Dear Industry Executive

"It's all in the tariff, stupid"

A study of more than a 1000 UK mobile phone users by a retail market analyst called Retails Eyes has found that, despite the industry’s best efforts, whizzy content services, access to the web and everything else we are hoping to make a wheelbarrow load of money from in mobile are not what the punters want.

When looking at why users switch mobile suppliers, the survey found that three quarters of people do so based purely on price: they want the cheapest tariff they can get their hands on.

When asked about functionality, the report makes sober reading. Only 11% rated the ability to upgrade with additional memory as important, 6.6% for MP3 capability, 6.4% for video, 3.9% for web browsing, 3.4% for e-mail, and 3.2% for gaming. No respondent over 60 years old rated MP3 capability as a 7 in terms of importance.

So what does this mean for the mobile content market? Alright, we were never going to bombard my mum and dad with mobile music and interactive viral advertising, but it seems that event the target market is driven more by price than what the phone and network can do.

While the battle to get wholesale data charges down rumbles on, perhaps network operators should take note that price really is the key and that should they make it cheap — and easy — for consumers to consumer mobile content, then things could be very different indeed.

Yours

Paul Skeldon

paul.skeldon@contentfutures.com

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Deal brings SMS, MMS and IM together in seamless next generation network service

Airwide Solutions, a next-generation mobile messaging infrastructure provider, has teamed up with mobile instant messaging (MIM) company, Colibria, to provide a messaging solution that seamlessly integrates SMS, MMS and mobile IM. The best-of-breed solution delivers on the promise of next-generation networks by helping operators quickly and cost-effectively deploy new revenue-enhancing services.

The interoperable technologies offer mobile operators a flexible way to provide subscribers with enhanced messaging services that work across 2.5 and 3G networks, as well as IMS enabled networks. The integrated set of technologies is designed to provide subscribers with a richer messaging experience regardless of the network or messaging technology, while offering operators significant savings in operating expenses and integration efforts.

While the $60 billion global SMS market is still a major revenue earner, operators also want to offer new services such as MIM to drive additional future revenue growth. MIM solutions like this offer subscribers enhanced SMS services with better interactivity, functionality and features. The growing demand for social networking and multimedia content on mobile networks is also driving operators to a range of messaging options based on subscriber preferences, device type, messaging recipient, message type, network and service.

“SMS services continue to drive substantial revenues for the mobile operators,” said Kevin Wiant, vice president of business development, Airwide Solutions. “Operators are looking to build on this foundation by integrating other messaging options that appeal to the diversity of subscriber preferences and handsets. With Colibria, we can provide operators an easy way to implement Mobile IM services that can communicate with their SMS community. This service acceleration is possible due to the next generation messaging approach being taken by Airwide and Colibria.”

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EU difference of opinion threatens roll out of mobile TV

Europe’s developing market for mobile broadcasting has been dealt a potentially serious blow by a divergence in philosophy between the European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC) and the European Commissioner for Information and Media, reports Rapid TV News.

The EMBC issued a report at the weekend stating there was "no urgent need for specific new EU regulation to foster the introduction and development of mobile broadcasting". This was contradicted by Commissioner Viviane Reding, who favours a single standard and has backed the DVB-H group of formats.

This has alarmed supporters of other formats but even more concern was caused by Commissioner Reding's comment that if the industry and EU member states did not agree on a single standard she would be compelled to "intervene with regulatory measures".

The EMBC comprises every major telecom company, broadcaster and network operator from the member states, along with relevant manufacturers. Each has its preferred format for mobile broadcasting and there are many vested interests.

The opinion of some transmission experts is that DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting, the “Korean” standard) is the best option for radio on the mobile platform as it is similar to DAB (digital audio broadcasting, the FM equivalent of digital radio) and would allow consumers to have all available radio services for free.

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Mobile ad company turns away all non-mobile brands

Mobile Advertising Network Admoda has announced that it is to focus purely on ad campaigns for mobile related brands, such as mobile entertainment companies, mobile content companies, operators, and handset manufacturers.

This seemingly bold strategy is a slap in the face for everyone in the mobile advertising space who seem to judge the potential success of the sector only on whether or not non-mobile brands will be interested.

Everyone is asking the question "When are the non-mobile brands coming on board?", but Admoda believe that this is ignoring the fact that the mobile content and services market is already a billion dollar global industry.

Mobile companies deserve to be taken seriously, as they are the ones with the track record of understanding the industry, and building profitable businesses. Admoda has decided to leave it to others to chase the non-mobile brands, and focus on servicing companies who are already in the mobile space.

Admoda believe that with its focused business model and correct pricing structure they can capture a considerable portion of this sector’s mobile advertising budgets.

Terry Jackson, CEO of MobVision the company behind Admoda, says that “With our experience in the mobile industry it makes perfect sense for us to focus purely on this sector. Our strategy is straightforward. To deliver high volumes of targeted traffic for mobile focused companies across the mobile internet. We believe that by focusing only on the mobile sector we will be able to really zero-in on what is required to deliver successful ad campaigns for this industry.”

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US off-portal market opens up, says mobile marketing association

The US Mobile Marketing Association (USMMA) is claiming that the US off-portal content business grew by some 400 per cent in value in the year to September 2006, reports Telemedia magazine’s online news service this week.

The USMMA says that more than 2000 SMS shortcodes are now in use and estimated off-portal revenue at $750 million for the period. The research should boost the confidence of the US D2C sector, which has been waiting years for the operators to open up their networks, says Network for Online Commerce (NOC) Industry Affairs spokesman, Andrew Darling. The new climate has led to the creation of D2C players like New Motion, Blinko and Thumbplay, while encouraging brands such as MTV and Paramount to launch their own off-deck portals.

However, despite the explosion of off-portal activity, the US remains some way behind Europe in terms of D2C evolution. Dave Waldman, head of business development at games and adult specialist Twistbox, says that “Whatever anyone says, D2C is still slow in the US. And I think were all a little frustrated with it. So we dont deal with the D2C guys yet, we prefer to work with the carriers. We will, but as I see it, theyre mostly VC funded start-ups right now and still in the early stage of their development.”

There are also issues around the cost of customer acquisition. Noelia Amoedo, country manager for Buongiorno USA, says that: There are so many ads for content services online now, but we've reached a ceiling in terms of the number of new customers that can be acquired this way. It can cost up to $19 per referral, which makes it hard to make a profit.”

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Star Alliance launches global mobile flight status service with mBlox

mBlox, one of the world’s largest mobile transaction networks, this week announced that it is working with travel and transport information company OAG to deliver a global SMS flight status alert service to the Star Alliance network. The service is available to Star Alliance customers via its website and provides airline passengers with free SMS and e-mail alerts on the progress of all their flights along their entire journey.

Made possible through mBlox’s Mobile Terminated (MT) solution, the SMS update service enables Star Alliance customers to track the flights of any of the 17 member airlines, irrespective of location virtually anywhere on the planet, as well as track details of internal connecting flights.

Customers can sign up for the service, which enables users to better plan their travel by receiving one message confirming the flight’s status, four hours before scheduled take-off, and update messages alerting passengers of any flight schedule delays of 15 minutes or more. alerts to the status of all connecting flights along the passenger’s journey and details of any terminal changes.

“Our passengers are increasingly looking for ways to make the most of their time while traveling and this service allows them to do this,” says Philip Saunders, Vice President Commercial, Star Alliance. “OAG’s partnership with mBlox has provided us with a secure, reliable delivery mechanism for SMS messages that will enable us to further differentiate our service offerings for our airline partners and make our customers’ travel time easier.”

Duncan Alexander, managing director at OAG, adds that: “The Star Alliance network is a very important customer of OAG and our partnership with mBlox is critical to ensuring we deliver a dependable flight alert service.”

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Aardman Animations selects Player X to roll out mobile Wallace & Gromit in the US

Oscar winner — and Wallace & Gromit creator —Aardman Animations has appointed Player X as its exclusive distributor for its premium mobile video content in North America. Player X will launch Aardman classic content such as Wallace & Gromit, Angry Kid and Creature Comforts on two of the US’s major carrier networks with other deals expected to follow.

Player X already exclusively distributes Aardman mobile video across Scandinavia and on O2 in the UK. Later this month the company will launch a dedicated Aardman channel on the O2 UK deck as part of its ongoing promotions, as well as distribute upcoming original made-for-mobile content such as Purple and Brown and Shaun The Sheep. Aardman’s deals with Player X have all been brokered by Aardman’s global mobile agent, Crucible Media.

“Aardman has a strong portfolio of digital content, many of our films are among the top-rated mobile downloads in the UK and we are looking forward to working with Player X to reach North American audiences,” says Robin Gladman, Digital Content Manager at Aardman.

To underscore the strong relationship between the two companies, Player X is also sponsoring an Aardman short film competition. When the winner is announced later this quarter, Player X will extend full marketing support for the exclusive global rights of the winning entry.

“We already enjoy a very productive and innovative relationship with Aardman and it’s a natural progression to extend this relationship across the Atlantic. Millions of people have seen Aardman content such as Angry Kid online and we’re delighted to be taking this content to mobile,” says Tony Pearce, Player X CEO.

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