February 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen
February 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen
February 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen
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Business<br />
In 2007 eBuddy saw the growth and potential <strong>of</strong><br />
mobile and decided to make the web based service also<br />
available for mobile phones. Or, better said, make it again<br />
available on mobile phones, as it was mobile where it all<br />
started. Where the web service became rapidly popular<br />
in the developed countries like Western Europe and the<br />
US, the mobile service saw and still sees its biggest growth<br />
in the emerging markets. Nowadays the biggest markets<br />
are India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and Egypt. And the<br />
usage and brand awareness <strong>of</strong> eBuddy in the other APAC<br />
countries issubstantial as well.<br />
New Product: XMS<br />
August last year, eBuddy launched a<br />
new messaging service: XMS. XMS<br />
is a mobile messaging service completely separate from<br />
eBuddy instant messaging. It’s mobile centric, meaning<br />
that it focuses more on mobile than web, and allows you<br />
to send messages, emoticons, pictures, videos and to<br />
“group chat”. In order to use it you need to install the XMS<br />
application, “app”, on your phone. The app then scans your<br />
phone’s address book and your Facebook contact list to<br />
look for contacts that also have XMS installed. It will then<br />
compile a list <strong>of</strong> all your contacts who are using XMS and<br />
with those contacts you can send free messages (as long<br />
as you have an internet connection). The application is<br />
free to use and is available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry,<br />
Windows Phone 7 and most Nokia phones. You can<br />
download it from the different app stores or by pointing<br />
your mobile browser to: http://www.ebuddyxms.com. XMS<br />
competes with apps like WhatsApp and the Blackberry<br />
Messenger. eBuddy has put all its focus on this new<br />
service. The instant messaging service is currently eBuddy’s<br />
cash cow and has the biggest user base. But the company<br />
sees that this product is in its maturity phase and foresees<br />
that XMS like services will eventually overtake instant<br />
messaging. WhatsApp is already extremely popular in the<br />
Netherlands, UK and Singapore for mobile messaging.<br />
These users are using it more than they use MSN, Yahoo<br />
Messenger or Google Talk, and they even use it more than<br />
they use SMS. eBuddy expects that this trend will also<br />
happen in the emerging markets, APAC and Latin America<br />
and with XMS they aim to become market leader in this<br />
new mobile messaging space in those regions.<br />
Singapore Office<br />
Since March 2011 eBuddy has a representative <strong>of</strong>fice in<br />
Singapore. The reason to choose Singapore is that the<br />
majority <strong>of</strong> the current users are based in the APAC and<br />
the region is important for eBuddy’s new XMS service.<br />
Singapore is the internet and mobile internet hub <strong>of</strong> the<br />
region. All big internet players, like Google, Facebook,<br />
Yahoo, Micros<strong>of</strong>t, Linkedin, Skype and mobile handset<br />
manufacturers like, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, LG, Sony Ericsson<br />
have their regional head quarters in Singapore. Also,<br />
Singapore is perfectly located to serve the markets like<br />
Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand with frequent<br />
and cheap flight connections. Thus the decision to open<br />
the <strong>of</strong>fice here was easy. Furthermore, Singapore has a<br />
friendly business climate and a high standard <strong>of</strong> living, it<br />
doesn’t take a lot <strong>of</strong> time to get yourself comfortable and<br />
feel at ease on this island.<br />
With the launch <strong>of</strong> XMS and its roll out strategy for<br />
the next 12 months, even more focus has been put on the<br />
APAC region. As the US and Europe are struggling with<br />
their economies, it would not be surprising that a next<br />
investment or even a company acquisition will come from<br />
Asia.<br />
Who is Jonie<br />
Jonie Oostveen is Director Strategic Partnerships and heading the Asia business for<br />
eBuddy from their Singapore <strong>of</strong>fice. He has been working in the mobile industry since<br />
2002. First with KPN Mobile where he was part <strong>of</strong> the team that launched i-mode in the<br />
Netherlands (the first attempt <strong>of</strong> a mobile operator outside <strong>of</strong> Japan to launch mobile<br />
internet). Later he worked for a French mobile start up in Paris and for Philips Incubators,<br />
before joining eBuddy early 2008. In his current role, Jonie is responsible to engage<br />
with all mobile operators and handset manufacturers in the APAC region. So far this has<br />
resulted in partnership with Telkomsel, Indosat, and XL, the major Indonesian operators<br />
and with HTC and LG who are preloading XMS from the factory on its Android handsets.<br />
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12/9/09 4:13:43 PM
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