July 18, 2008

Survey Results on State of Mobile Content Industry Structure

Mobile business market grew to 1,146.4 billion yen in 2007,
up by 217.9 billion yen (23%) from 2006
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has conducted a survey on trends of the mobile business market, which has been rapidly growing due to extensive penetration of mobile phones, improved processing speed and performance of mobile terminals, changes in the communication rate structure, etc., in recent years.

As the results of the 2007 survey have been compiled, MIC hereby releases them.

Target of the survey
This survey covered mobile businesses being provided at "official websites" on mobile phone Internet.

Mobile business
  Mobile content
  Ringtone melodies
Ringtone songs
Mobile games
Electronic books
Standby screens
Fortune telling
Other mobile content: pictographs (for e-mails), still pictures, moving pictures, standby songs, etc.
Mobile commerce
  Sale of goods (mail order)
Services: concert tickets, tour/hotel reservations, airline tickets, railway tickets (JR)
Transactions: securities trading, auctions, public racing

Notes:
- This survey counted sales commissions for Transactions and sales for the rest of the businesses.
- This survey did not cover advertisement and promotions, which may constitute part of mobile businesses.
- As of December 2007, the number of official websites was 16,042 and the number of providers of such sites was 4,298.

Survey results
1. Mobile business market
- The entire mobile business market was 1,146.4 billion yen in 2007, up by 217.9 billion yen (23%) year on year.
- The mobile content market was 423.3 billion yen (up 16% year on year).
The mobile commerce market was 723.1 billion yen (up 29% year on year).
→ The market has been steadily expanding as the number of mobile Internet users increases (72.87 million people (up 2.8% year on year) according to MIC's Communications Usage Trend Survey in 2007). The growth of the commerce market is particularly notable.

2. Mobile content market
The electronic book market has been rapidly growing, as well as the markets for ringtone songs and mobile games. Meanwhile, the markets for ringtone melodies and standby screens are on the decline.

Ringtone melodies: 55.9 billion yen (down 34%, or 28.4 billion yen, year on year)
Ringtone songs: 107.4 billion yen (up 42%, or 31.5 billion yen, year on year)
Mobile games: 84.8 billion yen (up 13%, or 10 billion yen, year on year)
Electronic books: 22.1 billion yen (up 220%, or 15.2 billion yen, year on year)
Standby screens: 22.7 billion yen (down 8%, or 2.1 billion yen, year on year)
Fortune telling: 18.2 billion yen (up 15%, or 2.4 billion yen, year on year)
Others: 112.2 billion yen (up 34%, or 28.6 billion yen, year on year)

3. Mobile commerce market
All markets for sale of goods, services, and transactions continued to expand.

Sale of goods: 329.2 billion yen (up 27%, or 70.9 billion yen, year on year)
Services: 270.8 billion yen (up 41%, or 78.0 billion yen, year on year)
Transactions: 123.1 billion yen (up 11%, or 11.8 billion yen, year on year)

4. Other
Survey conducted by:

This survey was conducted by Mobile Content Forum (MCF) on consignment from MIC.

Note: Mobile Content Forum, aimed at vitalizing the mobile content environment, was established in 1999 as a voluntary association of communications providers, manufacturers, content providers and other related companies (with a total of 293 members).

Methods for calculation
1) Mobile content market
The total amount was calculated based on the data announced by mobile phone operators. The breakdown figures were estimated from the growth rates obtained from these data, major providers' data, and a questionnaire survey.
2) Mobile commerce market
The figures are estimated based on the results of hearings conducted with major providers and organizations engaging in the mobile business.


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For further information about this press release, please fill in the inquiry form and submit it to MIC on the website
http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/contact.html

International Policy Division,
International Affairs Department
Telecommunications Bureau, MIC
TEL: +81 3 5253 5920 / FAX: +81 3 5253 5924