Melvin Wong, CEO of Just Mobile believes so much in the future of mobile that he left a full time job as an engineer to become a mobile technopreneur. His name card and website boldly proclaims: If it’s not mobile, it’s none of our business.

 

Melvin Wong is a 29 year old Sarawakian with a three year old mobile content company. He left his job at the end of 2004 and launched Just Mobile Sdn Bhd. The company, he says, is fully focussed on mobile content. “Just Mobile provides content that goes beyond ringtones, logos and wallpapers. We are bringing the next generation of mobile content to customers, content that consumers will be willing to pay for.”

Currently, Just Mobile has more than twenty products for mobile consumers that are marketed locally as well as to telcos outside Malaysia. There are social networking content like Virtual Girlfriend, Mobile Dating and Virtual Chat as well as topical content like Mobile Astrology and Mobile Fortune Teller. Melvin says that the content his company provides is very popular among consumers. Some of the content is subscription based and others are provided on a ‘pay-per-use’ system.

About a year after starting up Just Mobile, Melvin learnt about the Maxis Developer Programme and joined up. “MDP has been very helpful in terms of networking assistance and introductions as well as technical support.” Melvin especially appreciates the developer community that MDP has helped create. “Rostam of MDP encouraged developers to have informal meetings and a group of us have taken that advice. We now meet once a fortnight in the evening at various restaurants and just talk about anything mobile.” The opportunity to brainstorm ideas and opportunities with people equally passionate about the industry is invaluable.”

 

 

Currently, Just Mobile has a few projects in the pipeline. “Most mobile content products have a short product life and if you don’t craft and create new products, your company will become irrelevant in a short time,” says Melvin. Their most exciting product to date which is poised to be released in July 2007 is their multi player, multi platform mobile game christened Emperor Quest. This game was developed with the assistance of a grant from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). Consumers will be able to play this game on any mobile platform, be it SMS, WAP, GPRS or 3G. Emperor Quest involves players starting at the level of Citizens and striving to make their way up to become Emperor. To make the game more exciting, they win points along the way and these points can be redeemed for real life gifts. More details are available on the game website, www.emperorquest.com.

Melvin is also hopeful that a sports related product his company has developed will be accepted soon by a telco. His game will leverage on Malaysian’s craze for soccer and the upcoming European soccer leagues and Euro 2008 tournament next year. Going forward, Just Mobile is working on some social networking and user generated products.

For Melvin, life for the last three years has been a hectic and yet enjoyable period. He hasn’t even thought about settling down yet as his business consumes most of his time and energy. And he has no regrets about leaving the safety of a full time job. “It looks like I am a risk taker and I would have regretted if I never went ahead to see if I could make it on my own.”

We ask him if he would encourage other entrepreneurs to focus on mobile. “Yes!” he exclaims, “Mobile is a very exciting area and so far, we have just scratched at the surface. Almost everyone will own a mobile and the opportunities to create and develop products that people will want to use are just about limitless.”

“The Internet is borderless and huge. Small developers will find it hard to compete with established giants from all over the world. On the other hand, mobile is a walled garden and content creators could build applications specifically for a single telco and still do well.” Melvin also recommends that developers join MDP as it is a great programme for developers trying to break into mobile development.