China’s WAP survey

My last post on the WVAS (Wireless Value Added Service) can be found here:
http://chinese-net-gaming-stock.blogspot.com/2008/04/td-scdma-cost-comparison-and-potential.html

iResearch had just released a survey on China’s WAP (Wireless Access Point) market. It can be found here:
http://www.iresearch.com.cn/html/consulting/WAP/DetailNews_id_84226.html

WVAS had been hammered badly in the last couple of years. But when all the bad news had been out, there is nowhere to go but up.

In addition, as China getting into 3G, the next frontier is in the area of mobile internet. Whoever has established a position on WAP would get the first bite of the big apple.

From the iResearch survey, its result can be summarized as follows:

QQ mobile (Tencent) has 34.9% of market
3G Portals have a combined market share of 18.5%
Sina mobile has a market share of 11.9%
Baidu mobile has a market share of 5.8%
China Mobile’s WAP has a market share of 5.0%

I was a little surprised at the strength of qq WAP. Sina had always been very strong in this area and this survey confirmed it.

This is going to be a very lucrative area in the next few years. In addition, as all the telecom operators busying re-organize, there will be a period of few years for other players such Sina, QQ and others to get established.

Sometimes iResearch’s survey can be inaccurate. But if this survey is accurate, QQ and Sina will be handsomely rewarded in the future. Sohu and Ntes need to start to get busy.