Job Mail and Love Mail have generated 50 000 combined page impressions since deploying a mobile equivalent of their print and online services two months ago, showing interest in mobile data services is widespread, says Felix Erken, MD of Junk Mail Publishing, Job and Love Mail`s publishing house.
According to research by BMI-TechKnowledge, local mobile data revenue has grown from about R400 million in 2000 to R3.475 billion in 2005. Although SMS accounted for most of the revenue generated in 2000, data downloads and services are becoming more and more prevalent with each year, says Tertia Smit, senior analyst for BMI-T.
"We decided to give data access to anyone with an [Internet-enabled] mobile phone, regardless of whether they have a computer," says Erken. "We see mobile as a new emerging media channel."
BMI-T states with HSPDA networks expanding, video and mobile TV, as well as business enterprise applications, will add to the data revenue this year.
Erken says the Job Mail mobile service has been more popular than the Love Mail.
"There are more job-seekers than date-seekers," he explains. "With this service you can be sitting in your car and searching for jobs while being stuck in traffic."
Local development
The mobile functionality was built in-house by Junk Mail`s development team and was completed quickly, says Erken, explaining: "Often simpler is better."
The technology includes simple server-side scripting, and was built on a PHP base using a MySQL database.
"We have reduced the computer online functionality to make the mobile service really user-friendly," explains Erken.
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