XOX Mobile to form JV with Korea’s Mobligation

By Digital News Asia November 27, 2015

To promote and develop mobile portal and browser solutions for SEA
Also announces pact with Fotokem for its new postpaid plan

XOX Mobile to form JV with Korea’s Mobligation

XOX Mobile Sdn Bhd said it has signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) company with South Korea’s Mobligation Co Ltd, which develops mobile portals, browsers and applications for smartphones.

The JV will develop and promote mobile portal and browser solutions in South-East Asia, XOX Mobile, the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) arm of Bursa Malaysia-listed XOX Bhd, said in a statement.

Advertisers are expected to spend US$64.25 billion worldwide on mobile in 2015, an increase of nearly 60% over 2014. That figure will reach US$158.55 billion by 2018, when mobile ads will account for 22.3% of all advertising spending worldwide, said XOX Mobile, citing eMarketer.

In 2014, advertisers spent US$15.1billion on display advertising and US$14.7 billion on search advertising, to reach the 1.6 billion global mobile phone users, it added.

The joint venture between XOX Mobile and Mobligation is expected to tap into this market with its solutions, including those that will reward users for their engagement with advertisements.

Mobligation chief executive officer Nevil Joonmo Kim said his company decided to partner with XOX Mobile due to the brand’s user base which skews towards tech-savvy youth who are looking for value and innovation, similar to its users in South Korea.

“The synergies between the companies are strong and we are looking forward to the setting up of the joint venture company,” he said.

Mobligation has developed two search engine apps – Timber Browser and Kong Browser – and the content-aggregation Nepkin micro site that enables user-specified content to be automatically populated.

XOX Mobile’s subscriber base – it claims 850,000 subscribers – would be the first cadre of South-East Asian users to enjoy the benefits of these browsers and micro site.

Fotokem pact

XOX Mobile also announced a partnership with homegrown retailer of imaging equipment and photo processing Fotokem, with the introduction of XOX Fotokem Premium Centres.

Subscribers can register for the XOX Postpaid Plan at Fotokem. XOX introduced the plan last month, and has more than 15,000 registrations to date.

“The new postpaid plan … comes with a sophisticated programme, through XOX’s profit-sharing model,” said XOX Bhd group chief executive officer Ng Kok Heng.

This allows XOX subscribers who recommend the same plan to others to enjoy almost cost-free usage of the XOX postpaid plan, through referral incentives that cover the monthly bill for the particular subscriber, he added.

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