China's biggest independent software provider Ufida aims to build itself into one of the world's top-five management software developers by focusing on its existing portfolio and a newly established mobile e-commerce business.

"We aim to maintain our position in Asia and break into the ranks of the world's top five," said Zheng Yulin, Ufida's vice-president, when unveiling his company's three-year strategy.

But he declined to give a precise timeframe for the plan, noting that the company "is still far away from achieving that goal".

Ufida, already the largest enterprise resource planning (ERP) supplier both in China and in Asia, is among the world's top 50 management software firms in terms of revenue, Zheng said.

The Shanghai-listed company "will try to maintain our competitive edge in the ERP software business and meanwhile we will pay equal attention to the emerging mobile e-commerce service", he said.

The Beijing-based software provider last month invested US$8.42 million to set up a joint venture with Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo to tap into this market that Zheng said "holds great potential".

Fidatone Mobile Technology and Service Co, which is 66.67 percent owned by Ufida, will focus on corporate mobile solutions and applications.

The new company has introduced a mobile e-mail servicethat can be installed on handsets to download e-mails from the user's existing accounts.

"The mobile e-commerce business has huge potential in China, given its massive number of mobile phone subscribers of 450 million," Zheng said.

"And the coming 3G will give our business a further boost," the vice-president said.

Ufida commanded 24.5 percent of the Chinese ERP market in 2006, according to CCID Consulting, a Beijing-based market research firm affiliated to the Ministry of Information Industry.

(China Daily February 8, 2007)