Competitive China apps go global
By Zhu Shenshen |
April 6, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MOBILE applications allow people to do many things on smart phones - such as playing Fruit Ninja, shooting Camera pictures and reading news in the Flipboard wall, all lifestyle changers (well, most of them.)
Shanghai Daily recently interviewed two application developers - a local and a Belgian based in Shanghai - who design applications, distribute them and hope to cash in on the mobile wave.
What's special about these developers is that their applications are designed mostly for overseas markets, a sign of the globalization of the mobile development industry chain.
China, as the world's biggest mobile phone market with 1 billion users, has a special position in the chain.
In February, China surpassed the United States for the first time in new activations of iOS and Android smart phones and tablets, according to US-based Flurry Inc, a maker of software for tracking use of mobile applications.
China's large population and emerging middle class make it an important market, as well as a developer of apps that are globally competitive.
Among those hoping to cash in are Tony Zhang, offering a game with a Chinese kung fu theme, and Dieter Vanonckelen, providing tourism taxi guide applications for Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing.
Zhang is the co-founder of iQin Mobile, and the company's Kung Fu Fox, which features line drawing and an Angry Birds/Bounce Bullet style combined with, of course, Kung Fu, has notched up downloads of 100,000. It features in the Top 5 in the children's game category in Apple's App Store in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and China.
Though half of (free) downloads come from Asia, Kung Fu Fox - which is currently only available in English - earns most income from the United States and United Kingdom through downloads of a paid version (99 US cents for iPhone and US$1.99 for iPad).
Western consumers are more used to paying for games, so iQin mainly targets overseas markets.
To achieve this target, Zhang focuses on two things: guaranteeing quality and promotion on a tight budget.
Based on his team's tech-savvy background, such as long-term mobile application development for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and then iPhone, Zhang says the task is relatively simple.
Zhang has made full use of iQin's Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts and overseas game forums to contact and get to know as many people as possible. He publishes game information and updates on social websites and game forums. Gradually, he makes friends among overseas game reviewers and game media executives.
"It's a small circle but you have to enter it," said Zhang, whose efforts bring iQin exposure in game media and websites almost without cost.
Among plaudits, Kung Fu Fox has been praised as "gameplay that looks and sounds great but is also a fun and addictive game at the same time," by UK Pocketgamer website.
Zhang's iQin Mobile has also been chosen as the first Asian game partner of Beintoo, an Italian apps branding platform with 80 million users, which also collaborates with Fruit Ninja.
Through this collaboration, Beintoo will open up multiple channels of monetization for the Kung Fu Fox game.
"We are very excited about this partnership that will allow us to explore and learn how the model of G-economy (gamification) could thrive in China's market," said Shirley Lin, executive vice president of Beintoo, who met Zhang at a game developers conference in Shanghai last year.
Next, iQin Mobile will develop a Chinese-language Kung Fu Fox, which will be free and come with Beintoo's tool. It will also offer an Android version of the game.
Zhang is looking forward to tackling the domestic market. "Kung fu is from China. We must return to our home," he said.
While baffled travellers rather than fans of fighting foxes are the target of Belgian Dieter Vanonckelen, his Taxi-Book company also understands the importance of globalization in the apps sector.
Vanonckelen is based in Shanghai to promote the Taxi-Book app, primarily developed by German-based tech team Yocoy. The company also has a team based in Chengdu City to collect data and map content.
Compared with many other travel apps, such as Lonely Planet and Mtrip, an advantage of Taxi-Book is that it can really "talk."
Based on text-to-speech and translation functions and built-in possible answers in local languages, users can directly communicate with locals.
For example, a user looking for a rest room, can choose the English sentence "Excuse me, where can I find rest rooms?" It will be spoken in Chinese.
Then the user hands the iPhone or iPad to the local who can choose an answer from built-in choices, such as "Here it is," "Let me show you" and "Please go x meters in that direction." These options are in Chinese and will be translated into English when the user gets back the iPhone or iPad.
Taxi-book believes its app will be invaluable when dealing with cab drivers - hence the name.
The app lets the user ask the driver questions, such as journey cost and time, through text-to-speech function.
Launched in 34 Chinese cities, it also features GPS and search functions and helps locate bars and restaurants.
The application provides in-app purchase from US$4.99 to US$7.99 for each city. At present, it offers three new, free "lite" versions for Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
For its next venture, Taxi-Book plans to develop city apps for Taiwan.
Shanghai Daily recently interviewed two application developers - a local and a Belgian based in Shanghai - who design applications, distribute them and hope to cash in on the mobile wave.
What's special about these developers is that their applications are designed mostly for overseas markets, a sign of the globalization of the mobile development industry chain.
China, as the world's biggest mobile phone market with 1 billion users, has a special position in the chain.
In February, China surpassed the United States for the first time in new activations of iOS and Android smart phones and tablets, according to US-based Flurry Inc, a maker of software for tracking use of mobile applications.
China's large population and emerging middle class make it an important market, as well as a developer of apps that are globally competitive.
Among those hoping to cash in are Tony Zhang, offering a game with a Chinese kung fu theme, and Dieter Vanonckelen, providing tourism taxi guide applications for Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing.
Zhang is the co-founder of iQin Mobile, and the company's Kung Fu Fox, which features line drawing and an Angry Birds/Bounce Bullet style combined with, of course, Kung Fu, has notched up downloads of 100,000. It features in the Top 5 in the children's game category in Apple's App Store in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and China.
Though half of (free) downloads come from Asia, Kung Fu Fox - which is currently only available in English - earns most income from the United States and United Kingdom through downloads of a paid version (99 US cents for iPhone and US$1.99 for iPad).
Western consumers are more used to paying for games, so iQin mainly targets overseas markets.
To achieve this target, Zhang focuses on two things: guaranteeing quality and promotion on a tight budget.
Based on his team's tech-savvy background, such as long-term mobile application development for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and then iPhone, Zhang says the task is relatively simple.
Zhang has made full use of iQin's Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts and overseas game forums to contact and get to know as many people as possible. He publishes game information and updates on social websites and game forums. Gradually, he makes friends among overseas game reviewers and game media executives.
"It's a small circle but you have to enter it," said Zhang, whose efforts bring iQin exposure in game media and websites almost without cost.
Among plaudits, Kung Fu Fox has been praised as "gameplay that looks and sounds great but is also a fun and addictive game at the same time," by UK Pocketgamer website.
Zhang's iQin Mobile has also been chosen as the first Asian game partner of Beintoo, an Italian apps branding platform with 80 million users, which also collaborates with Fruit Ninja.
Through this collaboration, Beintoo will open up multiple channels of monetization for the Kung Fu Fox game.
"We are very excited about this partnership that will allow us to explore and learn how the model of G-economy (gamification) could thrive in China's market," said Shirley Lin, executive vice president of Beintoo, who met Zhang at a game developers conference in Shanghai last year.
Next, iQin Mobile will develop a Chinese-language Kung Fu Fox, which will be free and come with Beintoo's tool. It will also offer an Android version of the game.
Zhang is looking forward to tackling the domestic market. "Kung fu is from China. We must return to our home," he said.
While baffled travellers rather than fans of fighting foxes are the target of Belgian Dieter Vanonckelen, his Taxi-Book company also understands the importance of globalization in the apps sector.
Vanonckelen is based in Shanghai to promote the Taxi-Book app, primarily developed by German-based tech team Yocoy. The company also has a team based in Chengdu City to collect data and map content.
Compared with many other travel apps, such as Lonely Planet and Mtrip, an advantage of Taxi-Book is that it can really "talk."
Based on text-to-speech and translation functions and built-in possible answers in local languages, users can directly communicate with locals.
For example, a user looking for a rest room, can choose the English sentence "Excuse me, where can I find rest rooms?" It will be spoken in Chinese.
Then the user hands the iPhone or iPad to the local who can choose an answer from built-in choices, such as "Here it is," "Let me show you" and "Please go x meters in that direction." These options are in Chinese and will be translated into English when the user gets back the iPhone or iPad.
Taxi-book believes its app will be invaluable when dealing with cab drivers - hence the name.
The app lets the user ask the driver questions, such as journey cost and time, through text-to-speech function.
Launched in 34 Chinese cities, it also features GPS and search functions and helps locate bars and restaurants.
The application provides in-app purchase from US$4.99 to US$7.99 for each city. At present, it offers three new, free "lite" versions for Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
For its next venture, Taxi-Book plans to develop city apps for Taiwan.
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