The Rise and Fall of Mobile Content Companies and the Future Ahead. Talk given at Buzzcity's Developer Garage in Singapore in November 2010.

1. Fool's gold
The rise and fall
of mobile content companies
and the future ahead
@benjaminjoffe
|
CEO,
Plus
Eight
Star
BuzzCity
Developer
Garage
|
Singapore,
2010.11

2. @benjaminjoffe

3. 4
years
1
year
5
years

5. • CEO,
Plus
Eight
Star
|
www.plus8star.com
– Best
prac2ces
from
Asia’s
digital
space
– Research,
Strategy
&
“Innova2on
Arbitrage”

7. • Speaker
100+
talks
in
16
countries
• Advisor
• Investor
in
Asia-­‐based
global
companies
Angel
Investor,
Advisor,
Keynote
Speaker

8. Mobile
Monday
Beijing
4
years
37
events
130
speakers
3,000
par2cipants

10. For-­‐Side.com
(Japan)

11. For-­‐Side
Story
• Market
cap
was
over
US$2B
– Acquisi2ons
worldwide
– Plunged
• Today:
US$110
million
(2010.11.24)
• From
ring
tones
to…
e-­‐books?

13. Tapulous
• 2009.12
$1M/month
• 2010.10
bought
by
Disney
(US$35M?)
• Downloaded
35
million
2mes
• Revenue
2010
$15
million?

14. Can
you
build
one
today?
• Early
entry
(before
iPhone
SDK)
• Bought
content
from
developer
• Concept
copy
from
DDR
• What
next?

15. ngmoco:)
• “Next
Genera2on
Mobile
Company”
– 12
million
users
– 50
million
downloads
• Funding
~US$45M
• Bought
by
DeNA
US$300
million
(+
100M?)
• Revenue?

16. Deal!
• KPCB
Holdings
(32.72%)
$98M
• Ins2tu2onal
Venture
Partners
(25.31%)
$76M
• Norwest
Venture
Partners
(13.46%)
$40M
• Neil
Young
(9.52%)
$28M
• Bob
Stevenson
(9.52%)
$28M
• Google
Ventures
(3.65%)
$11M
• Maples
Investments
(1.81%)
$5.4M

17. High
Produc2on
Value

18. Who
buys
today?
• Japan
DeNA,
GREE:
x100M
in
the
bank
• Korea
Maybe
Nexon,
NC
Soo,
NHN?
• China
Tencent?
Others?
• US
Disney
• Others?

19. Issues
with
the
app
economy
• User
acquisi2on:
Media
/
App
Stores?
• Virality
&
Mobile
silos
• Reach
– 60
million
iPhones
– X
million
Android
phones
(app
store
fragmenta2on)
– 7+
million
iPads
by
end
2010,
30+
million
in
2011?
– How
about
low-­‐end
phones?
• Defensibility:
IP
+
Game
mechanics?

20. Fools’
Gold?
• Global
developers
on
par
with
Silicon
Valley
• Race
to
the
borom
• Copycats
• Building
sustainable
cash
flow

21. GREE
(Japan)

22. GREE
• Market
cap:
US$2.9
billion
(2010.11.24)
• From
web
+
ad-­‐based
SNS
to
mobile
+
gaming
• Ad
push
• Revenue
2010:
US$400M+
– 60%
profit
margin

23. DeNA
/
GREE
offering

24. Celsys
• Mobile
Comics
• US$500M
/
year
market
• Leading
solu2on
provider
• IPO
Nov
4,
2010
• Revenue
US$32M
(E),
20%
profit

25. Zappalas
• Mobile
fortune
telling?
• Subscrip2on
+
new
currency,
games
– 2.2M
paying
subs.
– 285
staff
• US$34M
(May-­‐July
2010)
– 28%
margin
– Over
US$100M
in
2010
(E)

26. What
to
do?
• Distribu2on
• Service
vs.
Product
– Business
model
– Sustainable
business
• Dealing
with
“fast
followers”

27. Ques2ons?

28. More
about
“Innova2on
Arbitrage”
Thanks!
www.plus8star.com
benjamin@plus8star.com
benjaminjoffe
hrp://twirer.com/benjaminjoffe
www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminjoffe
www.slideshare.net/plus8star
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