INTERNET: Alok Kejriwal explains why he's just sold Mobile2Win's China unit to Disney. |
Three years back, when Alok Kejriwal set up Mobile2Win "" a wireless marketing solutions company"" in China, the market for local value added services (VAS) was just beginning to warm up. Today, the Chinese VAS market is pegged at $6.6 billion and set to touch $7.8 billion in 2007. The Chinese market is hot. |
So why is Kejriwal opting out? He has just sold Mobile2Win in China, via an all-cash deal, to Walt Disney Internet Group for an undisclosed amount. And why? To focus on what he knows best: the Indian market "" "lucrative and growing at a breathtaking pace" in its own right. |
Kejriwal, who founded Contests2Win (C2W), intends to sharpen his local business of electronic games, contests and other interactive devices. |
The Indian operations stay as they are, he clarifies, including the wireless business under Mobile2win India, headed by Rajiv Hiranandani. It's just the Chinese arm that has gone, though it was turning a profit working on mobile campaigns for such brands as Coca-Cola. |
"Our exit merely indicates our desire to be more strong in a market like India," says Kejriwal, who intends to invest the funds in Games2Win and Media2Win. |
"Media2Win will primarily look to create wireless brand campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, who are already our clients through C2W," he says, "I think that wireless advertising is just waiting to happen in India." |
Games2Win, on the other hand, would be Kejriwal's long term game, involving the development of multiplayer online games (MMOGs) in addition to web-based and downloadable games. |
"I see Games2Win complementing the growth of Contest2Win," says Kejriwal, referring to the flagship site which now boasts of an online community of over 1 million registered users. |