The wireless hype may be ebbing, but emerging opportunities in this space are starting to firm up.

One service that is expected to become a steady revenue-earner is mobile messaging, said Elmar M. Gomez, director of wireless application service provider Mobile Arts, Inc.

Mr. Gomez noted in a press conference yesterday at the New World Rennaissance Hotel in Makati City, central Metropolitan Manila that the company is focusing on messaging services because it is a "staple" in mobile communications, and therefore a necessity.

He added that the service is proof against the peaks and troughs of usage common to other mobile services. For instance, he noted that customized ringtones, which are vulnerable to pop music trends, have "half-lives" which makes them obsolete and unsaleable once they go stale.

In contrast, messaging is a basic and necessary service that translates to a more or less steady demand, regardless of economic circumstances, Mr. Gomez said. "It's like rice, it's a staple here," he said.

The first messaging service on the company's portfolio, which is mobile e-mail access, is commercially provided by the cellphone carrier group of Smart Communications, Inc. and Pilipino Telephone Company through a revenue-sharing scheme with Mobile Arts.

Distrubuted under the brand name Textmail, the service allows users to send e-mail messages to Web-based providers and receive a summary of the incoming messages also from Web-based mail companies. Carriers charge 2.50 Philippine pesos (PhP) per e-mail message.

As another case in point, Mr. Gomez said that the company gained around 350,000 unique subscribers in the six months it has been available. On the average, subscribers use the service once every four days. This means that it ferries more than two million mobile e-mail messages every month. He added that the company hopes to sustain its 50,000 monthly growth rate until the yearend.

Furthermore, Mr. Gomez said that revenue from the service alone supports the company's operations and allows a slim profit margin.

A FOCUS ON SMS

Since the company is currently focused on the local market, he said that it is similarly concentrating on developing more messaging applications for "texting," as short message service (SMS) is widely known.

"A good deal of our plans involve SMS," he said.

The company plans to pour PhP108 million (US$2.041 million at PhP52.91=$1) into research and development over the next five years, he added. It has a paid-up capital of PhP5 million ($94,500).

Likewise, Mobile Arts will release new services within the year. It is also in talks with a Singaporean service provider who wishes to serve as distributor of the company's services abroad.

Also, Mr. Gomez believes that the application service provider (ASP) model will prove to be a more profitable proposition for wireless developers. Because users only "rent" the application, an ASP distribution model does not require the company to sell its software and totally give up the opportunity to design alternative revenue models around it, he said.

Mobile Arts itself functions as a wireless ASP since it develops, hosts and manages its solutions for its clients. The company maintains a data operations center is based in the Madrigal Business Park, Muntinlupa City (southern Metropolitan Manila) and serves US-based data hosting companies.


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