UCWeb, The Next Maxthon On Mobile?

ucweb-logo There is no doubt that Maxthon is still the No.1 Chinese browser in the market, but we can see that the competition is getting more intense. Tencent has its so called TT browser bundled with QQ for a long time, Firefox is more and more accepted by high educated Internet users; If you search for 浏览器 (means Browser in Chinese), there are a couple of Chinese browsers which are good alternatives. I have tried one called EnjoyIE developed by a team based in Beijing. Even though the founder told me that he was doing this for his own interest, but the fact is that this browser has already got 2 millions users and for me it is working even faster than Maxthon.

Who can compete with Maxthon in China? It is far too early to have an answer. However, if we turn our eyes to the Mobile browser market, the answer seems a bit more clearer. A Guangzhou based company called UCWeb really has the chance. Reading the propaganda I got weeks ago in Beijing and playing it on my N95, UCWeb is an impressive product on mobile devices indeed. It has the versions for Java (MIDP2.0), Symbian, SP/PPC, Brew and MTK; has the download management; supports web page optimisation for mobile devices; multi-tab browsing; RSS subscription and some others. UCWeb now has over 25 millions users, 1.5 millions daily active users. The future of UCWeb is quite promising.

Firefox’s mobile version is still somewhere, but UCWeb has released its English version (version 5.1) last July, hopefully its recent version 6.0 will come in English soon. And, the exciting news I heard is that the iPhone version of UCWeb is coming soon.

Whatsoever, the battle field of the coming browser war will be on mobile!

May 12, 2008 · Filed Under Mobile Solution

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A Brief Review of Mobile Payment Solution (in UK)

Once the Mobile 2.0 goes popular, the Mobile Payment will be the next hot topic (actually it already is now). I reviewed all the existing/potential solutions here and also put some of comments.

1.Premium SMS
Premium Rate is a charge to the consumer above the normal cost to receive and send SMS messages. The growth in premium SMS can provide consumers some complex interactive services such as mobile gaming as well as the purchase of items including mobile ringtones, wallpapers and logos, etc.
*Advantage:

  • conventional mobile payment solution.

*Disadvantage:

  • International transactions are not supported
  • Ad hoc amount of charge is not supported

2.X-PAY with WAP ID service
X-PAY service is developed by Sheffield-based Dialogue Communications Ltd. using WAP-ID technology. The MSISDN of mobile phone can be automatically identified by WAP-ID (a header forwarded by ISP WAP gateway) and the payment will be charged from phone bill.
*Advantage:

  • the consumer can be identified automatically, and the WAP ID service is transparent to the consumer.

*Problem:

  • The service highly relys on the WAP ID service. However, if the consumer visit the wap site through an internet gateway, the WAP ID service will fail.
  • The service has to be regressed to Premium SMS in some cases.

3.X-PAY with cookies and SMS verification
X-PAY service might fail if the consumer visit the wap site using non-WAP browser. Therefore an alternative solution might be provided working in conjunction with X-PAY.
*Advantage:

  • it works with most of the phones and can be a replacement if WAP ID service fails.
  • no software is required to be installed on the phone.

*Disadvantage:

  • it requires the user’s registration and SMS is used to verify the MSISDN.
  • X-Pay service need be revised to accept user registered MSISDN.

* A Demo site has been built by me, here is the How the demo works:

  • consumer visit the wap site, the WAP ID service will try to obtain its MSISDN for billing.
  • If consumer visit the wap site using internet browser (e.g. Opera Mobile, Opera Mini) or using wap browser but through an internet gateway, he will be directed to a user registration page.
  • The user is required to provide his phone number, password etc.
  • A cookie is written to the user’s mobile containing the identification information, e.g. consumer id.
  • A sms message is sent to the number the user registered in c), containing a verification code.
  • The user has to reply the message or visit a Verification web page to verify the number.
  • Once the number is verified, the consumer can browser-and-buy stuff on the site and his details can be retrieved with usage of the cookie.

4.X-Pay with IMSI/IMEI/MSISDN
*Advantage:

  • The IMSI/IMEI/MSISDN can be used as the unique identification of the consumer and no verification procedure required. It can be a replacement if WAP ID service fails.
  • Ideally, it should work with the UIQ, Symbian and Java support phones and Smart phones.

*Disadvantage:

  • A software is required to be designed and be installed on the handset to retrieve the information.
  • The MSISDN is usually stored in network, so it is very difficult to be retrieved.
  • X-Pay service need be revised.

*Reference:

5.Card-Not-Present Transactions
*Advantage:

  • it is the convertional e-commerce solution.
  • high security and fully documented APIs to use.
  • support international transactions.
  • It can be a replacement if WAP ID service fails.

*Problem:

  • it can be running as a standalone service by any party and the payment is charged directly from the card. So do we still need X-Pay?

*Reference:

6.Paypal Mobile Payment
*Advantage:

  • Highly secured solution from Paypal.
  • handy to use.
  • supports ad hoc amount of charge.

*Disadvantage:

  • similar with Premium SMS, the Shortcode and Keyword are required

*Reference:

December 5, 2006 · Filed Under Mobile Solution

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