The development of mobile Internet in China has been rapid. The latest data from Analysys Mason shows that, in the first half of 2010, the user base of China’s mobile Internet market reached 214 million, with a market revenue scale of 23.7 billion yuan. The term "mobile Internet" is now very popular; it might even be known by the elderly woman selling vegetables on the street as something good. However, the current state of the mobile Internet industry differs from the desktop Internet ten years ago. Back then, everyone was just entering this field, and various business models were still in the exploratory phase. Now, big players enter the mobile Internet with very clear strategies. Against this backdrop, where are the opportunities for us as small and medium-sized developers? The most important point is to avoid areas where traditional Internet giants excel and instead choose a very niche entry point. For example, everyone knows that mobile communities have a promising future, but because Tencent is already involved, we should not rush in unnecessarily. Otherwise, even if we do well, there's always a risk of being overshadowed by innovation. Below, I will first introduce the status quo of application distribution channels and mobile payments, then share some potential entry points suitable for small and medium-sized developers.
Overview of Application Distribution Channels and Mobile Payments: In short, the domestic situation is that the industrial chain has not been fully connected and is currently immature.
Apple's App Store has successfully integrated application distribution and payment channels, which has inspired developers to create applications enthusiastically, including many excellent paid applications, creating many overnight riches myths (of course, those who truly make big money remain a minority). Google's Android Market, due to its complicated payment mechanism, has led to most of its applications being free. Developers find it hard to earn money solely through the application download model, especially when targeting domestic users. The application download fee model is difficult to succeed domestically because domestic users have not yet formed a habit of paying for software, and the unsmooth payment channels make charging even more difficult.
So how can individual developers and small teams make money from mobile applications and games? One easily thought-of model is advertising, such as AdMob. However, through observation of our social game "Pet Hunter" (http://bbs.weiphone.com/thread-hmt-fid-248.html), it was found that relying solely on advertisements is far from enough to support a team. Despite "Pet Hunter" (iPhone version) being jointly operated with one of the largest domestic iPhone application distribution channels, WiFeng Network, and having over 50,000 total users, it only receives 2,000-3,000 advertisement impressions per day, with only dozens of clicks. The income per thousand advertisement impressions (eCPM) is merely 0.3-0.5 USD. How large a user base would be needed to sustain the team if relying on the advertisement model? And if there really are so many users, would they still need to rely on this type of advertisement?
Another mode worth trying is "free application, charged service," meaning "this application can be used for free, but using it after payment will be more comfortable." In gaming terms, "this game can be played for free, but playing it after payment will be more enjoyable." Taking games as an example, this model has achieved great success in PC online games and is also the main profit-making model in Social Games and web games. Therefore, there is reason to believe that this is worth a try on mobile devices.
However, there is a major issue here: how to pay via mobile! Traditional SMS billing channels are controlled by mobile operators and SPs. For individuals and small teams, not only is the qualification threshold high for applying for billing channels, but even if there are channels, operators and SPs take a large portion (many single-player Java games were like this before).
Apple's APP Store is excellent, but it only supports iPhone applications. After all, the number of iPhone users domestically is limited and cannot compare with the vast number of Symbian and KJava users. Even if developing an iPhone application and successfully placing it on the store, domestic users may purchase applications using 20-yuan gift cards bought on Taobao, resulting in the application developer still not receiving any money. (Of course, encountering users like me is relatively fortunate since credit cards are bound, so purchases within applications accidentally charge several dozen dollars.)
Another method is mobile banking payments, such as Construction Bank's mobile payment. However, not all banks have developed mobile payments, and what if the user happens to use another bank? Of course, it's a matter of time, and it is believed that all banks will eventually launch mobile payments, but by then, will there still be opportunities for us small and medium-sized developers?
One more mode is paying through mobile phone recharge cards, which many Android mobile games use. However, this method has two significant problems: first, the payment amount is relatively large, requiring users to prepay 100, 50, or 30 yuan at once, whereas in many cases, users only need to pay 3 to 5 yuan to satisfy their consumption needs. Second, it's troublesome; users need to buy recharge cards and input card numbers and passwords in the game, and users are inherently lazy.
It's necessary to mention Alipay, the representative of third-party payments. The WAP version and various mobile clients of Alipay have existed for a long time, and the web version of Alipay's third-party interface has been open for a while. Unfortunately, there is no WAP payment interface in Alipay's documentation, and the responses regarding the WAP payment interface on Alipay's official forum are vague. However, it is believed that the WAP payment interface will soon be available. An application opens a WAP webpage, then the user logs into WAP Alipay to make the payment, and after the payment is completed, Alipay notifies the application to complete the delivery of goods (virtual items). For high-end applications like iPhone and Android, it's even possible to directly embed browser plugins within the application to complete consumption inside the application.
Entry Points Suitable for Small and Medium-Sized Developers
Here are some entry points that small and medium-sized developers can consider and use to achieve short-term revenue. As for the strategic layout of mobile Internet, that is not included here.
WAP text games. Currently, there are many mobile websites and applications with a large number of high-quality users but unable to convert them into revenue. Therefore, they urgently hope to integrate games into their platforms to convert user resources into revenue. Thus, small and medium-sized developers can consider developing some WAP games and then seek out websites and client applications with user resources (such as Renren Network) for revenue sharing. Additionally, WAP games can avoid the need to develop numerous different clients, significantly reducing development costs.
Mobile social games. These can be divided into traditional mobile social games, such as the previously developed iPhone and Android versions of the social game "Pet Hunter." This type of game resembles traditional web-based social games, like stealing vegetables or parking cars, where users across different platforms can play together, and the game presentation is also rich. Since this kind of game is still relatively rare domestically, users have a significant sense of novelty. Furthermore, these games can be connected to various social networking sites (such as Facebook Connect, and domestically Renren Network has already opened connections, though currently only supporting iPhones). As long as the payment channel is connected, generating revenue should not be a problem.
Another category is new types of mobile social games, which fully utilize some characteristics of mobile phones. For example, users can play with friends in their contact lists, whereas traditional mobile social games generally involve unknown friends [...]