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New Mobile Phone Web Site

On December 16, a new mobile phone Web site was launched cooperatively by people.com.cn, Xinhuanet.com and Qianlong.com. People who pay to book this Web site connection can read news, listen to the music and watch videos on their mobile phones. This signifies that the mainstream media's entrance into the mobile communications market. During the one-month trial operation, about 2 million mobile phone users logged on to the Web site and more than 20 million people clicked to visit the Web site.

Just nine days before the official launch of this mobile phone Web site, The First Mobile Communications and the Media Seminar was held in Beijing. Organized by the All-China Journalists Association, and co-organized by Nokia (China) Investment Company, Limited, this seminar focused on the opportunities and challenges that Chinese media meet in the face of popular mobile communications.

Traditional media and mobile communications have distinct advantages. The contents of newspapers, magazines, television and radio are more colourful, while the content on mobile phones is more portable and more likely to cater to one's personal needs or desires. From this traditional media experts conclude that it can extend its communication channels to mobile phones. China Women's News is a successful example. Since the launch of its mobile phone version of the newspaper in July 2004, it now has about 150,000 mobile subscribers, almost the same amount of their traditional subscribers.

Another example is China Daily, according to Zhang Yan who is responsible for the operation of its mobile version. "Our character is the live broadcast of international events, and an example is our successful live broadcast of the trial of Saddam on October 28, 2005. We have quality video broadcasts and English-language subscribers who need this kind of service."

Above all, quick and convenient interaction with individual subscribers is the most practical function of mobile phones that can be used by traditional media in the next few years.