Adam Gefvert
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Sky-mobi Is Dominating China's Low-Cost Smartphone App Market
Mar. 13, 2014 10:00 AM ET | About: MOBI, Includes: BIDU, QIHU
Disclosure: I am long MOBI. (More...)
Summary
MOBI is cashing in on the mass migration to low-cost smartphones in China.
With 50% year on year revenue growth, MOBI has a low valuation.
MOBI is taking market share from behemoths QIHU and BIDU.
Yesterday, Citron Research tweeted:
Citron Research @CitronResearch 1h
$MOBI Former Citron story now in turnaround mode. Transition to smart phones could create big opp. if China Internet stays strong. LONG
As I will explain in this article, I agree with Citron's change of heart on Sky-mobi (MOBI). Because of its easy to predict growth, its gargantuan market, and low valuation compared to other Chinese mobile companies, I put its current valuation at $25 per share. I show in the last paragraph the numbers on how I came to this valuation.
Baidu (BIDU), Qihoo (QIHU), and Sky-mobi provide some of the biggest smartphone application platforms in China. The way the top wireless carriers, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, work is they all have many different stores in each city in China. Each one is managed by a branch manager who, within a set of rules, can run them the way he sees fit. It's like a franchise. They have the leeway to install whichever app platform they want on the customer's Android phone. It isn't like in the US where cell phone companies make decisions on a national level and all Android phones have Google's app platform on them.
When it comes to the low-cost smartphone app economy in China, more cell phone stores are choosing MOBI's app platform over QIHU and BIDU.
Before I get into the numbers, you might be wondering how can a small mobile platform technology company like MOBI be beating out internet and mobile behemoths BIDU and QIHU? I have found five reasons why this is happening.
1. Unlike BIDU and QIHU, MOBI has an on the ground sales force. BIDU and QIHU are tech companies, and don't have dedicated sales forces calling on brick and mortar stores. It's similar to Google (GOOG) here in the US, Google doesn't go out knocking on doors. MOBI's active salesforce allows it to establish and maintain relationships with cell phone stores.
Wireless carrier behemoths like China Mobile (CHL) allow cell phone stores all over China to use the China Mobile name, and they have the flexibility to engage the customers as they wish as long as they fulfill certain quotas. Therefore, a Sky-mobi salesman can contact a particular cell phone store and win business to pre-install the Sky-mobi app platform, Maopao, and other apps on new smartphones sold to customers. This personal relationship wins over many stores to Sky-mobi. Also, Sky-mobi has always been a dominate feature phone app provider in China, and it has maintained many of its relationships as it has transitioned to smartphone apps.
2. MOBI specializes in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and cheaper smartphones. MOBI targets less sophisticated, lower class Chinese who might be getting their first smartphone. Whereas BIDU and QIHU customers are usually more sophisticated and upper class smartphone buyers. This allows MOBI to spread its influence among all the small towns and villages in China. MOBI goes where BIDU and QIHU don't have the inclination to go. Tier 2 and 3 customers is a vast, practically unlimited market in China. China is like the wild wild west. There are all kinds of small cities and villages spread out across the country with privately owned cell phone stores. Many of the people in those small cities are new buyers when it comes to smart phones. Because the majority of Chinese people make low incomes compared to the US, most of them can't afford higher end smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S4. We're currently in a period of rapid migration from feature phones to smartphones in China. MOBI will get the majority of fledgling smartphone users to use its app platform.
3. Sky-mobi encourages customers to use more data. Selling data is a primary revenue stream for wireless carriers like China Mobile. So they like the fact that Sky-mobi knows how to pre-install apps that are engaging and enjoyable to customers and require the use of more data. The smartphones in China are usually under a "pay as you go" plan, so when customers use more data, they have to pay extra for it. Qihu and Baidu provide more sophisticated apps and platforms, but aren't as focused on encouraging customers to higher levels of data use.
4. Big cell phone carriers like China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, don't necessarily want to give more business to big technology companies like BIDU and QIHU. BIDU and QIHU already dominate most areas of internet and mobile, so they don't need them to become even more powerful. They would rather support the little guy, like MOBI.
5. MOBI's applications are better designed for low end Android smartphones. MOBI knows how to create enjoyable, quality apps that work well for a low processing power smartphone. In the F2Q13 earnings call, MOBI's CEO, Michael Song, said:
Another key employment [ph] to strengthening our positioning in Smartphone business is our ability to provide enjoyable and entertaining content to our user. From the understanding of these systems in conception happens between the low cost Smartphone user and average high-end Smartphone user allow us to drive increased user stickiness and in turn deliver sustainable physical and operation growth. As an example we know that this quarter growth of mainstream China user migrating from feature phone are typically in playing simple and easy to games.
But most critical, important aspect is there newly brought Smartphones normally and cannot power [ph] many of these games made for high end Smartphone due to low processing power.
How Sky-mobi And The Cell Phone Company Do Business Together
Sky-mobi has mobile content distribution agreements with many mobile distributors. It pre-loads its mobile content and platform onto a smartphone when the consumer buys it in the store. Then the consumer can download more apps off the Sky-mobi platform, Maopao, at his or her leisure. Sky-mobi and the mobile phone company share the app revenues. The content developers pay Sky-mobi RMB 0.6-1.0 per installation.
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作者: EarnPocketMoney 时间: 2014-3-17 23:40
以下是刚出的信息。
Sky-mobi Announces Strategic Partnership With China Unicom
GlobeNewswire Sky-mobi Limited
9 minutes ago
HANGZHOU, China, March 17, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sky-mobi Limited ("Sky-mobi" or the "Company") (MOBI), a leading mobile application store in China, today announced that the Company, through its controlling subsidiary Mopin Technology Co., Ltd., has recently entered into a strategic partnership with the Wo Store of China Unicom, the official application store of China's second largest mobile operator. Under the terms of the agreement, Sky-mobi was designated as an official business partner of China Unicom to provide customized and tailor-made software services at China Unicom's network of physical stores nation-wide.
This strategic partnership enables China Unicom to significantly improve the customer experience of purchasing a smartphone over the counter through offering quality customized software service from sales staff coached by Sky-mobi, marking another significant step in Sky-mobi's overall cooperation with major telecom operators in China. Sky-mobi's partnership with China Unicom initially covers its physical stores in the lucrative smartphone markets of Zhejiang, Guangxi and Shandong provinces, and will be expanded to cover Hubei, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Shanghai and Guangdong throughout 2014.
Michael Tao Song, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sky-mobi stated, "We have been arduously working on this project since 2010 when we found through customer feedback that customers visiting the operator's physical stores expected more than just assistance with choosing and purchasing a new phone. Rather our insights suggested they expect much more on the in-store service front, such as receiving advice on how to use smartphone applications effectively and smartly. Recognizing this consumer characteristic, we view our partnership with China Unicom as a great opportunity to better serve customers and assist telecom operators in promoting their monthly data-packages. The momentum of this strategy was evident last September, when we successfully deployed our customized and tailor-made software services solution for Zhejiang Mobile throughout most of their physical stores in Zhejiang province, allowing the carrier to benefit both from improved customer satisfaction and significantly-increased monthly data traffic consumption.
"Building on this previous experience, our partnership with China Unicom will also improve attraction and servicing of smartphone users, through providing advice and assistance with smartphone apps and services at China Unicom's physical stores. Sky-mobi will benefit through leveraging, at no additional cost, China Unicom's extensive physical store network, which has become an increasingly critical offline channel to immediately access new smartphone users. With this enhanced cooperation with telecom operators as well as our on-going smartphone initiatives, we're very confident in our overall capabilities of expanding our user base and monetization opportunities over the long run."
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as "may," "will," ''believes,'' ''expects,'' ''anticipates,'' ''intends,'' ''estimates,'' "plans," "continues" or other similar expressions, the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Such statements, including statements relating to the Company's business outlook, are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Potential risks and uncertainties include the effectiveness, profitability and marketability of the Company's solutions; the Company's limited operating history; measures introduced by the PRC government and mobile network operators aimed at mobile applications-related services; the Company's revenue projections for future periods; the Company's ability to maintain relationships with handset companies, content providers and payment service providers; its dependence on mobile service providers and mobile network operators for the collection of a substantial majority of its revenues; billing and transmission failures, which are often beyond the Company's control; its ability to compete effectively; its ability to capture opportunities in the growing smart phone market; its ability to obtain and maintain applicable permits and approvals; general economic and business conditions; the volatility of the Company's operating results and financial condition; the Company's ability to attract or retain qualified senior management personnel and research and development staff; and other risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on June 28, 2013. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and its industry. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law.
About Sky-mobi Limited
Sky-mobi Limited is a leading mobile application store in China. The Company works with handset companies to pre-install its Maopao mobile application store on handsets and with content providers to provide users with applications and content titles. Users of its Maopao store can browse, download and enjoy a range of applications and content, such as single-player games, mobile music and books on various mobile handsets with different hardware and operating system configurations. The Company's mobile social network community in China, the Maopao Community, offers mobile social games, as well as applications and content with social network functions to its registered users. The Company is based in Hangzhou, China. For more information, please visit: www.sky-mobi.com.
Contact:
Investor Relations Contact:
Sky-mobi Limited
Mr. John Bi, Chief Financial Officer
Phone: + (86) 571-8777 0978 (Hangzhou, China)
Email: investor.relations@sky-mobi.com
ICR, Inc.
Mr. Jeremy Peruski
Phone: + (1) (646) -915-1615 (US)
Email: investor.relations@sky-mobi.com作者: EarnPocketMoney 时间: 2014-3-18 02:27
sold at $11.59
Gained 11.12%
released a news today. I did not like to hold it. 作者: EarnPocketMoney 时间: 2014-3-18 04:30
closed at $11.13
Vol. 6.56M
3 Month Avg. Vol. 0.49M
my goodness!作者: EarnPocketMoney 时间: 2014-4-2 02:16
bought it at $9.12作者: EarnPocketMoney 时间: 2014-4-3 00:16
转贴如下：
最后一点，也是最最重要的一点：股票不是你生活的全部，你还有你的家庭，还有你的事业，还有你的爱情，他们比你的股票更加宝贵。多陪陪他们，少陪陪股票。钱是永远赚不完的，但很多东西一旦失去了，就永远不再回来!作者: EarnPocketMoney 时间: 2014-4-5 01:09
cut some at $8.37, some at $8.30
lost 8.5%
