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Henry Lin, chairman and CEO of NetQin Mobile, said his company plans to become the world's number one provider of mobile security services in the next several years. |
Currently, only about 12 percent of mobile phone users worldwide are using smart phones, but that number is expected to jump to about 85 percent in the next three years, Lin said.
"This could be a perfect opportunity for the industry," he predicted
NetQin Mobile had 91.5 million users in China as of the third quarter of 2011, according to a report by SINO Market Research Ltd. NetQin Mobile had a market share of 61.5 percent, followed by Qihoo360 with 23.4 percent, the report said.
Nearly 200,000 Chinese websites were hacked last year, according to Beijing Rising Information Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese Internet security company.
NetQin Mobile added 43 million subscribers to its rolls in 2011 and more than doubled its revenue.
But Lin said he was not satisfied with his company's record.
"China accounts for only 7 percent or even 5 percent of the global market. A much larger market is waiting for NetQin to explore overseas," he said.
The first step, Lin said, is to hire an expert who "knows the global market very well".
Earlier this year, NetQin announced that it had hired Omar Khan, a former senior executive at Motorola and Samsung Mobile, as the company's co-CEO, managing the global expansion project. Khan's top priority will be to foster markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Korea and India.
The markets in developed economies are important because mobile phones are more often used at work and employers need company information stored in their staffs' mobile devices to be well protected, according to Khan.
More and more enterprises are allowing employees to bring their mobile devices to work, said Khan.
"Helping enterprises secure their mobile devices is a massive opportunity," he added.
About 33 million consumers in the United States already engage in shopping-related activities on their mobile devices. Half of the mobile phones in Japan are capable of being used as electronic wallets, Khan explained.
"We saw a rapid growth in global smartphone shipment and expansion of mobile Internet applications, as well as increasing consumer awareness in the adoption of mobile security solutions," he said.
Overseas markets helped NetQin generate about half of its revenue in 2011, according to its fourth quarter financial report.
A recently launched cloud computing project is expected to help NetQin upgrade its customers, especially in overseas markets.
"The company is more and more like an international enterprise," commented Liu Peng, an analyst at Analysys International.
NetQin posted a net income attributable of $3.2 million in the fourth quarter of last year, the second highest since 2010.
But analysts worried that the company's mobile security strategy could hinder its profits in the future. Other Internet security providers, such as Qihoo 360 Technology Co, Kingsoft Security and Beijing Rising International Software Co Ltd, have more comprehensive security services that cover almost all Internet devices.
"NetQin's income will be generated from the mobile users of the future," Liu predicted.
gaoyuan@chinadaily.com.cn
