Telecom Lead India: UC Mobile is targeting top spot in
India’s mobile browser market by next year.
After entering the Indian mobile market in 2010, the
company grew its user base to around 20 million in the country, accounting for
25 percent market share.
“UC’s growth rate in India has accelerated over the
past six months since we established an office there last November,” said
UC Mobile CEO Yu Yongfu at the 2012 Global Mobile Internet Conference in
Beijing.
Research firm StatCounter said UC Mobile’s market share
in India has grown from 11 percent to more than 20 percent over the past six
months, second to Norway’s Opera Software, which had a market share of 36
percent in the same period.
UC Mobile will invest at least $5 million in India this
year. Meanwhile, it expects its Indian user base to surpass 100 million by
2015.
More than 500 local companies have established
partnerships with UC Mobile, including media company Network 18 and instant
messaging provider RockeTalk.
Serving more than 300 million users worldwide, UC Mobile
is the world’s biggest mobile browser by user base, with about 40 million
overseas users.
The company has more than 10 percent marketshare in six
foreign countries, including India, Indonesia and Russia.
In addition to emerging markets, UC Mobile is also
planning to expand in the United States by providing customized products to
customers in the first half of this year.
UC Mobile has raised about $100 million in funding since
2006.
The company will not seek additional investors before an
initial public offering since UC Mobile has enough cash in hand. The management
team has the majority stake in the company, according to a report in
Chinadaily.com.
On Thursday, UC Mobile signed a partnership agreement
with Evernote, a US application developer.
Under the agreement, the latest international version of
UC browser will include Evernote Support, enabling users to share everything
that they view through UC browser on to their Evernote account with just a
click. This function will also be featured in the Chinese version soon.
UC Mobile also announced its cooperation with UK-based
telecom operator Vodafone to become its mobile browser partner in the India
market.
