MoboTap, the Chinese developer of Dolphin mobile browser , has sold 51% stake to ChangYou (NASDAQ: CYOU) , the Chinese gaming company, for cash consideration of 91US$ million.
Founded in 2010, MoboTap was one of the first Chinese smartphone app developers that gained traction first from outside China. Dolphin Browser claims it has been used by over 100 million users from over 100 different countries and regions.
As we argued before that it turned out the mobile browser isn’t so important a tool as PC browser without which users cannot access most Web content. UCWeb, another Chinese mobile browser developer, who had been touting the importance of mobile browser, finally decided to develop mobile search and has been acquired by Alibaba Group.
Both UCWeb and Dolphin tried to make mobile browsers as important as web browsers by persuading developers to build webapps for their products so that users can use their apps without leaving a browser. The benefit for users sounds good too that they don’t need to take time to download native apps. But the strategy doesn’t seem successful.
It is expected ChangYou will take advantage of Dolphin’s knowledge in overseas marketing to promote its games.