You read in this space how Far EasTone is trying to rev up the mobile media space, put a stake in the ground, and be the king of all media with its mobile media/TV venture for automotive. Recently, we heard how Taiwan Mobile (tha big brotha from anutha mutha in Taiwan) iis buying Hurray, a Chinese provider of mobile content (mostly music). Today, we hear how the "top telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (¤¤µØ¹q«H) said yesterday it was planning to buy a 30 percent stake in Taiwan's biggest online music retailer, Skysoft Co Ltd (Ä@¹Òºô°T), to provide more diverse services for its broadband, mobile and Internet TV subscribers". http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2007/10/18/2003383734 Well, I'll be cousin Jethro, them's gonna make our cell phones all musical-like and such. So why are all these companies looking to buy up media? Except for mobile ringtones, no one has figured out how to make money off of digital content in any way, shape or form. Why, even The New York Times recently tore down its "Times Select" paywall. Everyone in Taiwan is constantly downloading everything and not paying one thin shekel for the privilege. AA highly placed gaming company executive once told me that about 90 percent of gaming in Taiwan is done on pirated software. So how will Chunghwa make money off all this content that no one else (movie studios, music companies, publishers, etc.) can seem to monetize? OOne guess is to incentivize their user base. Throw in content access to make 3G and other next-gen services sticky. We've seen that 3G has had slow uptake in Taiwan and one theory is the content is just not compelling enough for the mass public to pay higher acccess rates. If they are gonna pay for fat pipes they want something to pipe in. However, no one has seen if this content (such as from Skysoft or Hurray) is anything people actually want or if it isn't content that is already being fileshared to death. Onward and upward, playas. II'm ready for my throwaway content. More to come. -jag

 

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