Singapore's first mobile software association 
ConvergenceAsia staff
17/06/2009

Singapore’s industry-leading mobile software companies have announced an agreement to form the nation’s first mobile software association, Mobile Alliance. As an industry-led initiative supported by the International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the alliance represents the interests of the broader mobile ecosystem with a focus on driving innovation and growth of the mobile communications industry.

Boudewijn Pesch, Managing Director of Acision in Asia Pacific, has been selected by the founding members as the President of the Mobile Alliance. In this role, Pesch will lead the group towards establishing Singapore as a Centre of Mobile Excellence in Asia, with a specific focus on driving research and development in the mobile software industry. Boudewijn will be assisted by industry veterans Kevin Chia of Clearhub and Rakesh Sabharwal of Mobiquest, both of whom are Vice-Presidents of the Mobile Alliance.

The Mobile Alliance will work jointly with key industry stakeholders like IE Singapore, MEF and MMA to drive strategic programs to position Singapore as an attractive base to develop new mobile services and market them globally. Members can benefit from subsidised international trade shows, overseas missions, market intelligence and research as well as business matching events through the assistance of these agencies.

“By adopting a collaborative approach, Mobile Alliance is focused on generating greater synergies and incubating new opportunities within the mobile ecosystem in Singapore. We aim to work closely with over 30 of our members and forge partnerships with key industry agencies to develop Singapore into a vibrant and innovation-driven hub for home grown mobile content and application developers,” commented Boudewijn Pesch.

The formation of the Mobile Alliance is timely as it will unite stakeholders in the local mobile eco-system to work on strategic initiatives and branding efforts to promote Singapore as a Centre of Mobile Excellence in Asia, said Thian Tai Chew, Director of Infocomm Technology Division of International Enterprise Singapore, which is an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry spearheading the development of Singapore’s external economic wing. "IE Singapore fully supports the Alliance in its internationalisation efforts and to assist its members widen their business connections," he added.

Mobile Alliance also has the active support of the MMA, a global trade association that drives consumer best practices and guidelines across the mobile ecosystem, and the MEF which has established itself as the leading global trade association for companies large and small across the mobile entertainment value chain.
The MMA has over 700 members worldwide including carriers, service providers, aggregators, developers, brands, agencies and regulators. MEF's membership base spans the entire range of mobile entertainment activities, including music, film, TV and video companies who create and package content; publishers, retailers, service providers and technologists who sell and deliver content and network operators who get the content to the end users.

The Mobile Alliance of Singapore has over 30 founding members comprising of Acision, Activants, Aura Interactive, BAK2U, BLOG2U, Buuuk, Clearhub, Colorzip, Fast and Safe, Gemalto, Globalroam, Hong Bao Media, Human Network Labs, Infoline, Macrokiosk, Microusability, Mobilesorcery, Mobile Distillery, Mobiquest, Muvee, Navteq, Netbiscuits, Newspage, Stream Media, Sybase365, Talaraix, tenCube, TransferTo, The Voice Company, Wooworld, Yoose and ZingMobile.

For more information, visit www.mobilealliance.sg.

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