BEIJING - The9 Limited, a Nasdaq-listed online game operator and developer in China, has begun to focus on business opportunities in mobile Internet, by introducing and localizing OpenFeint, the world's largest mobile social gaming platform for iPhone and Android phone users.

The company officially launched the Chinese version of OpenFeint on Tuesday, which will continue to be open-source and free to developers and players, according to Chris Shen, general manager of the mobile business unit of Shanghai-based The9.

OpenFeint allows game publishers to introduce services which enable mobile social gaming, and provide smartphone users with a space to share gaming experiences.

The 18-month-old platform boasts more than 50 million registered users on both iOS and Android systems, provides access to about 3,800 mobile games and also has more than 13,000 registered developers,

California-based Aurora Feint Inc, the company behind OpenFeint, reached an agreement with The9, which issued a five-year license for the Chinese company to use OpenFeint's mobile social gaming network software in China.

In July, The9 made a strategic minority equity investment in Aurora Feint, without elaborating on the financial terms. In October, the latter also secured $3 million funding from Intel Capital.

"Initially, the services are only available on Android, but soon we will also support Apple's iOS," Shen said at a news briefing. He expects OpenFeint to be cross-platform in China in the near future.

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OpenFeint will support all major online stores, including China Mobile's Mobile Market, China Unicom's Wostore and China Telecom's 189store.com. Negotiations are underway with the three telecom carriers, Shen said.

Jason Citron, founder and chief executive officer of Aurora Feint, said he hoped more Chinese developers would use OpenFeint to offer games to China's 800 million cell phone subscribers.

The9 has been in the red since the second quarter of 2009, as the company failed to renew its license agreement with Blizzard Entertainment on the popular online game World of Warcraft.

The9's revenues decreased by 95 percent year-on-year to 22.1 million yuan ($3.3 million) in the first quarter. In the second quarter of 2010, the number fell by 91 percent year-on-year to 25.4 million yuan and its loss reached 65.8 million yuan.

Zhu Jun, chairman and chief executive officer of The9, revealed in his micro blog earlier that he believes there may be far greater opportunities in the mobile Internet market than in the traditional online market.

According to Analysys International, China's mobile game players will grow at an annual rate of 41 percent from 2011 to 2013. By 2013, the number will reach 276 million and the market value will be 9.6 billion yuan.