While the mobile internet has been on the rise across Asia-Pacific’s advanced markets, this alone could not explain the vast jump within one quarter. Yet Savelson found one factor that could explain it: the 3G iPhone’s July launch in Hong Kong. “The increase coincided with the long-awaited local introduction of the 3G iPhone, as well as similar touch-screen models from other brands,” says Savelson. “The WAP site is a niche channel for SCMP.com, but is expected to see growing interest from audiences and advertisers going forward.”
The figures seem to back up Apple’s strategy for the iPhone: to popularise the mobile internet and make the iPhone the handset of choice for mobile browsing. For many users, the iPhone is the first step onto the mobile web - and for media owners, it presents new possibilities.
In its fourth-quarter report, Apple said it sold nearly 6.9 million iPhones compared to 1.1 million in the same period a year earlier. According to mobile ad network AdMob, internet traffic on mobile phones more than doubled worldwide over the past 12 months, and in Asia, AdMob saw more than 60 per cent growth during the third quarter of last year. “Since many early adopters of iPhones match SCMP’s demographics, I can see a correlation between the number of iPhone users and its mobile edition’s readership,” says Jimmy Poon, managing director of Púca China, adding that the iPhone is now driving the industry.
“As content owners gear up for the launch of iPhones, their enhanced marketing efforts will have an effect on iPhone users as well as other mobile device users in general, and they together bring up readership. The launch of the iPhone is a key catalyst overall.”
SCMP.com was not the only publisher to notice a spike. The Financial Times also saw increased WAP traffic for its FT.com site to the tune of 28 per cent in October from September, and the figure rose 52 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Colin Miles, EVP of iPop Networks, says the average iPhone owner uses the internet three times more - “and in some cases 10 times more” - than users of other handsets. The upshot for publishers is that now is the time to refurbish their sites and capitalise on this greater visibility to gain loyal users while the sector is still in development, says The Hyperfactory’s business development manager Howard Hunt.
“There’s a lot of work to be done to revamp WAP sites. Publishers will spend a lot of time making these sites attractive and feel a lot more like the internet that people use on their PCs. There are many more phones coming out and many applications becoming a lot more accessible. These will all work in the favour of WAP site owners and it’ll create opportunities for publishers to expand their presence.”
