Like the article said, if consumers want more features. I think it's just that Asian consumers are willing to pay for a premium for more and more features in a

Like the article said, if consumers want more features. I think it's just that Asian consumers are willing to pay for a premium for more and more features in a mobile phone, while that's not necessarily the case here (simpler phones, etc.) With this, the mobile telecom companies can implement more advanced systems and features into their mobiles. That's at least my speculation. Also - forgot to add. Micro-commodities are KING in Asia. QQ, the AIM of China, offers a MySpace-like social networking system built on top of their 160-million-subscriber instant messaging system, where micro-commodities like profile customizations for x RMB are just a no-brainer: it's cheap, buy it. Of course, this generates more sales, which thus generates more profits. QQ even has their own "currency" - QQ Coin, a virtual currency, a 1:1 coin:RMB exchange for purchasing virtual (or sometimes even real) merchandise. [1] 2008Q1 revenues for Tencent were $204mln, profits of $77mln at a margin of 38%. [2] This is definitely evident in the mobile market. Mobile subscribers in the US are prone to buying some ringtones and customizations, but in China these micro-commodities generate a lot of purchasers - and a lot of money. It's not something that we can completely imitate in the US, since it's part of their culture to purchase these micro-commodities. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QQ#QQ_Coin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QQ#QQ_Coin [2] http://www.tencent.com/ir/pdf/news20080514a_e.pdf http://www.tencent.com/ir/pdf/news20080514a_e.pdf