Dear Industry Executive

Mobile data pricing breaks the bank at Monte Carlo

As the annual Mobile Entertainment Forum’s MEM07 jamboree basks in the Monte Carlo sunshine this week — much more 007 than its days in London’s trendy Islington — the great and the good of the mobile content industry, which is using the Cote D’Azur location to try and cement its reputation as part of the entertainment industry, rather than the slightly cooler younger sibling if the grey suited world of telecoms, could do well to pause from sipping Champagne on yachts and consider that there are a number of pretty harsh obstacles standing in the way of mobile content services hitting the big time.

Content sales — and that includes entertainment services — have not hit the levels that many predicted back in the early part of the decade. This has been the result of a number of intricately entwined factors that have all conspired to make mobile data services less attractive to the man in the street than they appear on paper.

Chief among these has been clarity of pricing. Data rates have led to some early adoptors getting terrible — and lasting — bill shock from downloading a ringtone. Scams around subscription services have also hurt. Moves this month to make mobile data pricing flat rate in the UK can only help, but they still lack clarity.

Coupled to this, there is the issue of value for money. While some users are prepared to put up with not knowing quite what any given content download is going to cost, many are put off when they get the content as it fails to live up to their expectations.

Thirdly, there is the vast majority of mobile phone users who have no expectations — they simply don’t think that anything the mobile content world has to offer is for them.

How can the great and the good at MEM, and beyond, tackle these issues? Education is the key. Make the advertising simple. Make the price plans simple and above all transparent. And give stuff away — especially the capability to browse so that users can find the content they are looking for for themselves and not feel either badgered in to it or excluded from it.

Paul Skeldon

paul.skeldon@contentfutures.com

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MEM07 Only one consumer in four is satisfied with their mobile entertainment experience

Just a quarter of those who engage in mobile entertainment in the UK and US are satisfied with what they get, according to a survey by the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) and LCC, published this week at the MEF’s annual jolly MEM07 — and it all comes down to poor user experience.

While cost is still seen as a key factor, value for money and reliability are considered more important by users, finds the study. Consumers in both UK and US are prepared to may a premium to use mobile entertainment content, but expect a high quality of service in return.

That said, transparency of price is considered crucial. Current data pricing makes it hard to know what any content download will cost. Flat rate data being introduced this month across four of the five main UK operators — and already in place in some US regions — aims to counter this, however there is still the issue of whether prices include download charges or not.

The highest current satisfaction rates are for Mobile TV in the American market (37%) and music downloads in the UK (32%). In general, subscription based services such as mobile chat, mobile TV and information services are popular with US users. In the U.K. downloaded entertainment including wallpapers and ringtones are preferred.
 
The survey did however highlight the great strides made by the industry in educating consumers with over 80% being aware of the different types of mobile entertainment available. Consumers are also already considering buying these services – for ringtones over 50% in the UK and US rated themselves as very likely or likely to buy these products. The industry needs to determine how to convert this interest into initial purchasing activity and, eventually, loyalty. These are some of the next steps that the initiative will concentrate on.
 
“While the mobile entertainment market still represents vast potential, it is time to convert that opportunity into hard revenues. To do this the industry needs to take a close look at the experience we provide for users,” commented Patrick Parodi, Global Chair, MEF. “There will inevitably be some growing pains as mobile entertainment moves from an emerging market to an established media and entertainment channel. However, the industry must collaborate to focus on providing a seamless user experience, boosting subscriber satisfaction and encouraging mass adoption.”

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MEM07 Search prompts surge in use of mobile web in US

The United States is at the forefront of a mobile web growth with a three fold increase in usage over the past year, reports Bango at MEM07 in Monte Carlo. This rapid rise, taking the US to second position behind the UK, is being fuelled by the increasing popularity of mobile search as a way of finding new content and services, says the company. As a result, more businesses are now launching a mobile web presence so they can engage directly with their consumers anytime and from anywhere.

In addition to growth in the US, Bango’s data shows that nine per cent of all accesses to mobile websites now come from India, up from four per cent a year ago.  India, with a population of just over 1.1 billion and lack of an established fixed phone line network, relies on mobile phones to stay in touch.  Here, mobile phone usage is set to exceed European levels within the next few years.??

The top five countries accessing the mobile web via Bango in April 2007 were the UK at 27 per cent, the US at 21, South Africa at 11, India at nine and Indonesia at three.

In the first quarter of 2007 the top handset for accessing mobile websites was the Sanyo Katana SCP 6600.  The fact that the Sanyo Katana is only available in the US reflects the rapid growth in mobile surfing by US users.  Other popular handsets included the Motorola RAZR V3, the Sony Ericsson K750i and the Samsung A900.??

“We see that wherever flat-rate mobile data charges are pervasive in a country then there’s much more web browsing,” says Anil Malhotra, SVP of Marketing at Bango.  “This is certainly true of the US and South Africa and the imminent introduction of flat-rate data charges in the UK will push up mobile web usage in the UK even further.”
 

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Vodafone relaunches its Live! portal as flat rate data pricing drives search and discovery

Vodafone is to radically overhaul its UK Vodafone Live! portal in a bid to corner the market in mobile web access and to encourage users to search and discover and build their own favourties in to the once walled garden.

Speaking at an NOC-sponsored Knowledge & Networking Seminar in London last week, Ray de Silva, Strategic Business Development Manager Mobile Internet & Content Services, at Vodafone UK, said that the carrier was launching a new mobile web service in June that, like T-Mobiles Web n Walk service would turn the once walled garden of Vodafone Live! in to a managed garden revolving around search and discovery, keywords and Google.

Operator portals will start to lose their walls thanks to flat rate data pricing being introduced this month by Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile and Orange, suggests de Silva. With a monthly data package charge and a 1 per day cap on data charges being brought in this month, users will start to be more search and discovery driven, as the cost aspect of surfing wireless is removed from the equation. As a result portals such as Vodafone Live! will cease to be so important as walled gardens.

But the portal still has a role to play, says de Silva. It will evolve from being a point of sale to being a the launch point for the search process. Vodafone Live! will become that launch page and users themselves can then populate that home page with what they want from both on and off-portal.

Vodafone believes that the combination of more transparent flat rate data charges and this improved search portal will drive up the sale of mobile content, especially music, games, video and UGC services. Clarifying how much it costs to browse will drive up search and discovery and, as a consequence, this will drive sales of content, boost ARPU and cut churn, says de Silva.

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Swisscom first to roll out free ad-funded mobile video service

Swisscom has become the first operator in Europe to roll out ad-funded, free mobile video services, following a deal with mobile advertising platform Ad Infuse and video streaming company, Minick.

Rather than paying a download or subscription fee to receive video via a wireless device, Swisscom Mobile customers are able to access video on demand content supported by brief, 10 to 20 second advertisements at the beginning and end of each programme.
 
Ad Infuse and Minick have launched the Swisscom Mobile pilot with a comedy channel and anticipate that music, sports and other content category channels will follow.

A mix of local and international brands support the programming to Swisscom Mobile 4.6 million customers, with Canon, Peugeot and Sony-Ericsson among the international advertisers participating.

“Ad supported video is a strong proposition for consumers, advertisers and content providers,” says Marius Dano, Strategy Manager at Swisscom Mobile.  “We look for it to bring new customers to mobile video and help existing customers find more content to enjoy.” 

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Telcogames to distribute Sony Pictures’ games content in eight product distribution deal

Telcogames, a global publisher, distributor and developer of mobile games, has won a deal with Sony Pictures to distribute eight of Sony's award-winning movie spin off games.

Included in the distribution deal is the game based on the movie blockbuster Spiderman 3, from which two games will launch based on the franchise.  Other products within this licence agreement include Wheel of Fortune, Playstation Ratchet & Clank Going Mobile, Monster House, Q*Bert, Playstation God of War and the ever controversial Snoop Dogg appearing in his own driving game Snoop Dogg Cruisin.

The Deal sees Telcogames to distribute the titles exclusively across designated territories within Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The first titles to be rolled out will include the Playstation versions of Ratchet & Clank, Monster House and Q*Bert. The two Spiderman 3 titles will be released to coincide with their cimematic and DVD releases, respectively.

Jamie Conyngham, CEO of Telcogames, says that “The Sony deal is an exciting new partnership that will allow us to populate Sony's content across EMEA territories. There is a fantastic line up of games, which lend themselves perfectly to the mobile platform offering highly entertaining and state of the art gaming experiences. This deal with Sony underlines our commitment to distributing and marketing big-brands with sophisticated and addictive games.”

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Vodafone Egypt demonstrates how voice SMS builds ARPU

Long tipped as a winner in the content and services stakes, voice SMS is starting to demonstrate all the things an operator wants: increased APRU. Within two months of launch, Vodafone Egypt has seen a massive take-up of its new ‘Voice SMS’ service, as 15 per cent of its subscriber base have started using the service. The service, provided by ‘Voice SMS’ pioneer Bubble Motion, has already improved Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for users of the service by 1.5 per cent.

The major impact of the Voice SMS service, which Vodafone Egypt launched under the brand name MiniCall, is in sharp contrast to most other new services launched by operators globally in recent years. Above all, the success of this and other BubbleTALK implementations compares favourably with other messaging technologies, as SMS revenues remain flat, MMS usage remains low and Push-to-Talk and consumer mobile email have failed to take off.

Richard Daly, Chief Commercial Officer at Vodafone Egypt said: "We have high expectations for the BubbleTALK service and the success of MiniCall launch in Egypt proves that we are on the right track.  Our subscribers have started to use the service and recommend it to their friends and family. This is only a start as the product evidently has more potential of being a key messaging product in the market." 

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