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Mobile online game mkt up 35pc in APAC

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CIOL Bureau
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HONG KONG, CHINA: IDC’s latest research “Mobile Online Gaming Trend and Opportunities” showed that the mobile online gaming market in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region grew by 35 percent in 2007 year-on-year.

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This was one percent lower than IDC's previous forecast, as growth in Hong Kong, the PRC and Malaysia came in softer than expected.

Poon Wei Ang, market analyst, IDC’s Asia/Pacific Software Research, said: "IDC expects the APEJ region's mobile online gaming market will continue to grow and achieve a CAGR of 19.9 percent over the next five years. However, the development of mobile online gaming in the region will remain fragmented as rich multimedia content relies a lot on the mobile infrastructure of the country."

Even though many users have begun to utilise their handsets for rich multimedia and gaming experience, the acceptance and availability of 3G and HSDPA in certain countries across the region has yet to take off. Poon Wei added, "While the PRC and India continue to work on the provision of 3G services, the mature markets will be focusing on the available 3G services to churn out multimedia-rich content."

Looking forward, content developers and operators in the region will likely face challenges in most countries in the region as mobile online gaming is still in its nascent stage. Nevertheless, as the mobile network coverage and the ability of high speed data connection for mobile phones begin to stabilise, and more mobile content becomes available, IDC expects to see a steady growth of mobile online gamers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore by 2012.

Source: IDC

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