer

During the early stage of WAP technology development, control mainly rested with the large mobile phone companies such as Nokia and Ericsson that provided CO and terminal product technology. For this reason, in the past, browser suppliers' main strategy was to provide software technology assistance to mobile phone companies or help with integration of peripheral software for browsers into a platform solution and help customers quickly develop browser functions for their handsets.

Mobile telecommunications technology has evolved from 2G to 3G, and mobile Internet access has become more practical. The spread and diversification of mobile value-added services has provided consumers more choices, making them more demanding of personalized and specialized service content. The question of how to allow mobile websites to provide complete content on mobile displays and let subscribers conveniently use their keypads or navigation pads to reach browser destinations has become a key issue for mobile operators or MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) companies in attracting users and increasing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) from data services. In addition, through proprietary graphical user interfaces and customized menu-driven browsers, information on finance, entertainment, travel, and other service content will directly push the usage of browsers, and through presetting hotlists usage of value-added services will be expanded. This can strengthen mobile operators' understanding of subscribers' mobile Internet access habits. For this reason, cooperation between browser suppliers and mobile operators is becoming closer, and browser applications will become an important factor in mobile operators' execution of their differentiation strategies.

Appendix

List of Companies

ACCESS

Alcatel

Amoi

Apple

Arima

Asus

AU System

Bellwave

Bird

Bitstream

Casio

Cellon

China Mobile

China MobileSoft

China Unicom

Cingular

Datang

Eastcom

Far Eastone

Flextronics

Haier

Hisense

Hitachi

Hutchison 3G

Infineon

Infraware

Intel

KDDI

KPN

Kyocera

Lenovo

LG

LG Telecom

MediaTek

Microsoft

Motorola

NEC

Newgen Telecom

Nintendo

Nokia

Novarra

NTT DoCoMo

O2

Openware

Opera

Orange

PalmSource

Panasonic

Pantech

Philips

Qualcomm

Samsung

Sanyo

Sharp

SK Telecom

Softbank

Sony

Sony Ericsson

Soutec

Sprint Nextel

TCL

Teleca

Telefonica

Telenor

Televerket

TeliaSonera

Telstra

TI

TIM

T-Mobile

Toshiba

Tropian

TTPCom

Unwired Planet

Verizon

Vivo

Vodafone

Wavecom

Wind

ZTE