Pmovil launched its trademark Toing, so as to directly trade tailored services for mobile services (ring tones, wall papers, and chat). Through agreements with 18 cell operators region wide, the company currently generates 40,000 downloads a day, a volume eight times higher than a year ago. Along 2004, Pmovil plans to two fold the business volume together with Toing and its recent agreement with Telcel, with which it has recently closed an exclusive deal to use platforms in Mexico.
The firm Pmovil was founded in 2001, but its name remained neutralized as operators started trading products with own brands. However, now that most of the countries have mobile data networks interconnected, they will launch the name Toing, to strengthen the brand among users. According to Fabián De la Rúa, CEO of Pmovil, they wanted a trademark appealing for the Latin American young public, as it is easy to remember in Spanish, Portuguese and English. However, as well as operations in the Americas, they will launch the trademark in Spain and Italy in April. These two European countries host most of the Latin American immigrants.
De la Rúa, former Argentine President’s nephew, was one of the founders of the free Internet provider IG, in Brazil. The executive pointed that the sole similarity between the old and new business is the generation of traffic volume, on which they collect around 40% and 50%. For De la Rúa, the main difference is that when “selling mobile services, profit margins are higher (as mobile minutes are more expensive) and, besides, everything is charged: traffic generated and products sold”. As GPRS or 1X billing systems have reported difficulties in granting bonuses for traffic generated to download apps, some Latin American operators have decided to charge for the communication and the product.
Pmovil made US$ 1 million in 2003 and plans to end 2004 with revenues for around US$ 2 and US$ 2.5 million. Main expectations are related to the release of the trademark Toing in Mexican market, where they will exclusively operate with Telcel. Together with the Mexican, they plan to enter Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The firm is currently operating in Argentina (Unifón, Personal, CTI Móvil, and Movicom), Brazil (Telemig Celular, Claro, Vivo, and Oi), Paraguay (Telecel, VOX, and Personal), and Bolivia (Telecel). Besides, it is about to enter Colombia and Ecuador. It also has businesses in Chile and Peru, where the firm has provided MMS platforms to Telefonica Moviles¿ units.
The company has a sole, independent, standard platform, but develops specific content for each market. Copyright requests, for the use of ring tones, vary from country to country, and Brazil is the most complex, as a same song can be registered by two or three record firms, and the authorization of each of them is necessary to release it. With international groups, the task is still quite complicated, as authorizations from each country are requested. The company activates 20 new melodies a week, which are registered under seven formats, to be accessed through different kinds of phones.
Though in Europe piracy did away with the first generation of ring tone providers, new ring tones are more difficult to forge. In that case, the main danger becomes file transfers among phones via “bluetooth” or the “infra-red”. Also with the “true tone”, that directly reproduces the song, risk is related to the devices of new mobiles that allow reproducing and recording any sound.