Wireless advertising is coming of age
by mobileman (02/01/2008 - 17:32)
The use of advertising on a mobile device is poised for the big take-off. There are several factors that are contributing to the rightness of the model, right now.
The easiest model to understand is the willingness of large content providers to spend advertising investment to attract subscribers to their premium-SMS services. Today, much of that investment is directed at the Web. There is evidence to suggest that the effectiveness and conversion rates for ads on a handset, for services that are targeted for the handset, is superior to the Web.
This conclusion is almost completely intuitive.
If you are sitting in a stadium and you see a beer commercial, you are more likely to purchase a beer, immediately. If you are instead in an environment that does not have that immediate purchase opportunity (like watching the game on TV), the effectiveness of that ad to drive immediate sales is reduced.
So, ads for handset-targeted services seem like a complete no-brainer for the industry.
These ads can come in various forms.
Carriers are opening their Wireless Web (WAP) portals to advertising through both agencies and direct contract. With this model, the carriers can get a cut of the ad revenue. The real estate bears limited space, so ads are required to be as condensed as possible to be effective.
Other models include MMS interstitial slides and SMS tags. Both of these models have been experimented with and have not been widely deployed — yet.
The next wave of ads is also being brought in through the Trojan Horse that is a combination of Smartphones and Google services.
With Internet-compatible browsing on iPhones and others, the traditional Web advertising model is being dragged on handsets. Based on browser type, ads will be targeted on Smartphones for services that are applicable for the phone itself and for the mobile consumer.
These latest models have the potential to remove the carrier from the advertising value chain.
I am sure there are significant discussions throughout the carrier community on trying to derive value from this emerging and potentially huge revenue stream. Anyone care to weigh in? I welcome your comments!
Will iPhone really change the mobile Web?
by mobileman (01/14/2008 - 15:52)
The big news announced by Google – at least to us mobile types – is the extraordinary number of impressions the Google application in iPhone is generating. It is time to declare the beginning of the end of the existing Web application paradigm on wireless devices. The distinctions between the regular everyday Internet and its wealth of Web 2.0 applications and mobile Internet have started to blur. It now appears that an important impact of the iPhone has been to bring the smartphone category into the mainstream consumer consciousness.
The wireless application developer has long been challenged by the myriad of device types, interfaces, carrier preferences, and version of Java and Brew. Indeed, industries have been created to port and mediate applications between these various client specifications.
Once the interface of all mobile devices standardizes – at least to the extent it has in the Web – with a couple of browser and capability types, the efficiency, economic viability and speed of innovation for wireless Web applications should dramatically increase. In essence, an entire mediation industry will be removed from the equation, leaving more profit opportunity for the creators of content, applications and, yes, even the carriers.
The key enablers for moving the wireless Web into a modern era are in place. High-speed networks can now enable rich media, Web 2.0 applications and enhanced interactivity. The cost of larger LCD screens, processors and memory have become economical for lower-priced smartphones.
Consumers are beginning to the cross the chasm of these devices being just for business to using them as a primary consumer device. A quick survey of recent smartphones shows a large selection available at $99, a significant decrease from just 6 months ago. The era of large screen, high-speed martphone being part of the “free” entry phone collection is not too far removed. At that point the interoperable browsing capability on a large screen will be a must have feature.The future is big, bright, shiny and fast, has lots of memory – and less middlemen.
Attack of the Androids
by mobileman (11/07/2007 - 03:52)
The Google-led Android open-phone initiative grabbed the headlines today. I normally take the pro open-source, open-platform position. In this case, I am not. The target of most open-source projects have been Web servers, application servers and database servers. There is a fundamental difference between a phone and a server. A server is designed and developed by IT professionals. It is maintained, monitored and administered.
In contrast, a phone is a consumer device. Consumers expect their electronics to work out of the box and not have bugs. The PC industry has flourished in large part because of the existence of two large commercial OS platforms courtesy of Microsoft and Apple. While there are Linux PCs, they are generally in the hands of the proud dorks, geeks and other technologically gifted individuals.
Consumer product are more like toasters than servers!An open-source phone platform might be a powerful platform for application development free of royalties from OS manufacturers and carriers.
However, phone design is not a hobby. It is a huge commercial enterprise and the various phone platforms are designed with quality and ease of use in mind. Phone engineers are not going to have their salaries replaced with tips and donations. Every company in the consortia has strong profit motives, and that means competition.
Even if the Android project succeeds in pushing phone standards, I guarantee that each phone manufacturer and carrier will have its own proprietary variant. Given my suspicions and skepticism about Android, why is it being launched? To understand that answer, read my previous blog. Android can succeed in its goals without ever writing a line of code.
Here comes Google!
by mobileman (09/14/2007 - 04:33)
Here comes Google …
The market has yet to catch its breathe on the iPhone, as rumors of the Google phone continue to circulate. Google, like Apple, is a world-class, capable company that innovates at a dizzying pace.
Its resources seem almost limitless as it sets its sights on a bigger slice of the mobile market. Will it just be a handset? A bid on spectrum, an outright purchase of a wireless carrier? If I were sitting at Google I would proceed with great caution.
Google should dust off all the press of the failed ESPN MVNO and learn from it. ESPN has wonderful content, a killer brand and 
is a marketing powerhouse. Their mobile content was on every carrier, with application innovation in sports being pushed and pushed. With these assets as a base, ESPN took the leap of faith to launch an MVNO and become a retail wireless carrier.
The skill set to become a successful carrier includes: retail distribution, mobile handset sourcing, customer service, billing, wireless network knowledge, wireless network operations (even if you have an MVNO), and mobile feature innovation across all mobile features (voice, IVR, LBS, games, music, social networking, messaging, etc.). Look at the above list and determine which competencies ESPN had before they decided to place a big bet on wireless?
Great content is not enough. ESPN had an overly expensive phone with limited distribution, a post-pay model, few features other than sports, no family plans, etc.
Virgin Mobile has been successful because they actually ran other wireless MVNO services (in the U.K.) before they launched in the U.S. They had the necessary corporate skill set and have been successful.This now gets me back to Google. On the surface, it has some direct parallels to ESPN. Google’s existing wireless services are very popular and are on most every carrier. They are best in class at innovating web-based products and then applying those features and functionalities to mobile. They have just launched a version of their incredible cash engine, adwords, for mobile applications.
As was the case for ESPN, they are firing on all mobile cylinders. By continuing on their present course, they will be a significant and dominant player in mobile content, search, applications and advertising for the foreseeable future.
Is the talk and effort on spectrum auctions and Google handsets a negotiating tactic for better terms from existing carriers, or is it the far-reaching aspirations of the Web’s most dominant player? Is it a tactic, a strategy, or corporate hubris?
Google clearly has the financial capability to acquire all the wireless network talent and competency it needs to complement its Web prowess, should it choose to do so.
The moves that Google makes, and succeeds or fails at, will have industry-forming impact for years to come.
This is a very interesting time for all of us!
Even these carriers have Google
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