MediaTek to put A8 Box into 3G mobile chipsets
A8 Digital Music Holdings has teamed up with semiconductor firm MediaTek, one of the biggest mobile-telephone chip suppliers to the mainland, to target the potentially vast number of 3G handsets being produced for the domestic market.
Shenzhen-based A8 Music has agreed to have its proprietary software, A8 Box, embedded in the Taiwanese firm's chipsets destined for 3G mobile telephones made on the mainland.
Liu Xiaosong, the founder, chairman and chief executive of A8 Music, said the deal would boost the penetration rate of A8 Box in the mainland mobile market.
The company, which owns more than 60,000 original works of music on the mainland, designed the A8 Box software to enable mobile users to easily access and buy content from its large online database and various digital music service providers.
It reported that about 6 million A8 Box-enabled handsets were launched on the mainland last year, when the firm's revenues grew 147 per cent year on year to 706.1 million yuan (HK$800.72 million).
Analysts have estimated A8 Box will have been included in 50 million mainland-manufactured handsets by the second half of the year, following A8 Music's aggressive drive to secure co-operation with more than 90 chipset suppliers, design houses and mobile-telephone makers in recent years.
'We are confident of tapping the opportunities presented by the restructured telecommunications sector and the development of 3G in the China market to create new profit growth drivers,' Mr Liu said.
MediaTek provides A8 Music with a sound bet. The company's chipsets are currently used by more than 60 mobile-telephone manufacturers on the mainland, accounting for a share of up to 30 per cent of the nation's mobile chip market.
According to MediaTek, A8 Box is the sole mobile music software platform to meet its standards and pass its stringent tests.
'I believe A8 Music will experience strong growth in 3G-related services, such as full-song download and music video, with an upgraded A8 Box software starting from the second half of next year,' said Bocomm International Securities analyst Li Zhiwu.
A8 Music currently relies on traditional mobile value-added services, such as ringback tones, as its core revenue stream. Bocomm expected that business to achieve up to 30 per cent growth per year, in line with the industry.
