Mobile Karaoke Rocks Russia
Launched last week by one of the leaders in the content provider market, a service called INFON offers 20 karaoke song files that can be downloaded on all mobile networks. The sing-along craze that originated in Japan moved into mobile telephony two years ago, based on Java applications that Irish technology firm Alatto developed for the European market. In 2003, Vodafone Japan launched a service that allowed subscribers to “practise” songs and, later, to plug their handset into a TV to watch the lyrics on the big screen, while singing into the phone mouthpiece.
Kirill Shramko, head of INFON’s B2B division, said that the current mobile content market mainly appeals to people aged under 20. The company hopes to tap into social categories such as businessmen and thirty-something women, who have “high potential, but do not utilize new mobile handset functions now,” he added. INFON did not reveal how much it would spend on advertising, saying only that the company would promote the service through the usual ad channels. Full story here
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