The Developing World, Opera & the Mobile Internet

A story today appearing in the Wall Street Journal nicely captures what's going on in the developing world where, in selected places, the "mobile Internet" is effectively the only Internet:

Aussie OEM Debuts Android Handset

Australian electronics maker Krogan has introduced two Android handsets for presale: the Agora and the Agora Pro for AU$299 and AU$399 respectively (via IntoMobile). That's $195 and $260 in US dollars.

It looks a bit like the Samsung Blackjack or the Motorola Q smartphones and has both a keyboard and 2.5-inch LCD touchscreen. 

Reports and Predictions: Handset Growth Steady, Mobile Ads Uncertain

There's an interesting paradox in mobile. On the one hand we have firms such as Portio Research forecasting continued "robust" handset growth amid the global economic downturn. According to Cellular-News:

A new report from Portio Research reveals that over half the world now uses a mobile phone and predicts that 80% of the world’s population will be doing so by the end of 2013 - a staggering 5.8 billion people.

But then there's this bit about declining ARPU:

All About Android Today: T-Mobile G1 'with Google'

At 10:30 US Eastern time today the Android announcement will be made and we'll finally get to see the phone and its features. The Boy Genius Report has some screens (not a ton to see), while the New York Times offers a relatively in-depth look at Taiwan's HTC corp., the company making the phone and apparently making a bigger brand push with it.

U.K.'s O2 Finding Consumer Appeal for Mobile Payments

Using mobile phones to purchase goods and services is a fast-growing concept that is gaining traction from carriers, consumers and payment networks alike. Mobile payments rely on near-field communication (NFC) technology to facilitate purchases and include associated technologies for mobile couponing and payment authentication.

GOOG411 and Ubona Offer Voice Search in India

In what it characterizes as a "trial", Google is offering voice search on a toll-free phone line that is accessible in Hyderabad, India (population 10+ million). Callers to 1800-41-99-99-99 reach live operators who provide information on local business and movie showtimes. As with the GOOG411 service in North America, callers are also offered the option to be connected directly to the local business for free and Hyderabad residents will also be possible for users to request this information through SMS.

Report: Korea's SK Telecom to Invest in Sprint

Reuters and others are reporting that Korea's SK Telecom, one of the two partners in the now defunct Helio MVNO (acquired last month by VirginMobile), is going to make another run at the U.S. market with a potential strategic investment in Sprint. Some outlets had reported that SK Telecom was seeking to acquire Spint outright; however, that outcome is highly unlikely.

Nokia in China Search Deal with Baidu

Forbes reports that Chinese search engine Baidu will provide a mobile search service for Nokia phones in China. Baidu is the number three search engine globally according to comScore (because of the sheer population in China):

Who Uses the Mobile Internet?

Mobile browser Opera released another round of data on global mobile Internet usage. The high level findings are as follows:

• In the ten countries examined, male users of Opera Mini greatly outnumber female users. The biggest difference in usage between males and females is in India, where 97.2% of people using Opera Mini to browse the Web are males. The smallest difference is in South Africa, where 1 out of 4 people using Opera Mini are females.
• Asia
• Data and Forecasts
• Europe
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RIM's BlackBerry 'Bold' Announced, iPhone Gains Asian Distribution

On the desktop we have Microsoft vs. Google. And in world of mobile handsets a similar battle is shaping up between BlackBerry, the smartphone incumbent in North America, and Apple's iPhone, recently made safe for the enterprise.