I aim to promote the mobile web through promotion of innovation. The thoughts and discussions in this blog are entirely of my own opinion and do not represent my employer or clients.
I can provide marketing and product strategies for mobile applications, deployments and campaigns
As initially announced by Ted Rogers back in April, that the iPhone will be coming to Rogers, it has also now emerged on the Rogers and Apple websites, that it will also be available on Fido.
Fido has been known to be slacking in the ability to roll out decent handsets, so its good to see times are changing for the Canadian companies.
The first keynote and panel session that I attended at ICE08 called “Flash Forward: New Canadian Media”, was moderated by Raja Khanna (GlassBOX Television), and featured panelists David UK (Heavy.com), Pary Bell (CanWest Digital Media), and Michael Hennessy (TELUS). It was noted that Canadian carriers are the limiting factor when it comes to innovation, and Raja posed the question to the panelists, should we ask for subsidies from the ISP’s to develop applications and content. TELUS’ initial response was that this would not in fact be legal, but then was quick to say that this would be “like giving creators crack cocaine” which will result in screwups and cause havok in the market place.
I had to disagree with Michaels opinion here, as time has shown, all industries have failures and sucessus. Opening up the doors to a flood of content producers will increase the chances (simple probability) that more great content is produced and gets to see the light of day. I am not saying, give cash subsidies to all who want it, but to have a greater acceptance that great content is available, and to reward those who produce it, more effectively. As ultimately, content is king.
Later during the discussion, TELUS stated that “we are not in the content business” and understands that they need to open up and allow content producers to do their thing.
Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems like a contradiction to the previous statement that was shunning new and aspiring content producers. But maybe, the case he was making is simple. TELUS cannot subsidize the costs for content producers, but do realize their value of keeping them on board. Maybe they can see that markets around the world are taking this stance, and it is about time that Canada (TELUS in this case) follow their lead as to ensure, that their users get Canadian content.
In five years, TELUS expects that the following changes have occured:
Lets hope that all this talk of being “Open” actually does ring true.
Various carriers are beginning to provide content targeted portals to their customers. Information on the user behavior is gathered and analyzed in order to determine what kind of content that the user will be interested in. The concept is nothing new, as it has been used on sites such as Amazon for many years. However, porting such an application to mobile has brought up some concerns. Are telephone conversations and text messages intercepted and analyzed?
Anyways, bringing the content to the user without them having to waste time and data performing the searches themselves seems like a good concept, its the approach to data capture that needs careful consideration.
There are many reasons for choosing an unlocked phone in the UK, it offers users the choice of network that they wish to use.
Many people purchase a Pay as you go device which are subsidised by the networks over a truly “SIM FREE” which do not offer any form of discounting.
It has been seen in the past that the network operator “3″ have physically glued their SIM cards into their phones in an attempt to curb the number of users taking advantage of their pricing structures for the PAYG devices.
But the option to have an unlocked phone extends further than cost and carrier availability. Some networks heavily brand the UI’s and in some cases limit the functionality of the device. The most recent example of this is Orange and Vodafone blocking the WiFi capabilities of some HTC OEM devices, and also blocking the usage of VoIP through their network, and removing the supporting software from the device (Nokia N95).
But to support the operators decision for this practice, it does allow the operator full control of how the UI can be extended to all devices allowing a “familiar experience” across the range. It also allows the operator to guard against malicious software, and network hacks. Not to everyones taste, granted.
I feel that the approach to locked devices in the future should be made at two different levels, a device that has been fully tested by the carrier and contains their branding, and limitations, and one at a higher cost that does not come with the same guarentees, but does not limit the user to the operators desired functionality.
I look forward to your opinions on this provocative issue.
Reading a report in the Mobile Business Magazine, it seems that Vodafone are to offer Banking through their “Vodafone Internet On Your Mobile” as discussed in a previous blog .
Al Russell, Head of Vodafone Internet On Your Mobile said: “With the launch of the Vodafone Internet On Your Mobile we want to give customers access to all the services they see as essential, in the palm of their hand. Banking is one of the most important services that our customers use and by partnering with the Monilink network we can ensure that all of our customers are able to access their bank accounts on the move, whenever they wish.”
If Vodafone ate to be using their new transcoding solution to transcode the banking service, this will open a serious security flaw. Transcoding solutions need to be able to read the request, responses and content in order to perform the transcode. Stripping out the tags and unnesesary content items. As a result, the secure connection between the bank and the device is terminated at the transcoding proxy. This means, if the transcoder is compromised, all bank details can be obtained.
This will be a serious flaw in Vodafones strategy if true, and consequences will be following suit
Vodafone is now pushing their new mobile Internet service to the public in a radical way.
TV commercials are now being broadcast in the UK showing users that the Internet can be used wherever they are. Previously, the Internet on mobile has not gained many users. There are many reasons for this:
Vodafone has realised that ARPU can seriously be increased through widespread adoption, and has attempted to resolve these issues with their new approach.
Previously, services such as WAP on mobiles were not pushed to the users, and many were unaware of the benefits of the service. But with the new TV ad, awareness should become more widespread.
A novel concept has just been announced by the company Sonopia. You now
have the ability to create your own mobile network, charge for line
rental, and offer services.
The blurb….
Introducing the most innovative mobile carrier ever. Yours.
Now you can create your very own mobile carrier! In just a
few easy steps you can set up a Sonopia complete with calling plans,
mobile phones and exclusive content. Managing and marketing your
Sonopia is just as simple thanks to our easy-to-use online tools. We do
the rest—from billing and customer service to order fulfillment.
The benefits belong to you and your subscribers.
- EARN revenue with no up-front commitment—a percentage of your mobile
subscribers’ monthly bill goes directly to you or your organization- LAUNCH and maintain your service—quickly, easily and with few resources
- CONNECT with your supporters—expand your audience and generate interest in your organization
in a new and innovative way- UPLOAD and send exclusive content—deliver news, updates and mobile blogs to your subscribers
both online and on the phone- FREE online community—regardless of whether people subscribe to the mobile portion of your
Sonopia, they can join your online web community for free- CREATE professional marketing campaigns—send letters, graphic mailers and e-mails customized to your Sonopia
Your Sonopia provides subscribers with benefits they can’t get anywhere
else, at no additional cost. They will also be part of an integrated
mobile and online social networking community where they can access
news and information, create a profile, write mobile blogs, share
photos and so much more.Plus, your subscribers will experience the best customer service available, with no transfers and no waiting.
So… anyone want to join OlafCom?
While at the Orange Developer Centre opening event in Beijing, Orange UK R&D announced a project that they were working on called “igloo”.
The concept behind this product is to eliminate the risk of user failure in attempting to install new services to their device.
Making use of Widget style solution, igloo provides a environment on the device where the user can easily identify new services that Orange
have made available. The user can select the widget, and it is automatically downloaded, and installed, and setup on their device with minimum effort.
The example that was presented was a case on eBay for mobile.
Currently, the user would have to ensure that they have the correct APN settings on their phone to access the Internet, they would then have to navigate through Orange World portal (or have eBay mobile web address to hand) to the eBay link. The user would then have to provide log-in details and then navigate through to their destination (be it watched items, or bidding etc)
With igloo, the user just needs to select the widget, it is then downloaded and installed automatically. The user can then log-in first time, and remember their details if needed. The eBay widget will then provide all the details to the user, without them needing to navigate to the web. The widget can then be viewed on the active screen of the device, so a quick glance is all that is needed.
Services can also be pushed to the user by Orange without the user having to perform any actions.
I asked a few questions about this service:
Q. Will the user be able to opt out.
A. The plans are for a subscription based service, the user can decide which services he/she wants to receive automatically
Q. Will the active screen display reduce battery life, as connections to the server will be required on a frequent basis
A. Not significantly, as the users screen-saver will put the service to “sleep”, and will be woken again when the screen-saver has been disrupted.
Q. Will there be billing integration for premium services?
A. It will be up to the service provider, the platform is designed as a framework and so can be implemented how the service provider wishes
What do you think about this?
I personally think that this solution will provide an excellent source of innovative ideas which are hard to get adoption in the Web space.
