MARKET INTELLIGENCE ICT market intelligence this month: Tracking mobile communication Sydus Technology covers over 80 percent of the Asian mobile market      Sydus, the first company to launch 3G Radio and branded music services worldwide, has announced the launch of its technology across Java and CDMA handsets earlier this month.      Sydus is a digital entertainment solutions company that works to provide entertainment, like music, for brand advertisers to engage with their targeted audience, through streaming technology. Previously, the technology was offered on all Symbian and Windows based mobile phones covering approximately 25 percent of the Asian (ex Japan/Korea) market.      With this new launch, Sydus is able to address all the latest Nokia mobile phones operating on GSM and selected models on CDMA, while also supporting most new Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, and LG devices.      The current handset support count is 346 devices for new and current circulation models covering over 80 percent of GSM new mobile phone market.      Sydus is currently offering, through its advertising brand partner Bacardi, free streaming music service to mobile operator AIS and its 22 million customer base in Thailand. The service includes latest Thai music from Small Room and Platinum, whilst the international tracks are exclusively provided by Universal Music.      Sydus also has access to music tracks from 139 record labels in India covering 60 years of Bollywood and 12 other languages.      Currently, Sydus is the only company to offer a unified digital advertising solution, for mobile and social networks such as MySpace, Blogs, Friendster, Hi5 and many others.      Social networking is poised to explode in India amongst the youth generation with recent community sites allowing for exchanging of digital preferences, embedding of players into blogs, etc. Youth are now able to listen to music while communicating to their communities via different social websites while at home, or on the go!      For a complete list of new supported handsets is found at: www.sydusmobile.com/gomobile.php. Nokia: 25 percent of mobile entertainment to come from online communities by 2012      Half the world’s population, 3.3 billion, now has a mobile phone subscription.      Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c86056) has announced the addition of Mobile Media 2008: The Third Screen for Entertainment to their offering.      This report describes the current state of information & entertainment content on mobile devices and shows how content will be delivered over high-speed wireless networks to millions of always-connected multimedia mobile phones such as the iPhone.      The potential size of the market for mobile media is staggering. The thought of several billion consumers carrying around a handheld device that is capable of playing video and audio entertainment is making content creators salivate.      Accorinding to the report, Nokia says 25 percent of entertainment on mobile devices will come from online communities by 2012. In addition, it predicts that mMore multimedia mobile phones (300 million) will be sold in 2008 than TV sets----these are phones that can play audio and video as well as browse the internet.      Mobile Media 2008: The Third Screen for Entertainment is a 72-page report that provides an overview of the industry for delivering entertainment to mobile devices, profiling some of the key players and providing a preview of what is likely to lie ahead.      Most of the needed technology for high speed Internet access is available now. The last remaining technology barriers are in the updating of portable devices and deployment of national networks.      That the technology will soon be available is a certainty. What is less certain is how much video and music will be available. Where consumer eyes go, entertainment content is sure to follow.      According to the report, the next five years will see the entertainment industry delivering content to always-on portable devices that most consumers are expected to have at all times in their pocket or bag.      Content will be delivered to an individual, not to a household.      Mobile devices, with their smaller screens and their use where attention spans are shorter, will demand made-for-mobile content, such as mobisodes from the studios and ringtones from the record companies. Dongbu HiTek targets China’s growing mobile phone market      China has fast become the global hub for mobile phone manufacturing, currently accounting for about half of all units shipped worldwide. During 2007, the sales of Chinese manufactured mobile phones exceeded 100 units. By some estimates, this number is expected to reach 125 million units by 2010.      During the IIC China event in Shenzhen at the beginning of the month, Dongbu HiTek executives met with the executives from China’s leading mobile handset developers including Mobile Innovation Chip Technology Ltd. and Ginwave Technologies. In-depth discussions are expected to address key product development and marketing objectives.      Dongbu HiTek formally launched its aggressive program to serve Chinese mobile handset OEMs this past July when it established a Shenzhen sales subsidiary and simultaneously entered into a strategic partnership with China based HNT Co., Ltd., a camera module manufacturer. The HNT partnership is expected to expand Dongbu HiTek’s monthly capacity to produce camera modules by approximately 1 million units, while also ensuring a stable supply to Chinese OEMs. This synergistic partnership is also expected to drive further enhancements in quality management and timely delivery as it deploys a comprehensive production system that encompasses design, production, test, packaging and module manufacturing.      “Our focus on developing competitive, high quality CIS chips and camera modules will continue to intensify over the course of 2008,” stated Hae-Soo Jeong, Dongbu HiTek Senior EVP. “We anticipate signing contracts with large customers based on our exceptionally stable and comprehensive production system.” He underscored his company’s commitment to add high value across a wide range of CIS applications.      Headquartered in Seoul, Korea, Dongbu HiTek’s Semiconductor Business provides specialized proprietary chips and modules as well as foundry services that add high value to display, mobile and various analog applications. The company’s two world-class fabs currently process 200mm wafers at nodes ranging from 0.35 microns to 110 nanometers. ePlanet Ventures invests in FRiENDi Mobile      ePlanet Ventures, a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California and international offices in London, New Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as a presence in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, has announced an investment in FRiENDi Mobile. The round was led by ePlanet Ventures, with participation from existing shareholders. FRiENDi will use the funds to accelerate its growth and leadership position in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.      FRiENDi Mobile, headquartered in Dubai, is the leading Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in the MENA region. The company has been active in the regional telecom sector for the past two years, and has established offices and joint venture companies in partnership with prominent local partners across the region.      “Raising this scale of financing from high quality global investors provides us with a solid financial foundation for further accelerating our development of MVNO operations in the region, and puts FRiENDi Mobile in a strong position to pursue future opportunities in the telecommunications sector,” said Mikkel Vinter, CEO of FRiENDi Mobile. “Our company vision is to become the leading pan regional access-network independent telecom service provider in Asia & Africa, and we expect to benefit from the experience of our new shareholders in building category-leading companies such as the IP-telephony company Skype and the leading Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.”      He added, “Our strategy for entering a regional market is to partner with local companies that provide complementary skills and assets such as local contacts and distribution channels. We are very proud of the partnerships FRiENDi Mobile has established across the region today, and a number of exciting new partnerships are in the pipeline.”