If
the
rage for ringtones has taught
mobile operators anything,
it's that the mobile phone
is much more than a utilitarian
device. The mobile phone connects
you, entertains you, even
personifies you, in a way
that landline phones
never have. What this represents
for mobile marketers
is
a golden opportunity. It
means that users want content
that goes way beyond ringtones
and the odd weather forecast:
they want streaming video,
MP3s, ringback tones, 3D
games—anything
that quenches
their thirst for media to
go. And they don't just want
quantity and choice; they
want quality. As handsets
evolve, users' expectations
evolve with them: games are
expected to be more like
what you would see on a computer
or a console; music is
expected
to sound good.
But mobile operators
are already waging operational
wars on so many fronts.
The network alone is
a massive undertaking,
marketing in the mobile
space requires being
as slick as they come,
and the lifecycle of
the current content products
our industry sells is
spectacularly short.
Add increasingly more
sophisticated and diverse
mobile content types
to the mix, and well,
that's a lot of balls
for mobile operators
to keep in the air.
The Challenge Chain
Implementing or upgrading
a mobile content offer
is quite a string of
challenges. One of the
issues for operators
is identifying the hot
content providers who
have something that will
turn their subscribers'
heads. Once identified,
they need to negotiate
an agreement with the
providers, sign them
on, and manage them as
partners. Depending on
the breadth of content
offered, they may have
to do this some 50 times
over with different content
providers. Then from
each of those 50 partners,
operators need to select
all the content that
they want to deliver
to their customers, agree
on pricing and promotions,
and test each piece of
offered content for every
handset supported .
Next there's designing
and managing storefront
interfaces, ones that
subscribers will enjoy
using and that won't
slow them down. That
involves both Web and
mobile interfaces, which
generally requires two
distinct sets of skills.
Of course, like any other
store, success depends
on sharply executed merchandising
and promotion, providing
the exactly right “fresh” offers
to each of several customer
segments— ideally individually
targeting each individual
shopper with what they
will want to buy.
And not to be forgotten,
there's the money side
of the venture, reporting,
and after-sales support.
Accurate billing is critical,
as is being able to accurately
answer customers' questions
as soon as they arise.
Oh yeah—then there is
the requirement to rapidly
and accurately settle
with those 50 anxious
partners, making sure
that each is paid for
only what the customer
has accepted and at the
same time, making sure
there is no basis for
disputes. Credits? Yes,
there are credits. Part
of doing content business.
In the time that it
takes to plot each of
these tasks on a project
management spreadsheet,
the competition could
very well be delivering
the latest Britney Spears
air or 3D road race to
your former customers.
Did I mention that time-to-market
is an issue too?
If this seems overwhelming,
it's because it is. For
mobile operators, there
are many, many elements
involved in getting mobile
content off the ground,
elements that require
different skills, different
players, and thus potentially
major stress for almost
every part of the company:
marketing, operations,
network, development,
finance, customer service,
and legal, even though
only marketing will “make
a difference” versus
competition.
Innovative mobile content
providers have some major
hurdles on the way to
market as well. They
are often small fish
in a great big pond,
trying to get the attention
of behemoths of the industry
so that they can monetize
their content. Just getting
heard, let alone negotiating
with mobile operators,
is a major feat. Instead
of whacking their way
through the underbrush
of the industry jungle,
mobile content providers
would do well to find
themselves a global distribution
channel that's clear
of obstacles.
And then there are owners
of high-profile brands
who want to exploit their
brands in the mobile
content space, but who
aren't necessarily in
the mobile content game.
They need to be able
to plug in to a platform
to get their brand working
for them over the mobile
networks.
A Unified Approach
Luckily, there is a
unified approach for
mobile carriers to easily
manage downloadable and
streaming content from
any number of vendors,
and for mobile content
providers to get a ready
audience with the mobile
carriers. Outsourcing
to a mobile content solution
provider addresses both
groups' challenges and
is the bridge between
both sets of interests.
Managed solution providers
bring the mobile operator
market to the doorstep
of mobile content providers.
But even more significantly,
they offer carriers an
end-to-end solution for
delivering the latest,
the hottest mobile content,
a solution that can include
supply chain management,
storefront and purchase
management, through to
billing, settlement,
reporting, and customer
care, with no major capital
outlay or development
effort - a solution that
lets carriers focus their
energies on marketing,
merchandising, and promotion,
on delighting customers
.
A to Z, soup to nuts,
however you want to describe
managed content solutions,
they save mobile carriers
precious time and resources,
while bringing hot content
to their subscribers,
yesterday. Can you say
ARPU?
Plus, a provider of
managed mobile content
solutions offers value-added
functionality that is
becoming increasingly
important to both the
carriers and subscribers,
functionality that carriers
going it alone might
not have the wherewithal
to develop. Some examples
are control mechanisms
for parents who want
to limit the kind and
amount of content their
kids use, or tools to
manage purchase limits
set by the carriers themselves.
There are also segmentation
tools that allow carriers
to gear their offer to
specific subscriber segments.
These tools could mean
that the businesswoman
who is always on the
road won't have to wade
through 3D games or celebrity
gossip to find the exchange
rates or international
weather forecasts she
is looking for. And based
on usage patterns, the
carrier would know that
when they launch their
new multimedia stock
watch, she just might
be interested.
And what about digital
rights management? That's
a whole piece of the
puzzle that most carriers
aren't equipped to deal
with today. But a mobile
content managed solution
providers is. Their solution
can wrap a digital rights
envelope around a song
or ringtone, for instance,
to prevent it from being
passed around by users
who, as the music industry
well knows, were brought
up to know how to share.
Or they can let it be
shared enough to spread
it, but just not too
much to not get paid.
Or they could give users
a free trial period for
a downloaded game, after
which the user has to
purchase the game to
go on to the next level.
Digital rights management
ensures that legitimate
sources of content get
their legitimate due.
Going with a managed
solution also safeguards
against being left behind
with a platform that
can't keep up with new
technologies and content.
It future-proofs your
content offer, because
a mobile content solution
provider will be ramping
up for what's next while
it's still just a gleam
in the early adopter's
eye.
What's clear from what
we've seen in the industry
in past years is that
mobile time could well
be leaving Internet time
in the dust. The time-to-market
imperative carriers face
when it comes to mobile
content is not going
away. In this environment,
the best strategy is
to focus on the content
market, not on the content
infrastructure, so that
you can keep feeding
subscribers compelling
content as it hits the
market, through a rich,
streamlined user experience.
Because let's face it,
subscribers don't think
in terms of infrastructure,
and they don't give a
hoot about what goes
on behind the scenes.
What they want is the
latest content and the
best user experience
available on the market
today.