HK mobile networks bet on camera phones


Nokia's 7650 camera phone, which retails for $600 in Hong Kong, is one of only two on the market in the city

Ravi Hiranand
CNN Hong Kong

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Amid talk of camera phones being the savior of the mobile telecoms industry, Hong Kong's New World Mobility has became the latest provider to enter the picture messaging arena.

Telcos from Asia to Europe are looking to camera phone services to lift their battered sector.

But they might find users in Hong Kong aren't as willing to swap picture messages as they did text messages -- for now.

Multimedia messaging service, or MMS, allows mobile phones to send messages with pictures, sounds and text, unlike the popular short message service (SMS) protocol that allows only brief text messages to be sent.

Many see MMS as important because it's the first real test of whether consumers will pay for third-generation (3G) phone services such as picture messages, video on demand and mobile commerce.

Mobile operators across the globe paid vast sums for 3G licenses in the hope that people would pay for added services.

But the bursting of the mobile telco bubble and the failure of WAP, the much-hyped wireless Internet protocol, to take hold raised doubts over the value of 3G services.

Lack of choice limiting take-up

The first network to introduce MMS in Asia, Hong Kong's CSL, told CNN that users have been slow to subscribe to MMS services because of a lack of choice with hardware.

"Because there are only two handsets on the market, the total base [of MMS users] is rather insignificant at the moment," said Michelle Au, a spokeswoman for CSL.

The only two camera phones on the market in Hong Kong are the Nokia 7650 and Sony/Ericsson's CommuniCam for its T68i handset.

"But of those who have the handsets, the pickup is encouraging," she added.

Spokeswoman Max Wong from Hutchison Telecom echoed CSL's comments, noting that just 6,000 people had bought MMS-enabled handsets from the company since it launched the services in June -- but over 5,000 of those then subscribed to the company's MMS service.

That compares to a total subscriber base for Hutchison, which owns Orange, of 1.7 million.

"The take-up is very encouraging with users frequently sending [MMS] messages to each other," Wong told CNN.

New World, which began its service earlier this month, is aiming to encourage growth by allowing subscribers to send MMS messages for free until the end of September.

Price, networks limit growth


Sony/Ericsson's P800, due in the third quarter of 2002, has a camera built-in

One stumbling block for MMS usage is that messages can't be sent from one network to another yet.

Au said that talks to allow MMS users to send messages to another network were ongoing but there was no timeframe for an agreement.

When CNN took a Nokia 7650 camera phone out for a public test, consumers noted that widespread MMS adoption would come only when messages could be sent between networks.

Others noted that the price of camera phones -- Nokia's phone costs $600 -- was another problem, with most citing $250 to $380 as the ideal price for the device.

Most agreed that picture messaging was a good idea, but that they would only get a camera phone once everyone else had one.

Korea, Japan leading MMS charge

Network operators are hoping that consumers in Hong Kong will follow the lead of their north Asian neighbors in Japan and Korea.

Japan's NTT DoCoMo announced last week that it had shipped more than a million camera phones since launching them in June. Rival J-Phone has sold camera phones since 2000.

And in South Korea, the Korean Times reported on Monday that 1.5 million camera phones would be sold this year in the country.

Au dismissed suggestions that MMS might fall short of those lofty expectations.

"Eventually, it will be as big as SMS. We don't look at the short term."