China Mobile yesterday formally launched an instant messaging
(IM) commercial service under its own brand and moved into a market
dominated by Microsoft's MSN division and Hong Kong-listed Tencent
Holding Ltd.
Called Fetion, China Mobile's IM tool enables handset users to
chat with other Fetion customers over the mobile Internet offered
by its GPRS network, either with a mobile phone or PC. The
interface is similar to MSN messenger and Tencent's popular QQ.
China Mobile last year started a pre-commercial trial of the IM
service, initially branded Femoo. At the end of the 11-month trial
in April, it had signed up 20.68 million subscribers, said company
vice-president Sha Yuejia.
Fetion's launch underlines the growing convergence of telephone
and Internet networks.
"Any service that can cross over traditional telephone and
Internet networks would be a very promising application," said Lu
Tingjie, a professor with the Beijing University of Posts and
Telecommunications and a telecom industry veteran.
The Fetion IM tool has already been embedded with downloads of
Colorful Ring Back Tone (CRBT) and an online shop where subscribers
can buy China Mobile's service offerings and check phone bills, Sha
said.
"We are expecting to add a number of new offerings such as games
and video phone calls to Fetion," he said.
Fetion is expected to apply competitive pressure on MSN and
Shenzhen-based Tencent, which have been seeking to expand their IM
services to the mobile sector.
Market researchers estimated that Tencent has about 7 million
mobile QQ users. For mobile MSN messenger, the figure is estimated
at 300,000.
When using the mobile IM tool, users pay for the mobile Internet
traffic over the GPRS network. MSN has been charging users an
additional 10 yuan for the mobile MSN messenger but earlier this
year scrapped the fees. Tencent currently charges 5 yuan each
month.
China Mobile said it will not charge the monthly fees initially
and has yet to set a timetable for future charging.
Mobile phone maker Motorola said 11 of its handset models are
already pre-installed with Fetion software.
(China Daily June 6, 2007)