Asian Mobile Operators Jump On The User-Gen Bandwagon

AT&T Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Verizon, Vodafone and Orange lead the list of mobile operators who have latched on to the potential of user-gen content through partnerships with social networking services like YouTube, Flickr, Bebo and MySpace. But now Asian operators have latched onto UGC as a means to build communities and stickiness, telecomsasia.net reports in a worthwhile roundup of the services gaining traction across the region.

Singapore’s M1, for example, has launched MeTV, which lets users upload their videos via MMS-enabled mobile phones for other users to view and download. (Like other services this one also pays content creators every time their videos are downloaded.) M1 estimates more than 40,000 users have accessed the service since its launch in January. Taiwan Cellular — which launched a free blog service with Hong Kong’s CSL letting users upload content from their phones and PCs — won’t divulge user numbers, but recorded 3.4 million page views in April alone. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s PCCW has recently launched a Flickr-like photo and video community called snaap, a quadruple-play service that lets users view photos and videos. It is free to PCCW customers free of charge (the offer includes 100MB storage) and users can pay a monthly subscription to get 5GB storage capacity and 20 free photo prints per month.

The space is expected to heat up once operators get past the experimental phase

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